Chapter 684 Tears of Veterans
Before this economic crisis, Tom didn't see himself participating in any demonstrations. New πΌπΏ Book Bar β πΌπΏππππ‘.πππAfter all, her life is quite rich, she can eat well and wear warm clothes, which already meets Tom's minimum requirements.
But now that the economic crisis has occurred, Tom has understood the gap between him, a member of the lower class, and the upper class of American society.
Although he could still barely survive, for the sake of his family, Tom had to find ways to improve his and his family's lives.
At least in Tom's opinion, asking the government to release retirement benefits in advance is a good option.
After all, this was part of the reward he had received for fighting for the United States, and he had to endure the bumps in the road to fight in Europe.
If you just ask the government to release retirement benefits in advance, the government should agree, right?
Tom was still a little uneasy, but after hearing what John said that tens of thousands of veterans had been invited, Tom gradually felt relieved.
The march of tens of thousands is no longer small-scale, enough to affect states and the federal government.
I believe that as long as the US government is not a fool, it will be impossible to ignore their request of tens of thousands of people to march.
News about such a march would spread throughout the United States at any time, and even as far away as Europe and Australia.
Although it seems that some people like Tom are threatening the government, it is true that they cannot survive and they need better food.
In the end, Tom agreed to John's invitation.
Before leaving, John also told Tom the location of the march, which was near the Capitol Building in Washington, the capital.
It is not only the administrative center of the entire United States, but also a large number of foreign ambassadors and newspapers and media.
Placing the parade location here is not only to make it more formal, but also to use the hands of foreign ambassadors to force the U.S. government to pay attention to the parade of these veterans. γγγuγγxγγ.γγcγγoγγmγ
John and the forces behind him paid a heavy price to gather these veterans.
It costs a lot of money to transport all these American veterans from all over the world to Washington, not to mention that a considerable number of them are traveling with their families.
This is also John's plan. John promised to provide food to these veterans and their families along the way, and the "Democrats" would provide food to these veterans until the march successfully completed its purpose.
This also allows a large number of veterans to choose to bring their families with them. Even if the purpose of the march is not achieved, he and his family will have access to a better source of food during this time.
But Tom didn't do that. In Tom's view, uniting all veterans to pressure the government to release retirement benefits in advance is a last resort. There is no need to escalate the situation and turn it into a huge demonstration of tens of thousands of people.
It is a good thing that the US government can agree to release the subsidy in advance, but if it does not agree, Tom will return immediately and will not conflict with the government.
After all, conflicts with the government will not bring any good results for civilians. Secondly, Tom still trusts the government and believes that President Hoover's relief plan will soon be implemented in Los Angeles. There is no need to damage the government's prestige because of a short-term crisis.
1. A large number of American veterans gathered in Washington, and Tom naturally got on the train from Los Angeles to Washington.
On this obviously contracted train, Tom saw many of his acquaintances, American veterans who had gone to the battlefield together.
As more and more acquaintances were made, Tom gradually became more comfortable with this trip to the March on Washington.
After all, the law does not punish the public, and there are thousands of American veterans gathered on this train. I believe that the U.S. government will properly consider their opinions.
The gathering of veterans took more than half a month, and finally tens of thousands of veterans were successfully gathered before mid-February.
If family members of some American veterans are included, the estimated size of the march has exceeded 20,000 people.
The strange thing is that even though the number of people has exceeded 20,000, John, who claims to be a Democrat, is still responsible for the meals of 20,000 people without any mistakes.
You must know that the daily food consumption of 20,000 people is not a small number at all, and mobilizing huge amounts of food during an economic crisis will test John's energy.
Just the fact that John was able to bring in a large amount of food put a lot of American veterans at ease.
In their view, apart from the ruling Republican Party, the only political party in the United States that can do this may be the Democratic Party.
As for those big consortiums, will they bring veterans together and provide free food for the benefit of these veterans? It's impossible even to think about.
After careful preparation and communication among veterans, 1, the first parade among veterans started smoothly.
In order to expand the impact of this march, John said that the Democratic Party has conducted a detailed study of the route of the march and finally decided on the petition route around the Capitol Building to Capitol Hill.
