Reviewed by Nancy Webber

Imagine 16 million GIs returning to civilian life after four years of war with no housing, no job and little or no education beyond high school. “They can make our country or break it,” Harry Colmery, American Legion Commandant, said as he scrawled the outline of the G.I. Bill on a napkin. 

Edward Humes, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Specialized Reporting, argues in Over Here: How the G.I. Bill Transformed the American Dream that the transition from World War II to a booming post-war economy, based on a thriving middle class, was not inevitable, but a fortuitous accident. While the outcome of the “accident” is well known, Hume’s account of how it happened is fascinating. His thesis on one reason for its demise is astounding.

The American Legion sought to compensate veterans for lost time and opportunities. President Roosevelt intended to transform America by offering every citizen, beginning with returning veterans, a “Second Bill of Rights” - the right to a good job, home ownership, health care, education, and a pension. The compromise of these divergent positions was left in the hands of Congressman George Rankin, described by Humes as “a volatile bigot,” who chaired the House Committee on Veteran’s Legislation. While moving beyond the Legion’s compensatory approach, Rankin sought to limit access to whites only. Humes’ description of the legislative process is more suspense story than civics lesson and at each step in the process it seems that the bill could have died. 

Through the death and life of political intrigue, Humes weaves the stories of servicemen and women who grew up during the Great Depression, embarrassed by handouts and never expecting to benefit from their military service. Humes uses their stories, essentially the stories of how the post-war middle class was born, to advocate that the G.I. Bill should rank with the Bill of Rights, the Homestead Act, the Civil Rights Act and the Morrill Land Grant College Act as one of a few pieces of legislation that transformed America. While recent critics have discussed big government programs as relics, unwarranted handouts and failed policies, Humes says of the veteran’s program, “it changed their lives and the country was changed because of them.” 

More than 8 million veterans used the G.I. Bill to improve their own lives and, as a result, the lives of one in every eight Americans. Despite its successes, the G.I. Bill has been steadily weakened since its passage until currently less than one percent of Americans are eligible for benefits. Humes suggests that when WWII veterans came to power, their childhood attitudes toward “handouts” prevailed over the approach of their predecessors, who believed the G.I. Bill was an investment in the future of the nation. He suggests that those who most benefited from the G.I. Bill were most responsible for beginning the cutbacks for future generations of veterans.

Even with this astounding observation, Humes’ work leaves the reader with a persuasive argument that government can work for the best interests of its citizens. For that alone, Over Here is a great read.