GI Bill

On January 1944 Congress passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act or GI Bill. This one single act had a big impact on veterans, colleges and jobs that we still see today. The American Legion drafted a plan that would give military veterans loans for houses and money for college or vocational training.

                This one event had a huge impact on American society, before the act colleges were for only the white social elite and jobs like doctors and lawyers were only obtained by the privileged. After the act was passed we now had first generation college students. The veterans transformed higher education. Older, more serious and more diverse in race, class, and ethnicity, they soon crowed college classrooms (pg 966).  Men and women who had never even dreamed of going to college were now able too.

                Even though there was a significant increase in African Americans going to college, there were many that were turned away. Many schools in the south remained segregated and there were very few black colleges. Women were also uninformed about the benefits owed to them and thus did not take advantage of the GI Bill. Both African Americans and women found themselves unwelcome in veterans groups that provided information about the new benefits (pg 964).  Even though changes were made in society there was still a long way to go for the civil rights movement.

                Overall The GI Bill transformed American Universities and society to this day. Thanks to the GI Bill 67,000 doctors, 238,000 teachers, 91,000 scientist, 450,000 engineers and 240,000 accounts received an education (pg 967). From this time forward we would see more and more men and women being educated and given opportunities that they wouldn’t have had before the GI Bill. On a personal note not only will my husband be able to complete his education, my son and I will also benefit from his GI Bill.

-What could have happened to all the returning veterans if Congress would have not passed the GI Bill?

-Why do you think the GI Bill succeeded and how did it fail?