‘One of the Most Hateful Episodes in American History’

June 23, 2020

Published in Mainichi Shimbun
(Japan) on 6 June 2020
by (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Eric Stimson. Edited by Gillian Palmer.

“That was one of the most hateful episodes in American history. Whenever my father and grandfather talked about it, they would turn red with rage.”*

Former CBS newscaster Dan Rather was speaking of the Bonus Army. In 1932, during the Great Depression, World War I veterans and their families came to Washington, D.C. from all over the country to request their veterans’ bonuses. They occupied federal property and riverbanks, and were attacked and driven off by none other than the actively serving U.S. Army. It is ironic that Douglas MacArthur, who led the operation, and the regimental commander, George Patton, later became World War II heroes.

But this incident, in which there were many casualties — women and children included — due to the U.S. army’s repression, was a stain on American history; the incumbent U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, lost the next election badly. And yet now, President Donald Trump calls for deploying the military to quell protests against racism, some of which have morphed into riots, and charged the brass with responding to the demonstrations. The secretary of defense soon ended up providing a counternarrative: “The option to use active duty forces … should only be used as a matter of last resort.”

Surprisingly, former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who is highly respected in the military, openly criticized Trump: “He tries to divide us.” He must have been apprehensive that the military’s foundations would crumble if it were used for Trump’s politics of shoring up support by splitting society into friends and enemies. America’s political-military discord occurs just as Hong Kong’s citizens commemorate the Tiananmen incident in China, when civilians were murdered by the military. And incidentally, the aide to MacArthur who requested that he exercise self-restraint in the repression 88 years ago went on to become a World War II hero and president — Dwight Eisenhower.

*Editor’s note: This quotation, although accurately translated, could not be verified.

「それはアメリカ史の中で最も嫌悪に満ちたエピソードの一つだった。父と叔父はそのことを話すたびに怒りで真っ赤になった」。元ＣＢＳキャスターのダン・ラザー氏が語るのは、ボーナスアーミー事件である▲恐（きょう）慌（こう）下の１９３２年、第一次大戦の元将兵や家族が退役軍人ボーナスを求め全米からワシントンに詰めかけた。連邦施設や河原を占拠した彼らに襲いかかり、蹴散（けち）らしたのは何と現役の米陸軍だった▲指揮したマッカーサー、部隊長のパットンが、後の第二次大戦で英雄となったのは皮肉である。しかし連邦軍の弾圧で女性や子どもを含む死傷者多数が出たこの事件は米国史の汚点となり、時の大統領フーバーは次の選挙で大敗した▲さて今日、一部が暴徒化した人種差別への抗議の鎮圧に連邦軍を出動させる構えを見せ、制服組トップをデモ対応の責任者にすると表明したトランプ米大統領だ。すぐに国防長官が「軍出動は最終手段」と反対表明するはめになった▲驚いたのは、軍内の信望の厚い前国防長官マティス氏による「大統領は我々を分断している」との公然たる非難だ。社会を敵味方に分裂させて支持層を固めるトランプ政治に利用されれば、軍の基盤が崩壊するのを危惧（きぐ）したのだろう▲おりしも市民が軍に殺傷された中国の天安門事件を香港市民が追悼しているさなかの米国の政軍関係のきしみだ。ちなみに８８年前のマッカーサーに弾圧の自制を求めた副官が、第二次大戦の英雄から大統領になったアイゼンハワーという。

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