22-3

Mitch Lillard

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The Bonus Army was a group of 10 to 20 thousand World War 1 veterans who in 1932 went to Washington D.C. in order to support the Patman Bill. The Patman bill would compensate World War 1 veterans for their efforts int he war who had not been compensated well enough. Congress passed the bill in 1924, but the veterans were not supposed to be paid until 1945, but Wright Patman believed that the soldiers should be paid immediately. Herbert Hoover opposed the legislation but respected veterans, and even gave them food and money to build shanty towns near the capital. On June 17 however congress voted down the bill, and Hoover told the Bonus army to leave. Most did but there was still 2,00 soldiers that would not move from the capital. At this point Hoover told George Douglas MacArthur to remove the veterans from the the capital. The 1,00 men infantry gassed more than 1000 veterans and killed an eleven year old baby, and two people were shot and killed. Because of the gassing and killings that occurred people began to lose faith in Hoover and were outraged by the events that occurred. When the next election came around against Franklin Delano Roosevelt Hoovers political fate was sealed.