World War II Veterans – Changing the Face of America Returning soldiers from World War II were afforded many opportunities, especially through the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944 (the GI Bill), which was enacted to combat the chaos of 15 million war veterans returning to civilian life. Pre-World War II, many of these soldiers had no education, were unskilled, and lived in overcrowded and substandard housing (Greenberg, 2004). With the opportunities provided by the GI Bill came many changes to American society. Some changes came easily, as a natural progression from opportunity, and some were hard-fought, often with great sacrifice. Among the changes that occurred with the return of World War II veterans were the rise of suburbia, a more educated population, and the advent of the Civil Rights Movement. The Rise of Suburbia When the soldiers returned home from World War II, they returned to a housing shortage. Many generations of families lived together in the same home, thus making for very cramped quarters. The newly married soldiers were quick to start families (the Baby Boom), causing even more of a need for housing. An enterprising businessman, William J. Levitt, addressed the housing shortage with the creation of Levittown in Long Island, New York in 1949. He hired World War II architects and builders, whose experience in building military housing was instrumental in being able to quickly produce affordable housing by constructing the homes in an assembly line process (Hale, n.d.). Veterans and their new families flocked to Levittown, using the low cost mortgage benefit provided to them through the GI Bill to purchase their homes. In the period between 1948 through 1958, 11 million of the 13 million homes tha... ... middle of paper ... ...m1945 to the present. (p. 3-4). Greenwood Village, CO: Author. Greenberg, M. (2004). How the GI bill changed higher education. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 50(41), B.9-B.11. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/214691507?accountid=38569 Hales, P. B. (n.d.). Levittown: Documents of an ideal American suburb. Retrieved from http://tigger.uic.edu/~pbhales/Levittown.html Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Levittown. Digital History. Retrieved January 4, 2014 from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3427 Peeples. M. (2003, June 10). The legacy of Medgar Evers. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1294360 Picker, L. (2013, February 6). The GI Bill, World War II, and the education of Black Americans. The National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/digest/dec02/w9044.html
Murray, and Deborah are among some 50,000 veterans who are homeless, or 1.4 million who are considered at risk of homelessness on any given day, due to poverty, lack of support networks, and marginal living conditions in substandard housing, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They, and all those who put on the uniforms of our nation 's armed services, sacrifice so much to defend the freedoms that we all enjoy and take for granted. Far too many, however, come home unable to defend themselves from the ravages of combat.” (Cole, 2015, Para. 23). Cole also goes on to continue stating “Providing shelter to our female and male veterans is not enough; it is simply one step. The transition from soldier to civilian is often the most difficult part of a veteran 's life. Yet the hardships of going from combat to job application, mortgage payments and working a typical 9-to-5 job, far too often are after-thoughts on the post-military agenda. It is no wonder that long after their active tours, many veterans continue to fight to reclaim their health and well-being.(Cole, 2015, Para.
In 1942, a public housing development went up on Chicago’s near north side to house veterans returning from World War II. They were known as the Francis Cabrini Homes, and “were built in an area that had undergone massive slum clearance”. They consisted of fifty-five two and three story redbrick buildings arranged as row houses, resembling army barracks. The Francis Cabrini Homes housed 600 racially diverse families un...
This brought about the "Servicemen's Readjustment Act -- the G.I. Bill of Rights". The programs were meant to not only educate and train the returning soldiers, but also help them obtain low interest mortgages and business loans. These loans are backed by the Veterans Administration and guaranteed by the government. Most of the suburbs were built as small communities with strip malls. This meant that all families had to have at least one car, if not two, for a second job.
In the first two sections, the author provides different reasons why the working-class youth ended up in the military. Many working-class people have ended up in the military because of their patriotic culture and poor economic background. Many working class youth ended enlisting themselves because they can’t afford going to college or lack of employment. The author also tells us that the “Selective Service System” is class-biased. The rich youth took advantage of the healthcare exemption, employment and college deferment. The working-class youth can’t afford to go to college or get medical exemption. The attempt to use unskilled and unemployed youth in the war seems unfair to author. Draftees from the American territories, African Americans, sons of blue-collar workers and farmers were the highest percentage of not only the enlisted men but also the wounded and deceased men. Appy also explains that men who were enlisted were given bonuses which are equivalent to the one-third of median family income of African American families during the war time (Appy 22). Author also provides a statistics that high school drop-outs were three times more likely to get enlisted than college graduates. A...
This impacted the physical, geographical, and economic landscape of our country. By the end of 1947, the Veterans Administration guaranteed well over one million home, business, and farm loans in which the government co-signed about half ("GI BILL—1952", 1952) .
In the year 1944, US Legislation passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment act, commonly known as the GI Bill of Rights. It is one of the most significant pieces of legislation ever produced by the federal government; one that impacted the United States socially, economically and politically. The GI Bill offers a comprehensive package of benefits, including financial assistance for higher education for veterans of U.S. military service. The benefits of the GI Bill are intended to help veterans readjust to civilian life following service to their country and to encourage bright, motivated men and women to volunteer for military duty. Many factors and contributions have gone into the development of the GI Bill, and it has changed over the years. This research paper will introduce the reader to a brief history of the formation and evolution of the GI Bill, discuss the current benefits that it offers to student populations in response to their specific needs, and introduce current implications that the GI Bill has placed on student veterans and institutions across the nation.
