Will lack of "health care" create this generation's "Bonus marchers"?

[ColbertWatcher]

Who were the "Bonus Marchers"? A simplified background...
American Veterans of World War I were given "Service Certificates", bonus payments for their service, which could be redeemed in 20 years.

Ten years after returning from war, the Great Depression hit.

Without money or jobs, these WW1 veterans decided to ask Congress for their bonuses early.

They brought their families from all over the country to Washington, D.C. in hopes of overriding the President's vetoes and allowing Congress to release the funds.

The president was Herbert Hoover. The secretary of the Army was Douglas MacArthur.

The year was 1932.

By the middle of June, the "Bonus Army" arrived on foot, by railcar or by hitchhiking. The estimated 20,000 people camped out in tents throughout the city awaiting word from Congress. After the Senate defeated a bill passed by the house, officials decided it was time the "Bonus Army" be removed.

Without the protections of the Posse Comitatus Act in Washington, D.C., the Bonus Army would be forcibly removed on the order of President Hoover "without delay".

Led by Douglas MacArthur, federal troops razed the "Hoovervilles". Fires broke out and in the end at least 4 were killed, nearly one thousand were injured.

When the Bonus Army made its way to Washington before the June, 1932 vote, they gained attention and sympathy for their cause. After news of the fires and use of force, the nation was outraged.

What their protest gave US
Prior to the Bonus Marchers, servicemen and women received pay for days served and little else after returning to civilian life. Widows and orphans of soldiers killed in battle received no better.

But, as a direct result of the actions of the Bonus Marchers, the G.I. Bill of Rights was passed, finally providing money for education, unemployment compensation and loans to start businesses or to buy homes.

The Veterans Administration was also created to assist veterans, their families and survivors with benefits that had never before been offered to servicemen and women and their families.

In addition, but not directly associated, the newly-elected Roosevelt administration started a program to assist non-veterans with financial assistance.

During the depression more than half the senior citizens living in the United States lived in poverty. This new program would provide benefits to retirees and the unemployed, and was influenced by the events in the summer of 1932. This new law, the Old Age Pension Act (better known as the Social Security Act) was passed three years later in 1935.

Do We Need Another March?
Prior to the G.I. Bill and the V.A. the idea of helping veterans re-enter civilian life and caring for their families had been imagined by too few and considered by even less.

This June 17th will be the 76th anniversary of the Bonus Army's March on Washington.

Despite the critics, the timid and the unimaginative, history has shown that our nation can meet our obligations to our veterans and elderly and disabled citizens.

It's time we elect leaders who can not only imagine providing health care for every American, but will do what it takes to make it happen.

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Links on the Bonus Marchers:

World War I.com

American Experience

NPR

Library of Congress