Hoover Sent MacArthur to Quell Protests. It Backfired, Badly.
The president best known for his role in worsening the Great Depression was convinced veterans seeking pension funds were part of a communist plot.
Veterans and their families tried to evade bayonet-wielding troops and clouds of tear gas. Onlookers cried, “Shame! Shame!”
Source: Bettmann via Getty Images
Herbert Hoover is best known for his role in worsening the Great Depression, but his fateful decision to use the military against ordinary citizens in the summer of 1932 was a self-inflicted wound that arguably marked the beginning of the end of his presidency. It’s an episode worth recalling as President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders seem hellbent on sending federal troops against protesters.
By the spring of 1932, unemployment had spiked to record highs. Among the dispossessed were veterans of World War I. As a condition of their service, these men had been promised a bonus pegged to the length of their service, but it wasn’t due to start until 1945.