[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 4, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5742-S5744]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIGNING OF THE NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH ACT

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I would like to take a few minutes to 
celebrate a birthday. June 4, 1996, marks the 50th anniversary of the 
signing of the National School Lunch Act by President Harry Truman. 
While turning 50 is not a happy occasion for most of us, the 
celebration of this birthday is one that should make all of us happy.
  The link between proper nutrition and a child's ability to grow and 
to learn is undisputed. The School Lunch Program was founded in part, 
because President Truman saw the alarmingly large number of World War 
II draftees who failed their physicals due to nutrition-related 
problems. President Truman declared it a ``measure of national security 
to safeguard the health and well being of the nation's children.'' 
President Truman was right.
  Numerous scientific studies have documented the nutritional benefits 
of the program--children who eat school meals perform better on 
achievement

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tests and are late and absent from school less often than children who 
did not participate in the programs. Any parent or teacher will tell 
you that a child who has not eaten cannot think and cannot learn.
  In speaking at the 1969 White House Conference on Food Nutrition and 
Health, President Nixon said that ``a child ill-fed is dulled in 
curiosity, lower in stamina and distracted from learning.''
  Over the last year or so the school nutrition programs have been the 
subject of a lot of debate, with many extreme Republicans in the House 
supporting a repeal of the School Lunch Act. This is a program that has 
always enjoyed strong bipartisan support in the Senate.
  Agriculture Chairman Lugar and Senators Dole and Cochran have always 
supported the program, and have really helped make it what it is today. 
Back in 1981 Senators Dole, Cochran, and Helms wrote, then-White House 
chief of staff, Jim Baker and urged the Reagan administration not to 
make cuts to the program.
  In 1995, the Vermont School Lunch Program served over 7,663,000 
lunches to students in 335 schools in Vermont. For many of these 
children school meals are their main source of nutrition. School 
lunches provide one-third to one-half of the recommended daily 
allowances for key nutrients.
  The school nutrition programs have done a fabulous job for the last 
50 years of providing American children healthy school meals that 
prepare them to learn today and to compete tomorrow. This program is an 
example of what is working and what is good about Government.
  Today's school nutrition programs are healthier than ever. As part of 
the Better Nutrition and Health for Children Act of 1994 that I was 
able to pass as chairman of the Agriculture Committee, all schools must 
meet the dietary guidelines for Americans by the 1996-97 school year.
  Many schools are ahead of the deadline and are already meeting these 
guidelines that lower the sodium and fat content of the school meals. 
For those schools that need help, USDA is working with them.
  We in Congress are also working with the schools and asking them what 
they need. Just last week the President signed H.R. 2066 giving schools 
maximum flexibility in how they meet the new dietary guidelines. So I 
think that we have reached a very good medium of Federal support and 
guidelines while giving the individual schools the flexibility to do 
what works best for them.
  Last year marked a major milestone in the history of the National 
School Lunch Program--for the first time in 50 years we made historic 
changes in the nutrition standards for school meals. Under the 
leadership of Under Secretary Haas we have the School Meals Initiative 
for Healthy Children.
  Then, realizing that change cannot be mandated, Under Secretary Haas 
undertook one of the most sweeping, innovative programs in the history 
of the program--Team Nutrition.
  Team Nutrition's mission is to improve the health and education of 
children by creating innovative public and private partnerships that 
promote food choices for a healthy diet through the media, schools, 
families, and communities across the country.
  For 50 years, the National School Lunch Program has prepared children 
for a healthier future.
  Today, as we move into the 21st century, we are celebrating and 
bringing together all those who care about the health of our Nation's 
children. That's what Team Nutrition is all about--local community 
coalitions joining together to promote nutrition education for children 
and families. Already Team Nutrition has over 12,000 schools signed up. 
Team Nutrition is reaching millions of children in thousands of 
communities and inspiring educators, families, and community leaders to 
work together to improve the health of our Nation's children.
  I am also pleased that one of my former communication directors, 
Alicia Bambara, is working with the Under Secretary on this effort and 
doing a wonderful job. She also worked to found a shelter for homeless, 
pregnant women in the District of Columbia.
  I would like to congratulate the School Lunch Program and give a 
special thanks to a few special people who have helped bring so many 
healthy meals to Vermont school children: Jo Busha, the head of the 
Vermont Child Nutrition Program, Marlene Senecal, Connie Bellavance, 
and Sue Steinhurst at the Vermont School Food Service Association and 
Rob Dostis with the Campaign to End Childhood Hunger. I also would like 
to thank all of the wonderful school food service professionals who 
work so very hard at this important task.
  I ask unanimous consent that an article which gives an excellent 
history of the program's first 50 years be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                 Decades of Dedication--The Early Years

                      (By Patricia L. Fitzgerald)

       Despite all the changes of the past 50 years--technology, 
     economics, demographics, legislation--the history of school 
     foodservice is truly remarkable for how much has stayed the 
     same. The mission hasn't changed since the earliest programs 
     in the 19th century: Provide meals to children at school to 
     ensure their health and promote their ability to learn. And 
     while many faces have changed, the school foodservice 
     profession has always been composed of individuals who have a 
     true and dedicated commitment to this mission.
       Many of the obstacles that confronted the profession's 
     pioneers still exist--in different forms--today. These 
     include managing tight budgets, surviving political 
     maneuverings, meeting nutritional requirements in the face of 
     children's tastes and preferences and fighting resistance to 
     consider school meals an integral and intrinsic part of the 
     education system.
       But where did all of this--the need, the dedication, the 
     challenge--begin? How did two groups of foodservice directors 
     find themselves merging together in 1946 to create a 
     profession dedicated to advancing standards and managing a 
     new federal program?


