Bonus Army - March

March

On June 15, the House of Representatives passed the Wright Patman Bonus Bill which would have moved forward the date for World War I veterans to receive their cash bonus.

Most of the Bonus Army camped in a Hooverville on the Anacostia Flats, a swampy, muddy area across the Anacostia River from the federal core of Washington, just south of the 11th Street Bridges (now Section C of Anacostia Park). The camps, built from materials scavenged from a nearby rubbish dump, were tightly controlled by the veterans who laid out streets, built sanitation facilities, and held daily parades. To live in the camps, veterans were required to register and prove they had been honorably discharged.

The Bonus Army massed at the United States Capitol on June 17 as the U.S. Senate defeated the Bonus Bill by a vote of 62-18.

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Famous quotes containing the word march:

    Would it be possible to stand still on one spot more majestically—while simulating a triumphant march forward—than it is done by the two English Houses of Parliament?
    Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)

    Britannia needs no bulwarks,
    No towers along the steep;
    Her march is o’er the mountain-waves,
    Her home is on the deep.
    Thomas Campbell (1774–1844)

    ‘Oh beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly,
    Play the Dead March as you carry me along;
    Take me to the green valley, there lay the sod o’er me,
    For I’m a young cowboy and I know I’ve done wrong.
    —Unknown. As I Walked Out in the Streets of Laredo (l. 5–8)