The Bonus Army: America Attacks Its Own

In the summer of 1932, roughly twenty thousand World War One veterans and their families descended on Washington, D.C., to demand early payment of bonus certificates they'd been promised under the World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924. Led by former Army sergeant Walter W. Waters of Portland, Oregon, the Bonus Expeditionary Force built a sprawling encampment on the Anacostia Flats and spent weeks peacefully lobbying Congress to pass the Patman Bonus Bill.

The House passed it on June 15, 1932, but the Senate killed it two days later by a vote of 62 to 18.When the veterans refused to leave, President...