                                 roots

       According to historical records, the first known program to 
     combine lunch and education began in 1790, in Munich, 
     Germany. Court Rumford, Benjamin Thompson, established the 
     Poor People's Institute, which included a program of teaching 
     and feeding hungry, vagrant children. Half of the day, the 
     children worked making clothes for the army and the other 
     half they received an education. Food was primarily a soup 
     made from potatoes, barley and peas.
       Throughout the 19th century, all over Europe, charitable 
     organizations began to take on the burden of feeding and 
     educating children in poverty, but as the century wore on, 
     local governments began to pick up more and more of the 
     financial burden. By 1877, the Paris government started 
     school ``cantines,'' providing meals at public expense for 
     children in need. In England, the Education (Provision of 
     Meals) Act passed in 1905, after lobbying from 365 private 
     and charitable organizations. And in Holland in 1900, a royal 
     decree ordered municipals to supply food and clothing to 
     needy school children.
       These efforts in Europe were paralleled by ones in the 
     United States. In 1853, the Children's Aid Society in New 
     York served meals to students attending vocational school, 
     but it wasn't until 1919 that the Board of Education assumed 
     full responsibility for all lunch programs in Manhattan and 
     the Bronx. The movement was similar in other U.S. cities. In 
     Philadelphia, for example, the Starr Center Association began 
     serving penny lunches in one school in 1894; in 1909, 
     responsibility for operating and supporting the lunch program 
     was transferred to the city's school board.
       In smaller cities, ``charitable organizations'' often meant 
     the mothers of the children at school. In 1904, the Women's 
     School Alliance of Wisconsin began furnishing lunches to 
     children in Milwaukee. The meals were prepared in the homes 
     of women who lived near the schools and were willing to cook 
     and serve. And in rural areas, the responsibility was often 
     assumed by the teachers themselves, preparing soups and other 
     hot dishes from meats and vegetables brought by the children.


                          the great depression

       The stock market crash of 1929 brought a whole new urgency 
     and visibility to the issue of hunger in America. As 
     unemployment skyrocketed, the country's middle class suddenly 
     became the ``new poor,'' and the country looked to the 
     government for help.
       Unfortunately, President Herbert Hoover's administration 
     had no answers, and the Depression wore on without relief. 
     Instead of slowing the expansion of local school lunch 
     programs, the bleak economics drove home their value. In many 
     communities, a school meal program was initiated and provided 
     by a legion of volunteers.
       Aid came in the form of new president Franklin Delano 
     Roosevelt's New Deal, and the establishment of a number of 
     ``alpha-bet organizations,'' government programs designed to 
     provide opportunities for employment. In 1933-34, burgeoning 
     school lunch programs in 39 states found valuable assistance 
     from the Civil Works Administration and the Federal Relief 
     Administration. And in 1935, the Work Projects Administration

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     (WPA) was created; needy women all over the United States 
     found work under WPA programs to prepare and serve school 
     lunches. And with much of the labor burden off of school 
     districts, lunch prices could be kept low, which increased 
     participation.
       Donated commodities were another key to early school lunch 
     success. While unemployment in the cities was rampant, 
     America's farmers were having bumper crops. But without a 
     market to buy, surpluses grew, prices fell and farmers began 
     to go out of business. In 1935, the government began to 
     remove price-depressing surplus foods from the market, and 
     school lunch programs were one excellent outlet for the 
     goods.
       Throughout the 1930s, many states and cities began to adopt 
     legislation--often including appropriations--that mandated 
     schools to serve lunch to students. By 1937, 15 states had 
     passed laws specifically authorizing local school boards to 
     operate lunchrooms, serving meals at cost or less.
       The numbers tell the story. By 1941, WPA school lunch 
     programs were in all states, the District of Columbia and 
     Puerto Rico, serving an average of nearly 2 million lunches 
     daily and employing more than 64,000 people.


                         a sense of permanence

       When America went to war, it sent its boys overseas and its 
     women to work in the defense industry. By 1944, the WPA's 
     payroll was gone, but the demand for continuation of lunch 
     programs was not. In 1944, Congress earmarked funds to 
     maintain the programs for the year and repeated this action 
     in 1945. Behind the scenes, a campaign to establish a 
     permanent, reliable federal subsidy for school lunch was in 
     the works.
       In 1946, Congress recognized the need to establish a 
     national, permanent, federally funded school lunch program. 
     Section 2 of the final law succinctly explains the 
     legislators' rationale: ``It is hereby declared to be the 
     policy of Congress, as a measure of national security, to 
     safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation's children 
     and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious 
     agricultural commodities and other food, by assisting the 
     States, through grants-in-aid and other means, in providing 
     an adequate supply of foods and other facilities for the 
     establishment, maintenance, operation and expansion of 
     nonprofit school lunch programs.''
       After considerable lobbying by the burgeoning school 
     foodservice profession and with the support of some heavy 
     hitters in the Senate, Congress passed the National School 
     Lunch Act of 1946, which was signed into law by President 
     Harry Truman on June 4. In addition to defining 
     appropriations--including those for administrative expenses--
     the new law set minimum nutritional requirements for three 
     types of acceptable lunches.


