Pre-Modern Era of Veterans Benefits
Although the General Pension Laws passed after the Civil War would have provided benefits coverage for veterans of the twentieth century (as it had for veterans of the Spanish-American war, Boxer Rebellion and other engagements) members of Congress envisioned a post-World War period of readjustment unlike ever before that would require additional services to help injured veterans reintegrate back into their communities. Reintegration programs like vocational rehabilitation to help wounded troops adapt and find work paved the way for later growth, including the 1944 Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, known simply as “The GI Bill of Rights.” This groundbreaking law, written for the benefit of WWII Veterans, established the framework for subsequent legislation to benefit veterans of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, respectively.
March 3, 1917
“An Act To amend an Act entitled “An Act to authorize the establishment of a Bureau of War-Risk Insurance in the Treasury Department,” approved September second, nineteen hundred and fourteen”
**The War Risk Insurance Act was originally enacted in 1914 as a way to provide insurance for American commerce lost to the war. The amendments passed in 1917 greatly expanded the role and budget of the War Risk Insurance Bureau.
August 9, 1921
May 19, 1924
1932 Bonus Army - March on Washington
1932 BONUS ARMY
Following the 1929 Wall Street crash, a great economic depression set in across America. Veterans who were given Adjusted Service Certificates in 1925 were not able to reimburse them until 1945. As a result, the former military men organized to march on Washington, where they surrounded the U.S. Capitol until they were firebombed under the orders of the Hoover Administration. Ultimately, the marchers left and under an Act of 1936 were awarded their service pensions right away.
March 30, 1933
“National Economy Act of 1933” (An Act To maintain the credit of the United States Government)
**Section 5 of the 1933 Act made VA decisions final and not reviewable by federal courts for over 50 years, until the 1988 Veterans Judicial Review Act ended the bar to review.
June 22, 1944
February 3, 1944
September 2, 1958 - Veterans Benefits codified as Title 38 of the U.S. Code
March 3, 1966
Use the links on this page to access original documents from online public records.
1944—June 27 (58 Stat. 387) An Act To give honorably discharged veterans, their widows, and the wives of disabled veterans, who themselves are not qualified, preference in employment where Federal funds are disbursed.