American Military History, Volume 2 by Richard W. Stewart

The most notable domestic use of regular troops in the twenty years of peace that followed World War I happened in the nation's capital during the summer of 1932. Several thousand "Bonus Marchers" remained in Washington after the adjourn- ment of Congress dashed their hopes for immediate payment of a bonus for military service in the war. On July 28 marshals and police tried to evict one group encamped near the Capitol, and the ensuing riot pro- duced some bloodshed. President Herbert C. Hoover directed the Army to intervene. A force of about 600 cavalrymen and infantrymen with a few tanks ad- vanced to the scene under the personal leadership of Chief of Staff MacArthur. The troops cleared the Bo- nus Marchers from the Capitol and eventually evicted them from the District of Columbia, burning their shantytown in the process. The Army had performed an unpleasant task in an efficient manner; but the public largely viewed the use of military force against civilians, most of them veterans, as heavy-handed. The incident tarnished the Army's public image and helped to defeat the administration in the next election.

Aside from the Bonus Marchers incident, the most conspicuous employment of the Army within the Unit- ed States after World War I was in a variety of non- military tasks that fell to it because no other institution possessed the necessary organization or resources. After large-scale natural disasters the Army often provided the first substantial relief effort. The Army, especially the National Guard, was used extensively in a variety of humanitarian relief efforts after floods, storms, and fires, following a long tradition of such operations. Army Engineers expanded their work on rivers and harbors for the improvement of navigation and flood control; and for four months in 1934 the Air Corps, on orders from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, took over airmail shipment for the Post Office Department. That endeavor had tragic con- sequences, as the unprepared Air Corps struggled to meet the challenge during a period of unusually poor weather. Twelve pilots lost their lives in the first few weeks of the operation.