Soldiers to Citizens: The G.I. Bill and the Making of the Greatest Generation

by Suzanne Mettler

"A hell of a gift, an opportunity." "Magnanimous." "One of the greatest advantages I ever experienced." These are the voices of World War II veterans, lavishing praise on their beloved G.I. Bill. Transcending boundaries of class and race, the Bill enabled a sizable portion of the hallowed "greatest generation" to gain vocational training or to attend college or graduate school at government expense. Its beneficiaries had grown up during the Depression, living in tenements and cold-water flats, on farms and in small towns across the nation, most of them expecting that they would one day work in the same kinds of jobs as their fathers. Then the G.I. Bill came along, and changed everything. They experienced its provisions as inclusive, fair, and tremendously effective in providing the deeply held American value of social opportunity, the chance to improve one's circumstances. They become chefs and custom builders, teachers and electricians, engineers and college professors.
But the G.I. Bill fueled not only the development of the middle it also revitalized American democracy. Americans who came of age during World War II joined fraternal groups and neighborhood and community organizations and took part in politics at rates that made the postwar era the twentieth century's civic "golden age." Drawing on extensive interviews and surveys with hundreds of members of the "greatest generation," Suzanne Mettler finds that by treating veterans as first-class citizens and in granting advanced education, the Bill inspired them to become the active participants thanks to whom memberships in civic organizations soared and levels of political activity peaked.
Mettler probes how this landmark law produced such a civic renaissance. Most fundamentally, she discovers, it communicated to veterans that government was for and about people like them, and they responded in turn. In our current age of rising inequality and declining civic engagement, Soldiers to Citizens offers critical lessons about how public programs can make a difference.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Sociology

280 pages, Hardcover

First published August 10, 2005

About the author

Suzanne Mettler is the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions in the Government Department at Cornell University. She is the author of several books, including The Government-Citizen Disconnect; Degrees of Inequality: How The Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream; and The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Programs Undermine American Democracy. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship, and several book awards. In 2017, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Reviews

[Stuart Chappell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read if you want a detailed, scholarly account of the original G.I. Bill's effect on its millions of users and the American society they helped shape. Do not read this if you want the story of the G.I. Bill told in the style of a novel, full of the cast of engaging characters that brought the bill to life. This is not historical fiction, rather findings and interpretations of a research study.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a political science class... it was very interesting and highlights why America was great post-WWII and what we need to do to make that the reality once again. Personal stories included in the book made it enjoyable to read.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely researched/documented.