Returning Vietnam veterans had every reason to expect that the government would take care of their readjustment needs in the same way it had done for veterans of both World War II and Korea. But the Vietnam generation soon discovered that their G.I. Bills fell well short of what many of them believed they had earned. Mark Boulton’s groundbreaking study provides the first analysis of the legislative debates surrounding the education benefits offered under the Vietnam-era G.I. Bills. Specifically, the book explores why legislators from both ends of the political spectrum failed to provide Vietnam veterans the same generous compensation offered to veterans of previous wars.
Failing Our Veterans should be essential reading to scholars of the Vietnam War, political history, or of social policy. Contemporary lawmakers should heed its historical lessons on how we ought to treat our returning veterans. Indeed, veterans wishing to fully understand their own homecoming experience will find great interest in the book’s conclusions.
Mark Boulton is Assistant Professor of History at Westminster College (MO).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix Introduction: “A Chance for Learning” 1 1. For the Wounded and the Worthy: Veterans’ Benefits from the Early Republic to the Vietnam Era 19 2. The Clash of the Texans: The Making of the 1966 Cold War G.I. Bill 53 3. A Peacetime Bill for the Warrior: Shortchanging the Vietnam Vets 95 4. Mr. President (Have Pity on the Fighting Man): Nixon’s Right Turn for America, Wrong Result for the Veterans 119 5. On the Streets and in the Schools: The Veterans Come Home 155 6. Denouement: Ford’s War on Inflation and Teague’s Last Stand 177 Conclusion: “A Chance for Learning” Missed 207 Notes 217 Bibliography 251 Index 263 About the Author 273
