For millions of World War II Veterans, the GI Bill opened the door to
education, homeownership and economic opportunity.
OVER THE PAST 250 YEARS, AMERICAN VETERANS HAVE HELPED BUILD THE NATION THEY DEFENDED. As they returned from service, however, the help they received from the government depended on the era in which they served. The 16 million Veterans who returned from World War II benefitted from arguably the most transformative benefit in American history: the GI Bill. Congress unanimously passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the GI Bill of Rights, on June 13, 1944. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law on June 22, 1944 – just days after the D-Day landings in France.
The GI Bill paid for Veterans to attend college and trade schools, backed lowinterest loans for homes and businesses, provided unemployment allowances and offered job-search assistance. In the first five months following the war, the Veterans Administration processed 1.5 million disability claims alone, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Within the next seven years, about 8 million Veterans had received educational benefits. Approximately 2.3 million attended colleges and universities, 3.5 million received school-based training and 3.4 million participated in on-the-job training. The number of degrees awarded by U.S. colleges and universities more than doubled between 1940 and 1950 according to the National Archives.
By the time the GI Bill expired in 1956, the Veterans Administration – now the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – had distributed $14.5 billion to Veterans, and 4.3 million home loans had been guaranteed, accounting for 20% of all new homes built after the war. The GI Bill provided a path to the American dream for World War II Veterans. It is widely credited with helping build the modern American middle class and contributing to America’s rise as an economic superpower.
MOST VETERANS WERE ON THEIR OWN
America’s efforts to care for its Veterans began modestly. The young nation’s government passed a law in 1776 providing compensation to soldiers and sailors who were disabled during the American Revolution. In 1780, the Continental Congress approved a resolution awarding pensions to the widows of officers. They received half of their husbands’ pay for seven years after their deaths. After the War of 1812, Congress began offering pensions to the wives of all service members killed in action, although officers’ spouses received more generous pensions. In 1832, Congress granted full pay for life to surviving Revolutionary War Veterans who had served for two years or more, and a lesser amount to those who had served at least six months. The Bureau of Pensions was created in 1833 to help administer those benefits. In 1836, the government extended similar benefits to Veterans’ widows.
THE CIVIL WAR
The nearly 2 million Union Veterans who returned from service in the Civil War created a need for institutions that could provide medical care and housing for disabled Veterans. During his second inaugural address, President Abraham Lincoln said it was the reunited nation’s responsibility “to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.” That same month, Lincoln signed legislation establishing the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. One of the first branches opened in Maine in 1866. Commonly known as “Soldiers’ Homes” or “Military Homes,” the facilities became the model for later generations of Veterans hospitals and remained in operation until the creation of the Veterans Administration in 1930. Union soldiers who were wounded or disabled also received pensions. The federal government later expanded those benefits to include aging Veterans and widows. Confederate Veterans and their widows relied on state governments for pension support. While the federal government provided pensions, housing and support for wounded and disabled Veterans, the vast majority of returning American Veterans before World War II were largely on their own when it came to jobs and education. Because most Americans could not afford college before the war, most Veterans did not attend.
GI BILL CHANGES EVERYTHING
Federal leaders were concerned that the nearly 16 million Veterans returning from World War II would face mass unemployment, potentially leading to another depression.
Harry Colmery, a World War I Veteran and member of the American Legion, spearheaded a committee of legionnaires that developed a plan to help Veterans transition from military service. Colmery wrote the original language of what would become the GI Bill. The legislation was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers, R-Mass. When signed into law, the GI Bill provided Veterans with the tools and resources to create better lives for themselves and their families. “With the signing of this bill a well-rounded program of special Veterans’ benefits is nearly completed,” Roosevelt said upon signing the GI Bill. “It gives emphatic notice to the men and women in our armed forces that the American people do not intend to let them down.” The bill was extended several times, helping Veterans after the Korean and Vietnam wars. In 2008, Congress passed a modern version: the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
It provided college and trade school tuition, housing allowances and a stipend for books for Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. The Forever GI Bill further expanded the benefits in 2017. The benefits extended well beyond the Veterans who used them, helping create educational and economic opportunities for their children, grandchildren and future generations. While some Veterans were unable to fully benefit from the original GI Bill because of racial discrimination and other barriers, legislative and policy changes over the decades have expanded access to GI Bill benefits for later generations of Veterans.
Over its lifetime, the GI Bill has provided $410 billion in benefits to Veterans and eligible family members, including $143 billion to more than 2.7 million beneficiaries since 2009, when the Post-9/11 GI Bill took effect. What President Roosevelt said in a speech to Congress in November 1943 still rings true today. “What our servicemen and women want, more than anything else, is the assurance of satisfactory employment upon their return to civil life,” he said.
