Today in Labor History July 28 Cavalry troops and tanks fired tear gas into the war vets shantytown

[Omaha Steve]

July 28

Women shoemakers in Lynn, Mass. create Daughters of St. Crispin, demand pay equal to that of men - 1869


July 28, 1932 - General Douglas MacArthur, assisted by Major Dwight D. Eisenhower, led troops in burning to the ground a shantytown built near the U.S. Capitol by unemployed veterans. Some 20,000 ex-servicemen had camped out in the capital demanding a veterans’ bonus they had been promised but never received. Many were unemployed due to the Great Depression. Cavalry troops and tanks fired tear gas into the shantytown, routing veterans and their families, then set the buildings ablaze. MacArthur and President Herbert Hoover claimed they had saved the nation from revolution.

Read more about this incident at www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1284687 and www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/peopleevents/pandeAMEX89.html


Nine miners are rescued in Sommerset, Pa. after being trapped for 77 hours 240 feet underground in the flooded Quecreek Mine - 2002


Labor history found here http://www.unionist.com/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_07_28_2009

[HawkerHurricane]

1. Which is why MacAurther wasn't relieved

after screwing up in the Philipines in 1941-42. He was the darling of the Republicans, and FDR thought unity was more important than cashiering a idiot who let his air force get destroyed on the ground 12 hours AFTER being told Pearl Harbor was under attack.