[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 80 (Wednesday, June 22, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 22, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                              THE GI BILL

 Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, 50 years ago today, a new 
policy was created that changed the face of America forever. On June 
22, 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the GI 
bill, providing education and housing benefits to millions of returning 
World War II veterans.
  Mr. President, I was one of those veterans. And I was one of those 
whose life was changed by the GI bill. As a result of the benefits the 
GI bill provided, I was able to go to college, create a Fortune 500 
company employing more than 20,000 people, and give something back to 
this country by serving in the Senate for the past 12 years.
  As a poor, working class kid whose parents were immigrants, I had 
little chance of going to college. In those days, college was for rich 
kids. In fact, only 10 percent of high school graduates in America 
attended college in 1944.
  But after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, like millions of other young 
men, I enlisted in the service and spent the next 3 years in the Army. 
I was proud to serve my country.
  My country rewarded me and millions of other veterans by creating 
opportunities for us that were previously unthinkable. Education and 
training, a living allowance, home financing--all became available to 
all veterans.
  The World War II generation of veterans created the most prosperous 
country in the world. America still sees a higher percentage of high 
school graduates attending college than any other country in the world. 
American has the best housing of any country in the world. America has 
the largest middle class of any country in the world. This is the 
legacy of the GI bill.
  Mr. President, this 50th anniversary of the GI bill should remind us 
what this country can do when we pull together for a great public 
purpose.

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