America is the land of opportunity and the land of second chances. People come to America to live a better life, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. When Veterans come back home, all they want is a second chance at life again. They want to come back and be able to start from where they left off. But the government has done very little to help these veterans. The government believes they have done enough with the programs they have created, but it hasn’t had much of a change. The purpose of this essay is to discuss my opinion and what I know about this issue, to benefit The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, who are my intended audience. If the government were to put a lot of effort, like they do for pointless issues, there wouldn’t be many struggling veterans. If the government does more to improve every aspect of the reintegration process of veterans, so many benefits would come out of this action. There are a couple of reasons for why we should work toward improving veterans lives. First, there would possibly be a decrease in the veteran suicide levels and a decrease in the substance abuse aspect. Second, less veterans and families will have to worry about living and struggling with mental illnesses. Third, by improving the economical aspect for these veterans, more will find jobs and less will end up on the street homeless. And lastly, the reintegration process won’t be as hard for these veterans, and they will be able to resume a normal life. This essay is not meant to offend in any way, its purpose is to provide a new perspective over this issue, to cause a change for the better.
World War II opened up several opportunities for African American men during and after the war. First of all, the blacks were able to join the military, the Navy and the Army Air Corps’ (Reinhardt and Ganzel 1). The African Americans were allowed to join the military because they were needed, but they would be trained separately and put in separate groups then the white men because America was still prejudice. (Reinhardt and Ganzel 1). The same went for the African Americans that joined the Navy, only they were given the menial jobs instead of the huge jobs (Reinhardt and Ganzel 1). African Americans that joined the Army Air Corps’ were also segregated (Reinhardt and Ganzel 1). The Army Air Corps’ African American also known as the Tuskegee Airmen were sent to the blacks university in Tuskegee for their training (Reinhardt and Ganzel 1). They became one of the most well known groups of flyers during World War II th...
Following the end of World War II, the United States found itself in a completely different world. The country was no longer in an economic depression and the country emerged as a major World Power. The country was becoming more prosperous and the birth rate was soaring. The need for housing rose and Levittown emerged as the standard for the fulfillment of the new housing need. Levittown, the brainchild of the firm Levitt and Sons, and the first mass produced suburb in the country, had an important impact on the country.
Those studying the experience of African Americans in World War II consistently ask one central question: “Was World War II a turning point for African Americans?” In elaboration, does World War II symbolize a prolongation of policies of segregation and discrimination both on the home front and the war front, or does it represent the start of the Civil Rights Movement that brought racial equality? The data points to the war experience being a transition leading to the civil rights upheavals of the 1960s. World War II presented several new opportunities for African Americans to participate in the war effort and thereby begin to earn an equal place in American society and politics. From the beginning of the war, the black media urged fighting
America’s veterans should be honored because they have suffered through so many hardships that others could not and have not survived, and they did it for their country that they loved and still love today.
The significance of the G.I. Bill to the social and economic development of the United States cannot be overstated. Once a bastion of upper-class intellectuals, university education was now opened up to people from every income level. Practical subjects, such as business and engineering, gained popularity, resulting in a better trained, more productive workforce. Furthermore, the enhancement of Veterans Administration Hospitals has allowed veterans to receive low-cost, quality healthcare, increasingly important to an aging veteran population. Often closely associated with university hospitals, many important research developments have taken place through VA Hospitals, including the development of dialysis machines. Finally, the availability of low-interest mortgages is widely credited with facilitating the post-war housing boom and growth of suburbs. Developments such as Levittown were built expressly with the intent of providing housing for returning soldiers and their families. Nearly 20% of all single-family homes built from 1945-1965 were financed, at least in part, by the G.I. Bill's loan guarantee program. With these subsidies, veterans were able to afford improved housing, fostering the emergence of a new middle class.
They use medication and alcohol for sleeping because they obsess that enemies are coming, they need more consciousness to fight back.
For most young Americans, college has always been preached to them as being a vital part to their success in the adult world; but as they reach this educational rite of passage many find they must take out inflated loans, work part time jobs, or even become dissuaded entirely due to the exorbitant costs of higher education. We must forsake this current antiquated system in favor of government-subsidized tuition. Therefore, college education must be free because of its benefits to the economy, creation of equal opportunity, and the resolution of the student loan crisis. The first ever federal government-backed student loan program began in the 1950s under the National Defense Act (Sourmaidis). This was primarily offered as an incentive for students to pursue math and science degrees to compete with Soviet Russia after the launch of the Sputnik satellite (Sourmaidis).
Halsall, Paul. "Internet History Sourcebooks Project." Internet History Sourcebooks Project. Fordham University, n.d. Web. 11 May 2014.