Bonus Army

American  

noun

U.S. History.

1. a group of 12,000 World War I veterans who massed in Washington, D.C., the summer of 1932 to induce Congress to appropriate moneys for the payment of bonus certificates granted in 1924.

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Example Sentences

The 43,000-member Bonus Army descended on Washington in 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 1, 2022

In 1932, Hoover had seen the Bonus Army protesters occupy the city for a number of months and was feeling pressured by local business owners to clear the streets of veterans who were considered vagrants.

From Salon • Jun. 14, 2020

President Herbert Hoover ordered the Army to disperse the members of the self-named Bonus Expeditionary Force, generally remembered as the Bonus Army or Bonus March, which at one point that sweltering summer numbered approximately 20,000.

From Washington Post • Jun. 3, 2020

As the main camp of the Bonus Army in the swampy Anacostia Flats on the fringes of Washington swelled to 10,000 in mid-June, the Republican House passed a measure to pay the bonus.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2020

One of the most notable protest movements occurred toward the end of Hoover’s presidency and centered on the Bonus Expeditionary Force, or Bonus Army, in the spring of 1932.

From Textbooks • Dec. 30, 2014