Civil Unrest and the Bonus Army

Desperation Sets In.

By 1930 life for many Americans had become unbearably grim. The country's economic collapse called for emergency measures and resources beyond the capacity of local and even state governments. Millions of Americans were displaced from homes and jobs—losses of an intensely personal nature. The obvious helplessness of elected officials and the reluctance of national government to consider larger and sometimes more unconventional measures of relief did little to earn the public's confidence. Disillusioned, desperate for solutions that were not forthcoming, and filled with despair, people banded together to take whatever action seemed justified by conditions they saw as not of their own making. In Arkansas a band of nearly five hundred armed farmers demanded food from a Red Cross administrator. When told that all supplies had been exhausted, the farmers descended upon the town of England and stripped its stores...

[The entire page is 1611 words long]

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