Yes, John called this march a petition, and said it was just an action that veterans had to take for their own survival, rather than an aboveboard stand up to resist the government.
The first day of the parade quickly attracted the attention of ambassadors and newspapers from various countries. Of course, the U.S. government also received the news and began to determine whether to pay these veterans' retirement benefits in advance.
After all, they were veterans, and because they had careful planning, the parade of these veterans and their families seemed very orderly, which invisibly increased the impact of the parade.
In a short period of time, news about this large-scale demonstration had spread to most of the eastern United States and was even reported to their own countries by ambassadors from various countries.
This has also made the demonstration near the Capitol in Washington the focus of global attention. Everyone is curious about how the US government will handle it, but most people think that the US government will soon agree to the veterans' request.
After all, there are only tens of thousands of veterans, and a retirement subsidy of a few hundred dollars per person adds up to millions of dollars.
Even if some of them receive higher retirement benefits, the total cost will not exceed $10 million.
US$10 million can quell a large-scale demonstration, which is still a very cost-effective deal for most countries, let alone the United States, which has a lot of money.
Even representatives from some countries did not take this demonstration seriously. Whose country does not have many demonstrations, let alone such a relatively peaceful and undemanding demonstration.
The development of things did not surprise the representatives of various countries. The march lasted just over a week, and the U.S. Congress could no longer withstand the pressure.
Since the current ruling party is the Republican Party, the opposition party is naturally the Democratic Party. This march became the best way for the Democratic Party to attack the Republican Party. Regardless of whether it was planned by the Democratic Party or not, the Democratic Party has begun to continuously attack the policies of the Republican Party.
Under this pressure, 1, the U.S. Congress officially voted to pass the Patman Act on early payment of retirement benefits, and submitted the bill to President Hoover under the witness of a large number of media and many veterans.
Everyone thought that the parade was coming to an end, and the veterans had even packed their bags and were preparing to receive their relief funds and return to their hometowns, but an accident suddenly happened.
President Hoover, who had never expressed his stance, directly expressed his strong rejection of the Patman Act after receiving it from Congress.
Before representatives from various countries, newspapers, media and veterans could be surprised, something even more shocking happened.
On February 21, U.S. Army Chief of Staff MacArthur led the main force equipped with tanks, machine guns, and a large number of police officers to launch a brutal suppression of the veterans surrounding the Capitol.
General MacArthur claimed to have been ordered by President Hoover, but only expressed President Hoover's opinion of dispersing the veterans. He did not even give the veterans time to evacuate, and directly began to disperse them by force.
During the dispersal process, the U.S. military and police not only scratched the veterans multiple times with bayonets on their rifles, but also opened fire directly after the veterans resisted, and used tear gas and other weapons to brutally suppress the veterans.
What can these veterans, who have no weapons, no preparations and even bring their families with them, do in the face of such brutal suppression?
Suddenly, the sky over Washington was filled with gunshots, the neighing of military horses, the footsteps of the army and police, the cries of veterans and their families, the sound of police sirens and the sound of fire.
The unprepared group of veterans soon faced hundreds of casualties, including a large number of family members of veterans and many children.
The deaths of friends and family soon made this group of veterans red-eyed. A small number of veterans who had lost their minds rushed directly to the army and police, trying to snatch weapons to resist.
The resistance of the veterans directly aroused the army's more intense fire suppression, and also caused increasing casualties among the veteran groups.
Although a large number of veterans have fled around the Capitol, many people were still injured before they could escape and watched helplessly as their family members fell to the gunfire.
The chaos lasted for more than an hour and was eventually replaced by the wails of veterans and family members.
After the gunfire stopped, Army Chief of Staff MacArthur couldn't bear to look at the veterans group, and used all his strength to issue the last order to the army: "Retreat!"
After the troops withdrew, order was taken over by the police. Veterans and their family members who were not seriously injured were directly detained. The final result was to be transported to the police station and then imprisoned in jails on various charges.
Tom reacted fairly quickly, and since he didn't have any family members with him, he didn't need to worry about anything when escaping.
Although Tom escaped safely from around the Capitol, listening to the deafening gunshots and cries in the Capitol, Tom's trust in the country had collapsed.
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