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