What I thought I remembered hearing about this was all wrong. I remembered that Eisenhower commanded troops that fired on veterans who were marching on Washington, killing several of them. Actually it was MacArthur who commanded the troops with Patton commanding the six tanks they sent in. Eisenhower was a lower level officer on MacArthur’s staff who advised him not to go there. Two veterans only were shot, and they were shot by police prompting President Hoover to order the troops to clear the veterans out. The gas they used to help disperse them was nasty stuff. At least one veteran may have died from exposure to it.

What led me to recall the misinformation I remembered hearing about this march was comparing it to what Mubarak did in Egypt. My thought was that any government when confronted by a large, unruly demonstration will first do what is deemed necessary to keep order – even the United States did.

I don’t know exactly what Mubarak ordered against the demonstrations in Trahir Square. I guess his trial, now going on, will bring that out, but my gut feeling is they should leave the guy – once their revered leader – to live out the rest of his days in peace.

Oh, and here’s some newsreel stuff on the 1932 march: