| United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945) signed the GI Bill of Rights, formally the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, at the White House in Washington, enacting into law the measure that provided aid to veterans. Standing behind him, left to right, are Bennett “Champ” Clark (January 8, 1890 – July 13, 1954), Democratic Senator from Missouri; James Hardin Peterson (February 11, 1894 – March 28, 1978), Democratic Representative from Florida; John E. Rankin (March 29, 1882 – November 26, 1960), Democratic Representative from Mississippi; Paul H. Cunningham (June 15, 1890 – July 16, 1961), Republican Representative from Iowa; Edith N. Rogers (March 19, 1881 – September 10, 1960), Republican from Massachusetts;Maurice J. Sullivan (December 7, 1884 – August 9, 1953), Democratic Representative from Nevada; Walter F. George (January 29, 1878 – August 4, 1957), Democratic Senator from Georgia; former Governor John H. Stelle (August 10, 1891 – July 5, 1962), Democrat from Illinois and Chairman of the American Legion G.I. Bill Executive Committee; Robert F. Wagner (June 8, 1877 – May 4, 1953), Democratic Senator from New York; Scott W. Lucas (February 19, 1892 – February 22, 1968), Democratic Senator from Illinois; and Alben W. Barkley (November 24, 1877 – April 30, 1956), Democratic Senator from Kentucky. Roosevelt was very aware that disgruntled jobless World War I veterans had swept Fascist parties into power in Italy and Germany after World War I. 1 of those veterans was Führer und Reichskanzler (“Leader and Reichchancellor”) Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945). United States President Herbert C. Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964), Roosevelt’s predecessor, faced the wrath of American World War I bonus marchers, who were brutally treated by United States Army forces under General Douglas MacArthur (January 26, 1880 – April 5, 1964) in 1932. 4 people were killed. With all this in mind, Roosevelt began planning for postwar America as early as 1942. With 16,000,000 men and women in uniform, and the manufacturing base superheated for war production, worries that a 2nd economic crash would occur with the end of the war as the GIs came flooding back home. The American Legion, which had not led the Bonus March fight, had 900,000 members by 1943 and was set to experience a surge in membership as the war ended. Midwestern Legion posts, some of whom had backed free college tuition for veterans, later claimed they were the genesis for the GI Bill. Foremost in the minds of the Legion planners, led by former Governor Stelle, was providing benefits to wounded and maimed veterans. A competitive bill that gave large payouts to veterans but added billions to the debt was proposed, leaving the GI Bill as the only serious possibility. The GI Bill provided tuition, unemployment benefits, training, and healthcare to returning veterans. Yet there were those in opposition. Representative John E. Rankin initially opposed the bill, because he was a rabid racist, and thought benefits for African American GIs would threaten segregation and the unemployment benefits would encourage them to not seek jobs. The benefits would undercut the South’s low-wage economy. Rankin, who held Florida Democrat John S. Gibson’s (January 3, 1893 – October 19, 1960) proxy on the committee to advance the bill, declared he would not honor it. The Legion swung into action, creating the “midnight ride” that saw a police escort taking Gibson to Jacksonville, Florida, in the early morning for an Eastern Airlines flight to Washington to vote on the bill. The timing of the final vote was important – hundreds of thousands of American soldiers had just landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944, and confidence in the United States Armed Forces was high. Some believed the war would end before Christmas. The bill passed both the Senate and the House unanimously. By January 1945, 88,000 veterans had enrolled in benefits. Despite worries about unemployment, only a quarter of unemployment benefits were paid out, and few men received them for the full year. Photographer Robert M. “Bob” Clover (October 8, 1910 – May 29, 1967) was President of the White House News Photographers Association and Assignment Editor for United Press International for 20 years. He was a war correspondent in Europe and photographed the Nuremberg Trials. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0932.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.18 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 5695 x 3329 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Franklin D. Roosevelt Library |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | June 22, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Washington |
| State or Province | District of Columbia |
| Country | United States |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NLR-PHOCO-A-64269 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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