Coxey's Army
Jacob S. Coxey, Sr. sometimes known as General Coxey (April 16, 1854 – May 18, 1951) of Massillon, Ohio, was an American politician, who ran for elective office several times in Ohio. He twice led Coxey's Army in 1894 and 1914, consisting of a group of unemployed men that he led on marches from Massillon, Ohio to Washington, D.C. to present a "Petition in Boots" demanding that the United States Congress allocate funds to create jobs for the unemployed. Although his march failed, Coxey's Army was an early attempt to arouse political interest in an issue that grew in importance until the Social Security Act of 1935 encouraged the establishment of state unemployment insurance programs. Jacob Coxey was elected Mayor of Massillon in 1931.
Read more about this topic: Massillon, Ohio
Famous quotes containing the word army:
“A poor widow, by the name of Baird, has a son in the Army that for some offence has been sentenced to serve a long time without pay, or at most, with very little pay. I do not like this punishment of withholding pay—it falls so very hard upon poor families.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)