Used then refused

Given the increasingly dire financial straits of the U.S., I consider it highly likely history will soon repeat itself.  Many promises have been made to members of the armed services who've fought around the globe since 9/11.  As with Social Security and other government-promised benefits, these appear increasingly suspect as the monetary wheels come off Leviathan's train...

During the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover orders the U.S. Army under General Douglas MacArthur to evict by force the Bonus Marchers from the nation's capital.


Two months before, the so-called "Bonus Expeditionary Force," a group of some 1,000 World War I veterans seeking cash payments for their veterans' bonus certificates, had arrived in Washington, D.C. Most of the marchers were unemployed veterans in desperate financial straits. In June 1932, other veteran groups spontaneously made their way to the nation's capital, swelling the Bonus Marchers to nearly 20,000 strong. Camping in vacant government buildings and in open fields made available by District of Columbia Police Chief Pelham D. Glassford, they demanded passage of the veterans' payment bill introduced by Representative Wright Patman.

While awaiting a vote on the issue, the veterans conducted themselves in an orderly and peaceful fashion, and on June 15 the Patman bill passed in the House of Representatives. However, two days later, its defeat in the Senate infuriated the marchers, who refused to return home. In an increasingly tense situation, the federal government provided money for the protesters' trip home, but 2,000 refused the offer and continued to protest. On July 28, 1932, President Herbert Hoover ordered the army to evict them forcibly. General MacArthur's men set their camps on fire, and the veterans were driven from the city.

Wonder why such historical tidbits are rarely mentioned to high schoolers...