On January 3, 1946, President Harry Truman established the forerunner of today’s Veterans Health Administration when he signed Public Law 79-293, creating the Department of Medicine and Surgery within the Veterans Administration. The bill was the handiwork of three men: General Omar Bradley, the VA Administrator; Dr. Paul Hawley, his chief medical advisor; and Dr. Paul Magnuson, the chair of Northwestern’s Department of Orthopedics. This landmark legislation cemented sweeping changes to Veterans’ health care. The bill exempted medical personnel from the Civil Service hiring regulations, which allowed for doctors and nurses to be selected and appointed more quickly. Additionally, it linked the nation’s medical schools to the VA and initiated a program to construct new VA hospitals.
While the bill was popular with Congress and the public, a last-minute veto push from the U.S. Civil Service Commission threatened to derail its passage. Bradley and Hawley countered the Commission’s objections with their own high-pressure tactics to sway the president. Both threatened to resign on New Year’s Eve if Truman did not sign the legislation. The president chose to side with them and ignore the commission’s entreaties. When the bill became law, Dr. Hawley enthused: “With the signature of the Medical Department Act, our objective is clear, a medical service for the Veteran that is second to none in the world.” He added a promise: “[W]e shall build an outstanding service.”
Equipped with a $500 million budget, Bradley and Hawley set out to make good on that promise and reshape VA health care services. They launched many key initiatives, including the recruitment of 4,000 full-time VA physicians, nurses, technicians, and other medical personnel. They also established the VA Voluntary Service and the Veterans Canteen Service and hired the first 10 female physicians to care for women Veterans. These actions not only improved VA care and increased training opportunities for U.S. physicians but also set the stage for significant growth in VA’s medical research program.
View the Public Law 79-293 (PDF, 5 pages).
By Katie Rories
Historian, Veterans Health Administration
Share this story
Related Stories
History of VA in 100 Objects
Object 90: Pearl Harbor Unknowns Marker
Seamen 1st Class Raymond Emory survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. Decades later, his research and advocacy led the government to add ship names to the markers of the Pearl Harbor unknowns interred in the National Cemetery of the Pacific.
History of VA in 100 Objects
Object 89: VA Film “You Can Lick TB” (1949)
In 1949, VA produced a 19-minute film titled “You Can Lick TB.” The film follows a fictional conversation between a bedridden Veteran with tuberculosis and his VA doctor, dramatizing through brief vignettes the different stages of TB treatment and recovery.
History of VA in 100 Objects
Object 88: Civil War Nurses
During the Civil War, thousands of women served as nurses for the Union Army. Most had no prior medical training, but they volunteered out of a desire to support family members and other loved ones fighting in the war. Female nurses cared for soldiers in city infirmaries, on hospital ships, and even on the battlefield, enduring hardships and sometimes putting their own lives in danger to minister to the injured.
Despite the invaluable service they rendered, Union nurses received no federal benefits after the war. Women-led organizations such as the Woman’s Relief Corps spearheaded efforts to compensate former nurses for their service. In 1892, Congress finally acceded to their demands.
