The Bonus Army: A Lesson on the Great Depression

After the end of World War I, Congress enacted a bill that would reward military veterans for their service. The bill provided the veterans cash bonuses that would be paid starting in 1945. But as the nation settled into the Great Deression these veterans began to clamor for payment of their bonuses. In May of 1932, and estimated 15,000 veterans and their families made their way to Washington D. C. The events of the "Bonus Army" provide the basis of a lesson for students to examine the plight of these veterans and the eventual response of the federal government to later pass the GI Bill of Rights.