• Hotel stationary with Harry Colmery’s handwritten notes on the GI Bill

    The massive mobilization of industry and manpower with the United States’ entry into World War II lifted the nation out of the Great Depression. But even as the country enjoyed new heights of economic prosperity, American leaders worried about what would happen after the war. In 1942, Roosevelt formed two separate committees to focus specifically on programs to assist returning Veterans and one produced the GI Bill of Rights.

    Content Type: Post

    Last Updated: August 17, 2023

  • Edith Rogers leans in as President Franklin Roosevelt signs the GI Bill on June 22, 1944. Moments later, Roosevelt handed her the signing pen as a token of appreciation for her co-sponsorship of the bill. President Roosevelt is sitting in the Oval Office, Rogers directly behind him standing, with a group of 10 men behind her. (FDR Library)

    Edith Nourse Rogers was a trailblazing politician and prominent proponent for Veterans benefits. She accomplished much in her decades-long career - to include admitting women into military service and creating a G.I. Bill of Rights.

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    Last Updated: April 18, 2023

  • Brigadier General Frank Hines pictured at his desk in the Veterans Bureau headquarters in 1924. (Library of Congress)

    Frank Hines was the longest tenured VA leader, from 1923 until 1945 and end of World War II. He led two different Veteran agencies, first the Veterans Bureau and then the Veterans Administration. Despite constant challenges and changes to the system, he was a stable leader for a new federal agency.

    Content Type: Post

    Last Updated: April 25, 2023

  • Drs. Mildred Dixon and Ivy Brooks: Challenging the Status Quo, by Maureen Thompson, Ph.D.

    In the mid-twentieth century, the lives of Dr. Ivy Brooks and Mildred Dixon, two trailblazing Black women physicians, converged at the Tuskegee, Alabama, VA Medical Center. Doctor's Ivy Roach Brooks and Mildred Kelly Dixon shared much in common. Both women were born in 1916 in the northeastern United States and received training in East Orange, New Jersey. They both launched careers in alternate medical professions before entering the fields of radiology and podiatry, respectively. Pioneering many “firsts” throughout their professional lives, both women faced and overcame the rampant racism and sexism of the era.

    Content Type: Post

    Last Updated: March 26, 2024

  • VA History graphic

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    Content Type: Page

    Last Updated: March 11, 2024