Cohen: When America used the army against the peaceful protesters of the 1932 ‘Bonus March’ – Ottawa Citizen

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During the Great Depression, impoverished First World War veterans came to Washington desperate for help. Instead, the president turned the troops on them. In Ottawa, protesters with little to justify their acts, occupy the centre of the capital. Compare and contrast the reaction.

In the teeth of the Great Depression, thousands of demonstrators descended on Washington. They wanted the federal government to honour a promise and they vowed to stay until it did.

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In May 1932, they occupied abandoned federal buildings around Pennsylvania Avenue. Most made camp on the expansive flats across the Anacostia River. They remained there two months until Herbert Hoover, the embattled president running for re-election against Franklin Roosevelt, ordered in the military.

It was called the Bonus March. The marchers veterans, sympathizers and their families were known as the Bonus Army. Without work or means, the veterans demanded early payment of a bonus they had been promised in 1924 for serving in the First World War.

This was a mass protest in the seat of government that was put down violently. Given the occupation of Ottawa 90 years later, its useful to see how Americans handled things then. Compare and contrast, as our venerable grade three teacher, Miss Aphrodite Christie, used to say.

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The Bonus March is a challenge to self-righteous American conservatives Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham among them who see only dictatorship in Stalinist Canada. When the U.S. faced a challenge to its authority by protesters with a strong grievance, it showed no tolerance.

The Bonus Army came to Washington from across the country on train, truck and foot. The veterans wanted Congress to pay them a bonus that would not come due until 1945; they needed it now. The House agreed on June 15, but the Senate said no. They were offered money to go home.

The veterans had created makeshift shanty towns, an orderly encampment with prohibitions against panhandling, unruliness and drinking. Sympathetic folks provided food and cigarettes. Among them were radicals who saw a chance to exploit the situation.

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The police and marchers treated each other respectfully. In a devastated country, veterans wanted a break. They were not revolutionaries overthrowing the government, though that was how Hoover conveniently painted them.

On July 28, Hoover sent in a force led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, aided by Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton. Wearing full dress uniform, on horseback, leading soldiers wielding swords and tear gas, MacArthur moved on the camps. He was accompanied by something ominous: tanks armed with machine guns.

The soldiers turned on the veterans, beating and burning. Two died; scores were injured. Smoke hung over the city.

Worried the assault was getting out of hand, Hoover sent word to stop. MacArthur ignored the order, as he ignored Harry Truman years later in the Korean War.

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The point is that authorities saw in the Bonus Army only insurrection and revolution. Hoover called them Communists and criminals. In the 1960s, this is how worried whites in the South saw civil rights activists: outsiders, agitators, Commies.

So, what do we conclude today? The Bonus Marchers were overwhelmingly honourable veterans seeking a measure of compassion. The government didnt have to pay them their money early, but it could have. Instead, it turned on them.

In Ottawa, we see protesters who claim their freedom has been denied, as if theyre forced to get a vaccine. Theyre not. Truckers are told, as a public health measure, they cannot cross the border if they dont. They say their freedom to protect themselves with no basis in science is greater than the freedom of society to protect itself.

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For three weeks they have occupied the centre of our national capital. Rest assured, the Freedom Convoyers are not the Freedom Riders.

Weaponizing their trucks, they create unbearable noise, spew exhaust, set off fireworks. Amid their bouncy castles and hot tubs, they intimidate residents and journalists. Many are menacing.

And now that the agents of the federal government prepare to evict them, expect the protesters to call themselves martyrs and patriots, crying oppression and injustice. Its theatre.

Note to crowing American conservatives: These are not the proud foot soldiers of the Bonus Army of 1932, smeared and suppressed by MacArthurs soldiers, turning on their own. They are Canadas misguided, mistaken brigade of 2022.

Andrew Cohen is a journalist, professor at Carleton University, and author of Two Days in June: John F. Kennedy and the 48 Hours That Made History.

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Cohen: When America used the army against the peaceful protesters of the 1932 'Bonus March' - Ottawa Citizen