National Affairs: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE VETERANS?

  • Share
  • Read Later

(4 of 4)

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.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. Next Page