GI BILL
The GI Bill created 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 mil-
itary duty. This legislation came in two parts: the
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 and the
Montgomery GI Bill.
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944
The first GI Bill was proposed and drafted by
the AMERICAN LEGION, led by former Illinois
governor John Stelle, during WORLD WAR II.The
public remembered a post-World War I reces-
sion, when millions of veterans returned to face
unemployment and homelessness. Twice as
many veterans would return from World War II,
and widespread economic hardship was a real
concern. A healthy postwar economy, it seemed,
would depend on providing soldiers with a
means to support themselves once they were
back home.
Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst became the bill’s most ardent and vocal
supporter. Hearst and his nationwide string of
newspapers lobbied the public and members of
Congress to support those who served their
country, and his effort was a success. The bill
unanimously passed both chambers of Congress
in the spring of 1944. President FRANKLIN D.
ROOSEVELT signed the bill into law on June 22,
1944, just days after the D-Day invasion of Nor-
mandy (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944,
ch. 268, 58 Stat. 284).
The original GI Bill offered veterans up to
$500 a year for college tuition and other educa-
tional costs—ample funding at the time. An
unmarried veteran also received a $50-a-month
allowance for each month spent in uniform; a
married veteran received slightly more. Other
benefits included mortgage subsidies, enabling
veterans to purchase homes with relative ease.
Despite initial misgivings over its success,
the GI Bill proved to be enormously effective.
Prior to its passage, detractors feared that paying
the education expenses of veterans would lead
to overcrowding at colleges, which before World
War II were accessible predominantly to mem-
bers of society’s upper class. Critics were con-
