Origins

"Sometimes I wonder if the majority of the people, those without sons in the army or services, fully understand the task which lies before us to complete this war and then the problems which will have to be solved later. Our world will have to undergo a readjustment program which it has never known before. . . . I have given the thought of returning to school much consideration, but it is a very difficult task to decide because there has been such a great break of time and much has been lost."

Sgt. Gerald Maynard (Class of 1946), March 13, 1945 letter to NC State professor Monroe Evans Gardner.

While fighting World War II, the government planned for the eventual demobilization of American troops. Officials hoped to ease the veterans? re-entry into the civilian labor force and to compensate them for their wartime sacrifices. Painful memories of mass unemployment during the Great Depression, coupled with fears about possible social unrest, persuaded government leaders to approve benefits far more generous than those available to veterans of earlier wars. President Roosevelt told Congress that the nation was ?morally obligated? to ensure that service personnel and their families suffered no further economic hardships once the war was over. These aims were embodied in the official title of the new law: The Servicemen?s Readjustment Act of 1944.

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Credit: Photo by Jack Delano, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

A migrant construction worker in his living quarters, a barn near Manchester, North Carolina, March 1941.

The Great Depression (1929–1941) took a heavy toll on the nation, and government leaders feared that if veterans returned to joblessness and poverty, conditions would be ripe for the rise of a communist or fascist movement. In 1943 President Roosevelt cautioned, "Veterans must not be demobilized into an environment of inflation and unemployment, to a place on a bread line or on a corner selling apples. We must this time have plans ready."

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Credit: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Servicemen's Readjustment Act into law, June 22, 1944. The American Legion initially drafted the legislation and dubbed the proposal "a bill of rights for GI Joe and GI Jane." A publicist for the American Legion shortened its nickname to "the GI Bill (of Rights)." The powerful Hearst newspaper chain popularized the use of this title.

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Credit: Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789-1996, General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11, National Archives.

The first and final pages of the GI Bill.

It provided benefits to all Americans who had served for at least ninety days between 1940 and 1947, whether as enlisted personnel or officers, decorated combat veterans or stateside supply clerks. The equitable spirit of the law contributed to its popularity.

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Credit: Photo by Ralph Mills.

Detail of Memorial Tower.

While the GI Bills have included some provisions for survivors, the bulk of those benefits, as well as provisions for memorials and monuments, have been covered by other laws. NC State honors the memory of alumni who gave their lives for this country with two campus landmarks, the Memorial Tower and the Alumni Memorial Building.

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Credit: Photo by Ralph Mills, 1947.

ROTC cadet saluting at Memorial Tower.

The inscription on the door in the base of the tower reads "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares."

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Credit: Photo by Ralph Mills.

Alumni Memorial Building.

 

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