Beyond the Bonus March and GI Bill

"Moving beyond other well documented examples of activism by former servicemen ... Ortiz traces the fortunes of the two major U.S. veterans' organizations, the first the patrician American Legion ... the second the older, smaller and scrappier Veterans of Foreign Wars." Times Literary Supplement "By proving so adeptly that veterans 'cast a long shadow over the New Deal,' Ortiz makes a needed contribution to the literature of the New Deal and the modern welfare state. Above all, he presents a fresh, engaging interpretation of a complicated era." Journal of American History "This book should be on the reading list of any course that touches upon the 1920s and 1930s. Ortiz examines the pivotal role the bonus question played in stoking the anti-New Deal movement lead by Charles Coughlin and Huey Long and how settling this issue proved essential for FDR's decisive electoral victory in 1936." G. Kurt Piehler, University of Tennessee "Stimulating, clearly written, and meticulously documented." The Journal of Military History "Ortiz (Bowling Green State Univ.) has written an interesting account of a neglected component of politics during the New Deal era-- the impact of organized WWI veterans... This book will be required reading for anyone interested in the history of veteran politics and New Deal politics." CHOICE "So much has been written about America in the 1930s that it is hard to say anything new. But, mounting a vigorous argument, Ortiz demonstrates convincingly that scholars have neglected a very important development in this period. Thanks to him, historians will be compelled to rewrite their accounts of the age of Roosevelt." William E. Leuchtenburg, author of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal: 1932-1940