Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants
Title
Fighting the Peace at Home: Mexican American Veterans and the 1944 GI Bill of Rights
Department
History
College
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Date Range
2011-2012
Abstract
The Servicemans Readjustment Act of 1944 has become the focus of increased scrutiny. Many of the bill's limitations vis-vis race, gender, and sexuality have been explored by an increasing array of scholars. I contribute to this ongoing debate through an examination of the post-war construction of veteran identity by Mexican American veterans, and the GI Bill's ultimate impact on that process. I place particular emphasis on economic mobility, political activism, and the psychiatric and medical services provided by the Veterans Administration to better illustrate how public policy influenced that identity. Rather than adopting an either/or binary, I examine how this matrix between military service, the GI Bill, and citizenship promoted a bridging process that ultimately informed varying degrees of post-war civic engagement and socioeconomic advancement for Mexican American veterans.
Conference Name
Horizons of Change: The Unexpected, Unknown, and Unforgettable
Conference Location
Seattle, WA
ScholarWorks Citation
Rosales, Steven, "Fighting the Peace at Home: Mexican American Veterans and the 1944 GI Bill of Rights" (2011). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 306.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/306
