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Too tough-minded to become easy optimists or cynics, too busy to be professional vets, the new generation of veterans flirted only briefly with a hundred or so new vet organizations set up at war's end. Only one in eight joined the American Legion (v. one out of three World War I vets); thanks to the "bonus in advance," they had very little to lobby for (1959 Veterans Administration budget: $5.2 billion). By fusing their talents, skills and energies into civilian life, the World War
II veterans became a major national asset instead of the oft-predicted liability. And as they move into the most productive period of their lives, the U.S. has every reason to expect that they will continue to pay unprecedented dividends.