    [United States Statutes at Large, Volume 128, 113th Congress, 2nd Session]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    PROCLAMATION 9144--JUNE 20, 2014

    Proclamation 9144 of June 20, 2014

    70th Anniversary of the GI Bill of Rights

    By the President of the United States of America

    A Proclamation

    In the Second World War, a generation risked their lives for people they
    had never met and ideals none of us could live without. As they fought
    to liberate a continent and safeguard the American way of life, our
    Nation resolved to serve them as well as they were serving us. After
    months of heated debate and hard-fought compromise, President Franklin
    D. Roosevelt signed the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, better
    known as the GI Bill of Rights.
    When patriots who had left our shores as barely more than boys returned
    as heroes, the GI Bill allowed them to launch their civilian lives. It
    provided unemployment benefits, home loan guaranties, and subsidies for
    a college education. This bill marked the first time higher education
    was available to large cross-sections of the American people. Because
    veterans took advantage of this unprecedented opportunity, our Nation
    developed the most talented workforce in history. Millions

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    excelled in their careers, started families, bought new homes, or even
    started new businesses, helping to build the greatest middle class the
    world has ever known.
    The GI Bill proved that America prospers when we put a good education
    within the reach of those willing to work for it. Under the Post-9/11 GI
    Bill, our Nation has extended this chance to a new generation. This law
    has helped more than a million veterans, service members, and military
    families pursue a college education. And across our country, employers
    can tap into a vast pool of talent--men and women who are not only
    highly educated but have also served with honor in the most dangerous
    corners of the earth.
    Today, let us celebrate 70 years of opportunity. Let us remember our
    sacred debt to our veterans and recall that when we give them the chance
    to excel, there is no limit to what they might accomplish.
    NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
    America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
    the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 22, 2014, as the
    70th Anniversary of the GI Bill of Rights. I call upon all Americans to
    observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
    IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of
    June, in the year of our Lord two thousand fourteen, and of the
    Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
    eighth.
    BARACK OBAMA