In June 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, A.B. 1904 (1903) signed the "Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944" also known as the G.I. Bill of Rights, which included provisions for educational and vocational training opportunities for veterans. The following October, to prepare for the demobilization and entry of large numbers of men into the College, Harvard’s Corporation appointed Professor Payson S. Wild Counsellor for Veterans. Wild also chaired the University Committee of Veterans, which oversaw veterans programs at the professional schools. Men who were never previously admitted or registered at Harvard College were in the charge of the Counsellor for Veterans. Operating under the auspices of the Committee on Admission, the Counsellor for Veterans helped interpret and make clear the complicated rules, requirements, and provisions of the G.I. Bill for both veterans and College administrators alike.
Harvard President James Bryant Conant in his 1944-1945 Annual Report noted that more than 4,700 men were on leave of absence from Harvard College serving in the U.S. military. These men applied to the Dean of the College for reinstatement to the College after completing their military service. The Committee on Admission handled the applications of men who had received admission certificates, but could not come to the College because of induction.
Harvard’s commitment to the readjustment of veterans to the post-war world was not only focused on returning students and the enrollment of new students, but in serving the needs of veterans in general, which they did through the Veterans Administration Guidance Center (VAGC).
The VAGC began operations at Harvard in March 1945. Harvard ran the VAGC cooperatively with Boston College, Boston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, and Tufts University. It was conducted under the auspices of the Graduate School of Education and Associate Professor of Education Robert H. Mathewson served as its Director. Similar agencies were established at universities throughout the United States. The VAGC served veterans who were referred to it by the Veterans Administration and its primary mission was to aid in the educational and vocational readjustment of WWII servicemen in the greater Boston area.
On March 27, 1945, in anticipation of an allied victory, Harvard sent out a publication titled "What About Harvard?" (HUA 945.94) that was prepared as an informational booklet for veterans who planned to take advantage of the G.I. Bill to pursue a college or graduate school education. It also discussed Harvard’s plans for those veterans returning to Harvard to resume their studies.
In May 1945, a separate Office of the Counsellor for Veterans was established and Wilbur J. Bender succeeded Wild as Counsellor. The Committee on Admission had handled veterans’ applications until the numbers grew in significant number. According to the 1948-1949 Annual Report of the Committee on Admission, in 1946, 52% of admitted men to the College were ex-servicemen; in 1947, 11.3%; in 1948, 11% and in 1949, 3.5%. The 1951-1952 President’s Annual Report notes that the University’s student population grew from 1,826 enrolled in January 1944 to over 14,000 in September 1947.
Under Bender, the Office of the Counsellor for Veterans took on the duties of advising and screening candidates for referral to the Committee on Admission.
Bender also served as Chairman of the Committee on Housing and in November 1945 had produced a Preliminary Report on Housing for Veterans at Harvard (HUF 868.145). The report focused on the College’s dormitory shortage, in particular the lack of affordable housing for married veterans in the greater Boston and Cambridge area. The report predicted that out of a total of 5,890 veterans enrolled at the University, 1,916 or 21% would be married. Recommendations included setting up a permanent full-time University housing bureau to take over housing services of the Phillips Brooks House Housing Bureau; use dormitory space for married students until September 1946; purchase and re-erect 250 National Housing Agency temporary units to be located behind the Business School; and build permanent housing for 200 families borrowing from the Federal Public Housing Authority.
This last recommendation led to the creation in 1946 of Harvardevens, a 200-unit housing complex at the recently deactivated Fort Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts that provided accommodations and small town feeling for a large number of Harvard’s veterans and their families. Unfortunately, Harvardevens was shortlived. In June 1948, on account of growing tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, Fort Devens was re-activated and Harvard lost its veterans housing project.
Also established in 1946, the office of the Advisor for Harvard Wives, which was associated with the Counsellor for Veterans, provided guidance and advice to veterans’ families, and in particular addressed the needs of young wives and mothers. Under the direction of Mrs. Myles Baker, the office offered job placement services for wives, which helped to supplement the small stipend received by their husbands under the G.I. Bill. The office also acted as a meeting place, helped organize social gatherings, gave referrals for where to find second-hand furniture, baby sitters, doctors, shopping information, etc.
By the early 1950s, the numbers of veterans seeking admission to the College and professional schools began to decrease. John Usher Monro, who had succeeded Wilbur Bender as Counsellor for Veterans in 1947, served in the position until the office was closed in 1952. The year 1952 also saw a general reorganization of the administration of Harvard College. One significant change was that the Committees on Admission and on Scholarships and Financial Aids assumed responsibility for administering all veterans benefit programs.
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Payson S. Wild, Counsellor for Veterans
HUP Wild, Payson Sibley, A.M. 1927 (7)
James Bryant Conant, Harvard President
HUP Conant, James B., A.B. 1914 (15b)
Veterans Administration Guidance Center Leaflet, c. 1945
HUF 867.4
"What About Harvard?"
HUA 945.94
Wilbur J. Bender, Counsellor for Veterans
HUP Bender, Wilbur J., A.B. 1927 (2)
Registration of new students, September 1947
HUP-SF Student Life, 1947 (56)
Indoor Athletic Building, showing living quarters for new students on gym floor, September 1947
HUP-SF Student Life, 1947 (54)
Harvardevens Photograph Album, c. 1947
HUF 442.547 p/pf
Bulletin for Veterans' Wives
UAV 124.241
John Usher Monro, Counsellor for Veterans
HUP Monro, John U., A.B. 1934 (5) |
