On December 7, 1931, the National Hunger March gathered in Washington DC to demand jobs and relief.

Unlike other hunger marches of the day, this one was highly organized by the Unemployment Councils which were affiliated with the Communist Party. The march was made up of 1670 delegates representing multiple groups and races. They developed an 8-point list of demands to address the chronic unemployment and poverty that was spreading across our nation. They left from all corners of the United States by car, train, bus and foot with the goal of meeting in Washington DC on December 7, the day that Congress was starting its new session.

Many cities were hostile to the marchers, but the public cheered them on and gave them hospitality on their journey. But they were in for a bitter and hostile reception once they got to DC. President Herbert Hoover had no sympathy for the marchers or the millions of Americans who supported them. He met the marchers with armed police. Vice president Charles Curtis instructed the police that any signs critical of the president were to be removed from the Capitol grounds. Estimates were that 1500 police, 1000 Marines, an unknown number of other government security met the 1670 marchers, armed with weapons.

Neither Hoover nor Congress or AFL President William Green would hear the marchers out. But it did have an effect: the media was forced to report on the hunger problem in the United States. That moved the public to push Congress for relief legislation (which the Hoover, for the most part, did not support). It also set the stage for the 1932 march of the Bonus Army where 43,000 marchers – many veterans – descended on Washington DC to demand cash payment for their “service certificates” which were given to them in 1924, but would only have value in 1945. The movement now extended far beyond political affiliation and was a bona fide act of protest by Americans who were fed up with a government that didn’t address their needs.

In 1932, Hoover was soundly defeated when he ran for re-election by Franklin D. Roosevelt. #PROUAW #History ... See MoreSee Less