understoodth eirtrou ble s.w hosym pathized with
thcm-cand, mostimpo rtan tofall,whosoundedasif
hewoulddoso me th ingto help them.
Roosevelt'smainideaw asth atth e fede ral
governmentsh ou ldtake th e leadIIIrh clight agains t
the Dep ression .lietoldth e Americanpeople:"The
coulllry need sand d em and s bold. perSlSrelJ[
experimentation.Abo vealltrysome thing ;"l ie
promisedrhcma"NewDeJ.I."
Hoover conde m ne d Roosevel t'spoliciesofgreater
governmemactio n.He wass ur eth atsuchpolicies
wouldonly makething sworse.Thcvwould.he
said." destroyth e veryfounda tio nso fourAml·rican
Thebonusarmy
Inthespringof 1932 th o usan d sofunemp loyed
ex-servicemen poured int o Washington, the
nation'scapital.Theywantedthegovern ment to
give themsome bonus payments that it owed
themfromthewaryears.Thenl"wspapl"rscalle d
rhc mth e"bonusarmy."
T h emenofthe-bonusarmywere determinedro
stay in WashingtonUTHilthe Pr esid entdid some-
th ing tohelpth em .T heysetupa campofrough
shelte rsandhutso ntill'edgeofth e city.Similar
camps cou ld befoundonru bbi shdumpso ut sid e
every larg e 'A merican city by this time. The
homelesspeoplewholive dinthemn am ed their
camps"Ho o vcrvillcs." afte rthePr esident.S,,/dien~nJ1"'1;((~If~(ki,,(rile"10"",,$~""r"{'''''pj" 11 '</," ;"""..."
D.C.'" 1932. ' -.23 eRASIIANIl])tI'RESSIO Nsystem."They wo u ldcause peopleto losetheir
abilit yto stand 011 their o w nfeetandbear theirown
res ponsibilities.If theyw erein tro du ced, he
prophesied grimly."grass willg ro win thestreetso f
a hund redcitil's.athousandto w ns." MThe m aj ori t yofth e Americanpeopleig nored
H oo ver 'sgloomywarning s.OnNovember9.1931,
theyelectedFranklinRooseveltasthenextPresid e nt
ofth e U nitedStatesbythelarg estm ajorityin
Ame rica nhistory.Ino nlysixo f rhc nation's forty-
eightstatesdidH oo ver gaina majorityofthevotes.
In th e othe rfo rt y - t w osta resthepeoplechose
Roosevelt.Thisgatheringofdesperatemenalarmed P resident
H oover. He o rde red so ldiers and the police to
b urnthe ircampandd rivethemo uto f Wash ing-
ton. Asthesmokebillowedupfromth e burning
h utso f th ebonusarmy.agovernmentspokesma n
defendedHoove r's decision. H e saidthat inthe
circumst an ces"onlytwocoursesw ereleft o pen to
th e President"-thJ.tis.thattheP residentcould do
onlyoneo ftWOthings:"Onewas to surre n de rth e
governmenttothemob.T heotherwasto uphold
lawando rde randsu pp ress{crush) the m o b."
An anonymouspo etto okadifferentviewofwhat
hadhappened :
Only tw oCOurSl'Swereo pen,
As anyonecallsec:
T o viudirnt clawand o rde r
Oryieldtoanarch y.
Granted!- theChiefsofGovernment
C an n ottolerate mo b s -
Butisn'tit stra ngeyo uneverthought
Ofgivingth eworklessjobs?
Onlytwo coursesw e reopen-
Whenm enwho hadfought fo r you
Starvedin th e stree tso f ourcities,
Finding n owork todo-
WhenIIIth eriches tofthe coun tries
Babies wep t unfcd -.
Stran ge it neveroccurred toyou
T o givethehungryb read!99