                            a new profession

       Although school foodservice began with unskilled 
     volunteers, it was quick to grow into a bona fide profession 
     during the 1930s. Cafeteria management and foodservice 
     direction were new careers. And the early pioneers (see 
     sidebar, page 50) developed high standards for sanitation, 
     nutrition and home economics. The Thirties saw the formation 
     of two national organizations created to further this brand-
     new profession: the Conference of Food Service Directors and 
     the National School Cafeteria Association.
       After passage of the National School Lunch Act, these two 
     groups agreed to a merger conference to join forces and 
     create a new organization. On October 10-12, 1946, in 
     Chicago, the School Food Service Association was born (the 
     word ``American'' wouldn't be added to the name of the 
     organization until 1951). There were 300 school foodservice 
     professionals in attendance, representing programs in 34 
     states, as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
     Constance C. Hart, a school foodservice director from 
     Rochester, N.Y., and a founder of the Conference of Food 
     Service Directors, was elected ASFSA's first president.
       Through the end of the 1940's, the Association concentrated 
     on getting on its feet, administering the new federal school 
     lunch program and providing professional development 
     opportunities for its growing membership. In 1947, member 
     rolls were 709. Oklahoma became ASFSA's first state 
     affiliate. The first annual convention was held in Dallas in 
     November. Attendance at the convention was 478, and there 
     were 39 exhibitors, including many still-familiar names, such 
     as American Dietetic Association, The Cleveland Range 
     Company, Florida Citrus Commission, The Hobart Manufacturing 
     Company and the National Livestock and Meat Board. In 1948, 
     membership remained steady, Betsy Curtis was president and 
     the convention was held in Detroit.
       Dr. Mary deGarmo Bryan took the helm in 1948-49, and 
     ASFSA's first constitution was adopted. That year also saw 
     the development of the Association's first membership 
     publication: School Meals. Membership grew to 920. Thelma 
     Flanagan's term as 1949-50 president say many actions that 
     gave shape to the infant association. We'll examine these in 
     the next installment of ``Decades of Dedication.''


                              O PIONEERS!

       The school foodservice profession owes a debt to all of the 
     leaders that guided it through the turbulent waters of change 
     and growth over the past 50 years. In this issue we pay 
     special tribute to just a few of those who fought for the 
     establishment of a federal school lunch program and helped 
     shape a brand-new profession. Their influence is still felt 
     today.
       Dr. Mary deGarmo Bryan. A professional educator, she was 
     largely responsible for the professional standards of the 
     program, teaching many of the first generation of school 
     foodservice professionals. Her 1936 text, The School 
     Cafeteria, was one of the bases for the school lunch program. 
     A professor at Columbia University Teachers College for over 
     20 years, deGarmo was president of ASFSA in 1948-49.
       Marion Cronan. Through her regular column, ``The School 
     Lunch,'' in Practical Home Economics magazine, Cronan was 
     instrumental in bringing the professional concerns of lunch 
     programs to the attention of a foodservice audience. She 
     served as ASFSA president for 1967-68.
       Thelma Flanagan. Considered by many to be Florida's ``first 
     lady of the profession,'' Flanagan also made an indelible 
     impact on the national association. As ASFSA's 1949-50 
     president, Flanagan was responsible for giving the fledgling 
     association some shape, creating specialized departments and 
     instituting long-range planning. Today, the Thelma Flanagan 
     Gold Award recognizes states that excel in meeting ASFSA's 
     Plan of Action.
       Constance Hart. Director of Lunchrooms for the Rochester, 
     N.Y., public school system in 1942, Hart was an early 
     proponent for nutrition education in the schools. A founder 
     of the Conference of Food Service Directors in 1935, Hart 
     became ASFSA's first president, elected at the merger meeting 
     between the Conference and the National School Cafeteria 
     Association. She served in 1946-47.
       Senator Richard B. Russell (D-Ga.) As chair of the Senate 
     Agriculture Committee's Appropriations Subcommittee, his 
     support of the National School Lunch Act was invaluable for 
     getting the bill through Congress.
       John Stalker. In 1935, Stalker headed Massachusetts' 
     commodity distribution program and became the state's 
     director of school foodservice programs. Stalker set 
     nutrition and management standards that were national models. 
     He designed ASFSA's first emblem and served as a valuable 
     legislative leader at both the state and national levels.
       Frank Washam. Director of Chicago's school lunch program, 
     Washam was a leader in the National School Cafeteria 
     Association and a leader in the movement to obtain permanent 
     federal support for school lunches.

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