Have you heard of the "Bonus Army" in American history? [link] [details]?

I knew the generalities, but your link provided more information than I had known before.

It seems to me that Hoover was wrong in not firing MacArthur for crossing the bridge to Bonus City in the face of explicit orders from the White House not to do so (and then Hoover backtracked the next day in his support of MacArthur). If you read the history of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, you’ll see how Hitler came to power in much the same way that MacArthur stayed in power. (I’m not trying to equate MacArthur to Hitler, but if he had had the same type of lust for absolute power, and similar demons to Hitler’s…)

It may not all have been in vain. The march inspired Congress to pass the G. I. Bill of Rights in 1944 so that WWII veterans wouldn’t suffer the same fate.

Another example of how promises that our government has made to those who have fought for us were contravened because of the cost and that they could.

It’s a solid argument that the primary reason for our country’s present state is simply the fact that the vast majority of the people privileged to vote know so very little about the place and its history. There is a big price to be paid for our failures in civic education. We are in effect, living through the consequences.

Nothing much has changed in Washington, has it?

Yes, went into a decent amount of detail back in high school and my instructor split the class into teams to debate over whether it was justified or not.

That’s cool, @Winter_Pariah. I’m 53 and I’d never heard of it.

Has echos of the student uprising in Hong Kong. I hope they fare better.