Piece Description

As World War II came to a close, the United States began mobilizing to support those who had honorably served the nation, offering returning soldiers a remarkable set of benefits. The Story of the GI Bill examines that extraordinary package of educational and financial support affectionately - and often reverently - known as the GI Bill. Signed into law as the war ended, the GI Bill propelled millions of Americans into the middle class. It helped push the nation's economic growth to levels that were simply unimaginable when the war began and was a crucial factor in the longest period of sustained prosperity in the nation's history. In this radio documentary hosted by KALW News director Holly Kernan, the history of the GI Bill is explored by some of its first recipients: the men and women who, raised in the Great Depression and transformed by the war, returned home and became part of a changing America. They include beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, philanthropist Bill Gates Sr., and former Congressional Black Caucus chairman Ronald Dellums. Their stories and others illuminate just how central the GI Bill was to the creation of modern America.