1932 |
January -- Congress establishes the
Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The R.F.C. was allowed to lend $2 billion
to banks, insurance companies, building and loan associations, agricultural
credit organizations and railroads. Critics of the R.F.C. called it "the
millionaires' dole." |
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April -- More than 750,000 New Yorkers
are reported to be dependent upon city relief, with an additional 160,000
on a waiting list. Expenditures averaged about $8.20 per month for each
person on relief. |
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May -- More than 300 World War I vets leave Portland,
Oregon en route to Washington, D.C. to urge Congress to pass the Bonus
Bill. It took them eighteen days to reach Washington, D.C. |
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June -- Determined to collect their "bonus" pay
for service, between 15,000 to 25,000 World War I veterans gather and begin
setting up encampments near the White House and the Capitol in Washington,
D.C. On June 15, the House passed Congressman Wright Patman's "bonus bill"
by a vote of 209 to 176. The bill fell to defeat in the Senate, however,
62 to 18. The vets maintained their determination to stay camped out until
they got their pay. |
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July -- Hoover signs a $100,000 transportation
bill to assist "bonus Army" demonstrators in getting home. Hoover set a
July 24 deadline for the men to abandon their encampments. On July 28,
when some "bonus Army" members resisted being moved from their camps. Violence
erupted, leading to the deaths of two veterans. Hoover ordered Federal
troops, under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, to assist D.C.
police in clearing the veterans. |
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July -- The Reconstruction Finance Corporation
is authorized to lend needy states sums from the national Treasury. The
money was to target relief and public works projects. |
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November -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
is elected President in a landslide over Herbert Hoover. Roosevelt received
22,800,000 popular votes to 15,750,000 for Hoover |
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