On This Date In Labor History

July 28, 1794 – French Reign of Terror architect Robespierre was guillotined.

July 28, 1907 – In Raon-l'Etape, France, police opened fire on a peaceful demonstration by strikers, killing two workers. Barricades were raised and the black flag of anarchism was raised.

July 28, 1932 - Federal troops under the order of President Hoover forcibly dispersed the "Bonus Army" of ( 20,000 World War I veterans ) who had gathered in Washington, D.C. on June 17th to demand money they weren't scheduled to receive until 1945. The troops under the command of General Douglas MacArthur and Major George S. Patton are ordered to charge into the veterans and were sent to destroy the temporary shacks in the Bonus Army's camps in Hooverville on the Anacostia Flats forcing the marchers out. Cavalry troops and tanks fired tear gas at veterans and their families and then set the buildings on fire. By the end of the day hundreds of veterans were injured, and several were killed.

The World War I Vets like every body else in the country were suffering with no jobs and money during these early years of the great depression and wanted the Service Certificates they had earned while fighting in World War I paid out early. MacArthur and President Herbert Hoover said they had saved the nation from revolution.

July 28, 1965 - President Johnson informed fellow Americans that he is adding 50,000 troops to the U.S. forces currently in Vietnam, for a total of 125,000 soldiers.