On June 22, 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the G.I. Bill of Rights, probably one of the most important pieces of legislation ever enacted by a United States Congress.

Almost eight million World War II veterans used the bill's educational benefits. Approximately three million enrolled in college, the remainder in a variety of trade schools or specialty schools ranging from culinary training to acting, truck driving, automobile mechanics, beauticians, etc. A similar explosion took place in the housing market. Almost five million veterans bought houses under the bill. The bill's provisions allowed them to buy a house with no down payment, and easy low-interest mortgage payments. Banks were willing to make high-risk loans since the mortgages and financing were guaranteed by the federal government. Relatively few people owned homes before World War II. The Great Depression of the 1930s had virtually crippled the housing market. As Humes points out, "Half of the country's mortgage debt was in default, and housing starts in 1933 were one-tenth the pre-Depression level."(93)

It was Bill Levitt, the builder of Levittown on Long Island, who recognized the potential of the G.I. Bill for housing. He adapted the Òtechniques of high-speed assembly line style constructionÓ using prefabricated building elements. There were no basements in Levittown, no building of separate individual homes one at a time, but crews working back-to-back put together the different elements of a house in record time. As many as fifty houses a day were built. Altogether, Levittown reached 17,500 new houses. With Levitt, the word "developer" entered the vocabulary replacing "home builder." A new generation of veterans entered the ranks of the middle class and suburbia separated from urban centers became a universal phenomena.

The implications and consequences of these changes were enormous. Lakewood California followed Levittown soon to be followed by others. These developments paved the way for shopping centers, road buildings, schools, new industries in furniture, housewares, restaurants, etc. to meet the demand. As Humes points out, it resulted in the "hollowing out of cities" the desertion of whole populations to the suburbs and the destruction of their infrastructure. The automobile completed this separation and the evisceration of public transportation.

There are also ironies that accompanied these dramatic changes. The motive that brought about the G.I. Bill into law was not pure altruism. With the end of the war, legislators worried that the spectacle of millions of veterans descending on the society all at once could result in a nightmare. People remembered the unrest and tension that followed World War I and more recently the forcible ejection of 20,000 veterans in 1932 who had marched and encamped a half mile from the Capitol demanding bonus payments. It was as much fear of a repetition of these events as the more altruistic motives that led to the enactment of the G.I. Bill.

Actually, the bill itself faced serious obstacles before it became law. Many members of Congress, especially Southern Democrats and conservative Republicans led by John Elliot Rankin (Georgia), Chair of the House Committee on Veteran Affairs, sought either to kill the bill outright, or at least to weaken it. They were determined not to allow any social legislation to weaken segregation in the south.

FDR's original idea was to use the G.I. Bill as a springboard to a vaster more comprehensive bill to bring to fruition his Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom from fear, freedom of religion, and freedom from want. That dream was pushed aside in a watered-down bill. The housing provision created a white-only middle class. Levittown, Lakewood, and the other housing developments were for whites only. Among the thousands of new homeowners not a single black face was to be seen. Restricted covenants approved by the Federal government kept blacks out. Similar restraints restricted educational opportunities. Enrollments in Northern Universities were limited by quotas, and in the South perhaps 90% of black veterans attended the traditional Black Colleges. Women also suffered from barriers in their path.

A further irony was the attitude of University administrators toward the veterans. Robert Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago, feared that given the "lower" class background of the veterans the universities could be turned into "hobo jungles." James Conant, president of Harvard, urged veterans to attend the more suitable trade schools. Of course, history proved them wrong. The G.I. generation constituted some of the best students the colleges ever had. They were also responsible for dramatic changes in the way history was understood, for creativity in the arts, in theater, science, etc.

Humes does a good job in telling the story. The book is structured around the lives of individuals and the way the G.I. bill transformed their lives. He paints vivid pictures of outstanding individuals who came out of this period to make major contributions to science and technology, to the arts, to medicine, to literature, and to many other fields. It is a well-written narrative while a little thin in analysis. He doesn't tell us much as to how and why these events took place, but the book is a good introduction to a very important period in American history.

The G.I. Bill left a legacy that has permanently transformed the American life. It is a mixed legacy. On the one hand, it brought hope and a wonderful leg-up for millions, but the racism and prejudice that marred so many of its programs also left its mark. This legacy still remains a challenge for the future.

The G.I. Bill left a legacy that has permanently transformed the American life. It is a mixed legacy. On the one hand, it brought hope and a wonderful leg-up for millions, but the racism and prejudice that marred so many of its programs also left its mark. This legacy still remains a challenge for the future.

Hyman Kuritz is former professor of History and Education at the University at Albany. He received his bachelor's degree at Columbia University under the G.I. Bill.