After World War Two, soldiers came home to America, tired, torn, and battered, with psychological and physical scars that would last a lifetime. As they tried to settle into life back in America, e.g. working, marrying, and raising a family, their time spent abroad held them back and made reintegration a hefty goal. Ofttimes they could not hold jobs, struggled with alcohol and drug abuse, and could not have and hold a family.
Regardless of these hardships, however, lawmakers had to and tried to cut costs everywhere they could after such a costly war. This meant that they tried to take benefits from struggling, unemployed veterans, as is the case July, 1949. Lawmakers across the country came out against the “52-20 law (Wilcove)”, a provision of the G.I. bill that guaranteed veterans $20 for 52 weeks if they could not find employment. Those opposed to the bill called it pampering and discriminatory, unfairly helping those who refused to find work.
Just as veterans today are mistreated and have their benefits taken away, veterans sixty years ago were treated the same way.
