Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Father of the GI Bill: The Law that Created the American Middle Class

Father of the GI Bill: The Law that Created the American Middle Class

Stelle, Roger Thompson
Douglass, Thomas J.

Paperback

Political Biographies

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN13: 9798868060281
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Nov 17 2023
Pages: 252
Weight: 0.65
Height: 0.53 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
In 1944, John Stelle, WW I Veteran and former Illinois governor, became known as The Father of the GI Bill after he quarterbacked a team of American Legion volunteers who, in six short months, saw the GI Bill of Rights written, signed and enacted into law.

During World War II, while Stelle supported the war effort stateside, he received a letter from his son John Albert, who was recuperating in a London hospital after being seriously wounded during an artillery barrage. John Albert, in his letter, wrote about the various types of assistance that returning veterans would need from the U.S. government.

John Stelle, who had been a founding member of the American Legion, took his son's letter to heart and approached Legion leadership with a proposal to organize a committee to draft proposed federal legislation that would address the health, financial and educational needs of returning soldiers. The Legion adopted the idea wholeheartedly and named John Stelle as chairman of the executive committee to lead the project.

Stelle recruited key individuals to participate in the executive committee. They worked day and night for weeks on end to produce an initial draft, which was then presented to the US Senate and House of Representatives. Stelle led the political fight to get the bill enacted, which surprisingly had many critics and opponents, including Franklin Roosevelt himself.

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