Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 22, 1944, this act, also known as the GI Bill, provided veterans of the Second World War funds for college education, unemployment insurance, and housing.
While World War II was still being fought, the Department of Labor estimated
that, after the war, 15 million men and women who had been serving in the armed
services would be unemployed. To reduce the possibility of postwar depression
brought on by widespread unemployment, the National Resources Planning Board,
a White House agency, studied postwar manpower needs as early as 1942 and in
June 1943 recommended a series of programs for education and training. The American
Legion designed the main features of what became the Serviceman’s Readjustment
Act and pushed it through Congress. The bill unanimously passed both chambers
of Congress in the spring of 1944. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed it
into law on June 22, 1944, just days after the D-day invasion of Normandy.
American Legion publicist Jack Cejnar called it "the GI Bill of Rights,”
as it offered Federal aid to help veterans adjust to civilian life in the areas
of hospitalization, purchase of homes and businesses, and especially, education.
This act provided tuition, subsistence, books and supplies, equipment, and counseling
services for veterans to continue their education in school or college. Within
the following 7 years, approximately 8 million veterans received educational
benefits. Under the act, approximately 2,300,000 attended colleges and universities,
3,500,000 received school training, and 3,400,000 received on-the-job training.
The number of degrees awarded by U.S. colleges and universities more than doubled
between 1940 and 1950, and the percentage of Americans with bachelor degrees,
or advanced degrees, rose from 4.6 percent in 1945 to 25 percent a half-century
later.
By 1956, when it expired, the education-and-training portion of the GI Bill
had disbursed $14.5 billion to veterans—but the Veterans Administration
estimated the increase in Federal income taxes alone would pay for the cost
of the bill several times over. By 1955, 4.3 million home loans had been granted,
with a total face value of $33 billion.
In addition, veterans were responsible for buying 20 percent of all new homes
built after the war. The results rippled through the rest of the economy; there
would be no new depression—just unparalleled prosperity for a generation.
The GI Bill has been extended several times. Nearly 2.3 million veterans participated
in the program during the Korean War era and more than 8 million during the
Vietnam era.
