Good morning, Whitewater.
Sunday brings a mostly sunny day with a high of eighty-two. We’ll have south winds at around five mph.
Well, of respondents to the FW poll on World Cup viewership, a majority said they’d take a pass (58.62% not watching, with 41.38% watching).
For those who are watching, or as a way to tempt a few more to watch, it’s the United States against Portugal today at 5 PM CT on ESPN. Here’s a brief game preview from two British analysts:
On this day in 1944, Pres. Roosevelt signs the G.I. Bill:
…President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the G.I. Bill, an unprecedented act of legislation designed to compensate returning members of the armed services–known as G.I.s–for their efforts in World War II.
As the last of its sweeping New Deal reforms, Roosevelt’s administration created the G.I. Bill–officially the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944–hoping to avoid a relapse into the Great Depression after the war ended. FDR particularly wanted to prevent a repeat of the Bonus March of 1932, when 20,000 unemployed veterans and their families flocked in protest to Washington. The American Legion, a veteran’s organization, successfully fought for many of the provisions included in the bill, which gave returning servicemen access to unemployment compensation, low-interest home and business loans, and–most importantly–funding for education.
By giving veterans money for tuition, living expenses, books, supplies and equipment, the G.I. Bill effectively transformed higher education in America. Before the war, college had been an option for only 10-15 percent of young Americans, and university campuses had become known as a haven for the most privileged classes. By 1947, in contrast, vets made up half of the nation’s college enrollment; three years later, nearly 500,000 Americans graduated from college, compared with 160,000 in 1939.
One may be a critic of most government spending, without being a critic of all; it seems wholly right that those who fought to defend this country (and the free, civilized peoples allied with us) were deserving of educational and other benefits at the war’s (blessedly victorious) end.
On this day in 1943, Joe McCarthy shows himself, not for the last time, to be a bum:
1943 – McCarthy Breaks Leg in Drunken Accident
On this date future senator Joseph McCarthy broke his leg during a drunken Marine Corps initiation ceremony, despite a press release and other claims that he was hurt in “military action.” Although nicknamed “Tail Gunner Joe”, McCarthy never was a tail gunner, but instead served at a desk as an intelligence officer. In 1951 he applied for medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded to those who had flown at least 25 combat missions. The Marine Corps has records of only 11 combat flights McCarthy flew on, and those were described as local “milk run” flights. Many of McCarthy’s claims were disputed by political opponents as well as journalists.