In 1932, the worst year of the Great Depression, more than twenty thousand mostly homeless World War I veterans trekked to the nation's capital to petition Congress to grant them early payment of a promised bonus. The Hoover Administration and the local government urged Washington, DC, police chief Pelham Glassford to forcefully drive this "bonus army" out of the city. Instead, he defied both governments for months and found food and shelter for the veterans until Congress voted on their request.
Glassford's efforts to persuade federal and local officials to deal sympathetically with the protesters were ultimately in vain, but his proposed solutions, though disregarded by his supervisors, demonstrate that compassion and empathy could be more effective ways of dealing with radical protests than violent suppression.
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. Beginnings
Chapter 2. Monastery on the Hudson
Chapter 3. A New Officer for a New Army
Chapter 4. On the Border, Prelude to France
Chapter 5. The German Spring Offenses and the Allied Defenses
Chapter 6. St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offenses
Chapter 7. Soldiering in Peacetime
Chapter 8. The New Police Chief
Chapter 9. Walter Waters: Glassford's Friendly Enemy
Chapter 10. The Bonus Veterans Arrive
Chapter 11. The Anacostia Flats Camp
Chapter 12. Painting the Bonus Army Red
Chapter 13. Pretext for Expulsion
Chapter 14. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Chapter 15. Whitewashing the Expulsion
Chapter 16. Aftermath
Chapter 17. Factories in the Field and Communists on the Horizon
Chapter 18. Sob Sisters and Busybodies
Chapter 19. Ranching, Policing, and Politics
Chapter 20. The Later Years
Afterword
Notes
References
