Audrey Bachmann
Professor Weaver
English 1102
April 18, 2023
The Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944, also known as the GI Bill, signed in 1944, still has its influence on America today. This helped veterans start a new life after World War II by providing them with the education and basic needs needed to build a life in America. This Bill affected millions of veterans around the United States and was an important factor in the availability of post-secondary education, no matter what direction veterans took.
The G.I bill impacted American lives more than imagined. The GI Bill : The New Deal for Veterans by Glenn Altschuler and Stuart Blumin says, “formally known as the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944, it was far from an obvious, straightforward piece of legislation, but resulted from tense political maneuvering and complex negotiations.” The GI bill passing the legislature was more complex than just being able to enact it. It caused democrats and republicans to come together who have previously opposed Roosevelts “New Deal.” The returning soldiers were more supported than they have ever been and were getting the support they needed to build new lives in America. This bill provided veterans with job training, unemployment compensation, assistance in tuition, and housing loans.
The BI Bill affected the whole family at home. In the book The GI Bill Boys : A Memoir by Stella Suberman, it accounts a personal anecdote of how the War, Great depression, and other major events during this period of time affected her family, friends, and herself. I focused on Chapter 12, which is all about how the GI bill affected the veterans she knew. Some of them were relatives, others just peers. When the news came out about this new document, the people all gathered together and read through this bill over and over again, showing its significance. The bill included everyone who participated in the military, which was very inclusive to everybody. “All enrollees got the same benefits, no matter their rank…the bill did not state who were not eligible but who were.” (The GI Bill, 179) The government officials who were in charge did a decent job at trying to include everyone to get good benefits from this, but it was not 100% inclusive. There was still discrimination against Jewish people and people of color, which was not supposed to be the case.
Jack, who served four years in the military, got covered by the GI Bill for four years, which would cover his Ph.D. It would also cover the new people to college to get their undergraduate diploma, which was great. It seemed to cover everything, as the preparers knew the war took a lot of time apart from families. It also offered a home loan which was guaranteed with a zero down payment and a low interest rate. This was a really good deal for returning veterans as it offered so much.
After the War, an estimated 15 million soldiers would be unemployed. Its official name was the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act, which was pushed through the congress. The National Archies, Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (1944), states “President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed it into law on June 22, 1944, just days after the D-day invasion of Normandy,” This was put into place quick, right after the scraps of World War II. This bill was proposed since before the war was over. The name “The GI Bill of Rights” is the public name for it, as it explains more of what it is in the title. The areas it focused on were hospitalization, business and home purchases, and education, which was its main focus. Around 8 million veterans received benefits to help with their education, around 2,300,000 attended a secondary institution, 3,500,000 received training for school, and 3,400,000 received training for jobs. Although this was not everyone who participated in the war, there were a decent amount of people who used the benefits of this bill. The degrees given to post-secondary institutions doubled between 1940 to 1950, and the percentage of Americans with advanced degrees rose from 4.6% to 25%, which is a drastic rise. Not all veterans were able to use this bill to the best of their abilities, as Black vets were not often able to get loans from banks for mortgages in Black Neighborhoods, but also could not really buy homes in suburban white neighborhoods because of the discrimination they received. (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, 1)
Nowadays, the original GI Bill is not still around, but programs and deals used to benefit veterans stemmed from this bill. There is something called the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which is very similar to the old Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (The GI Bill of 1944). In the article, Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) by Veterans Affairs explains the qualifications for this newer bill. To be eligible, veterans must meet at least one qualification. Some include serving 90 days (about 3 months) on active duty on or after September 11, 2001, receiving a Purple Heart on or after September 11, 2001, and were honorably discharged, or a dependent child using benefits transferred by a service member that is qualified. (Post-9/11 GI Bill, 1). Some benefits can include, “Tuition and fees…. Money for housing (if you’re in school more than half time) … Money for books and supplies… Money to help you move from a rural area to go to school.” (Post-9/11 GI Bill, 1). These benefits do expire though after a certain amount of time. If the service a veteran did, ended before January 1, 2013, the benefits will expire 15 years after their last separation date from the active service. If they ended after/on January 1, 2013, the benefits would not expire, due to the law called the “Forever GI Bill – Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act.” (Post-9/11 GI Bill, 1)
This brings me to the newest GI Bill, called the Forever GI Bill. This was signed by Donald Trump in 2017, and this bill officially called the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act, but the shorter name is the Forever GI Bill. The article, G.I. Bill – Definition, Forever GI Bill & Benefits states that, “The bill also helped build America’s Middle class, although it left many minority veterans behind… decades since President Roosevelt signed the first GI Bill, yet it continues to empower and enable veterans and their families to reach their goals.” This bill contradicts the 15-year limitation put into place by the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the benefits veterans got from that older bill. This Bill provides more benefits, like inputs a rehabilitation program to students across the country, helps veterans with educational counseling, and offers veterans who lost eligibility under the Post-9/11 GI Bill program. (G.I. Bill – Definition, Forever GI Bill & Benefits)
Even though the original GI Bill that was signed into law in 1944 expired in 1956, it influenced other Bills to take its place and prosper today to still help the service members of the country today. There are still benefits for veterans, which did not end in the 1950’s, and still provide useful resources to live a healthy and educational life.
Sources Cited:
Glenn Altschuler, Stuart Blumin. The GI Bill : The New Deal for Veterans. Oxford University Press; 2009. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=nlebk&AN=273843&site=eds-live&scope=site
Stella Suberman. The GI Bill Boys : A Memoir. Vol 1st ed. Univ Tennessee Press; 2012. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=nlebk&AN=471648&site=eds-live&scope=site
Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) | Veterans Affairs. (2023, March 9). Veterans Affairs https://www.va.gov/education/about-gi-bill-benefits/post-9-11/
G.I. Bill – Definition, Forever GI Bill & Benefits. (2019, June 7). History.com. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/gi-bill
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (1944). (2022, May 3). National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/servicemens-readjustment-act