1932 then in 1934 but in America.
On July 17, 1932, thousands of
World War I veterans converged on
Washington, D.C., set up tent camps, and demanded immediate payment of bonuses due to them according to the
World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924 (which made certain bonuses initially due no earlier than 1925 and all no later than 1945).
Walter W. Waters, a former Army
sergeant, led this "
Bonus Army".
It was encouraged by an appearance from retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen.
Smedley Butler, a popular military figure of the time.
A few days after Butler's arrival, President
Herbert Hoover ordered the marchers removed and
U.S. Army cavalry troops under the command of Gen.
Douglas MacArthur destroyed their camps.
Butler, although a self-described
Republican, responded by supporting
Franklin D. Roosevelt in the
1932 US presidential election.
By 1933, Butler started denouncing
capitalism and bankers, going on to explain that for 33 years he had been a "high-class muscle man" for Wall Street, the bankers and big business, labeling himself as a "racketeer for Capitalism".
Roosevelt's election was upsetting for many conservative businessmen of the time, as his "campaign promise that the government would provide jobs for all the unemployed had the reverse effect of creating a new wave of unemployment by businessmen frightened by fears of socialism and reckless government spending.
