The Greatly Influential Bill

The Greatly Influential Bill

During the late 1890s and early 1900s the second industrial revolution was taking place. This phenomenon brought an increased population into cities and an increase of mechanical transportation like trains, automobiles, and trolleys. These forms of transportation allowed the wealthy to live on the outskirts of the city and commute back and forth everyday. These same privileged Americans were the ones attending the colleges and universities in the country. Suddenly in 1914 the United States was hit with World War I, followed by the Great Depression, and then World War II. During this time education was both not a priority and also unattainable. The main demographic for colleges during this time was young, white males. These were also the people expected and needed to fight in the wars, and during the Depression people rarely had the money to uphold or attend a university. During the Second World War President Franklin Delano Roosevelt came up with the G.I. Bill as a preventive measure from another economic depression. The G.I. Bill provided a paid college education, an unemployment wage for up to 52 weeks, and low interest, zero down payment property loans for black, white, and female veterans. It was instrumental in providing access to middle class prosperity through home ownership and higher educational opportunities.

Instead of immediately returning to the workforce 7.8 million of the 16 million veterans took advantage of the offered free college education. This new influx of students caused the enrollment at schools to increase dramatically; Syracuse University witnessed their student body count go from approximately 6,000 before the war to 19,000 students in 1947. No longer were just the wealthy earning a college education, many veterans that would never had the chance before the war were also exploring higher education. Guss Guss, current resident of the state of Florida and retired social worker, had lost his parents when he was 13 and entered the war because he didn’t have anywhere else to go. The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act allowed him to attend the University of Chicago and later Boston University for graduate’s school, which provided him with a life long career and the ability to raise his son, Lawrence Guss, and send him to college also.

Providing veterans with the opportunity to own a home in the suburbs proved to be an appreciated alternative from renting homes in the city. Owning a piece of land was uplifting and really embedded these