20. The attack on the Bonus Army
On July 28, tired of the negative publicity created by the existence of the Bonus Army, Hoover ordered his Secretary of War to use the US Army to disperse the veterans. The job fell to the Army’s Chief of Staff, Douglas MacArthur, a veteran of World War I. MacArthur relied on Army intelligence which indicated the Bonus Army was incited by Communist influencers, as part of a general uprising to take place that summer. He violated his orders to avoid the use of force, and attacked the Bonus Army encampment with tanks and infantry. After Hoover ordered the attack stopped, MacArthur again ignored the President and launched a second assault.
George Patton, Dwight Eisenhower, and other officers who gained prominence during World War II took part in the attack on their fellow veterans. At least two veterans were killed and over 1,000 injured in the assaults and panic as the veteran’s families fled. Eisenhower wrote the official Army report, which endorsed the actions taken by MacArthur, his boss at the time. The public reaction was for the most part outrage, other than from the conservative wing of the Republican Party. Hoover retained control over the party, though its progressive wing abandoned him completely.