Hoover & the Depression: The Bonus Army

"The saga of the Bonus Army was born out of the inequality of the Selective Service Act (1917), the failure of the government to provide any meaningful benefits to the veterans of the First World War, and the fear and anxiety produced by the Great Depression. During WWI, for the first time in America's history, a wartime army went off to fight composed of more than half draftees. Despite the rigorous propaganda efforts of George Creel's Committee on Public Information, only 97,000 men had volunteered for the war three weeks after America's declaration of war against Germany. Although 2 million men ultimately did volunteer, another 2.8 million were drafted. Draftees were organized into 4 categories, one of which exempted draftees who worked in essential defense industries. By the end of the war, these industrial workers had earned about ten times what the category I troops had earned. They had also avoided the physical, mental, and spiritual hardships of combat, and they were better positioned to survive in the nation's."

Extremely good read!