69 years ago (6/22/1944) modern American culture began when the GI bill was signed...

http://mrdsneighborhood.com/2010/06/22/this-day-in-history-622-the-1944-gi-bill/

On that date, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law P.L. 78-346, or the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944—commonly known as the GI Bill of Rights or simply the GI Bill. This massive program, more than any other program save the interstate highway system, would shape and define postwar America.

The bill was begun under the shadow of tragedy. In 1932, during the height of the Great Depression, thousands of World War I veterans marched on Washington, demanding bonuses promised to them by the government at war’s end. The “Bonus Army” was brutally suppressed by US cavalry units—a shameful episode that Roosevelt’s cabinet did not want repeated after the next conflict.

The 1944 bill contained three important programs. The most famous of these was its education program: the initial bill allowed returning servicemen access to a college or vocational education at no cost. It is estimated that by 1956 (the year the 1944 bill expired) almost 8 million veterans, 51% of all returning service personnel, took advantage of education or training programs subsidized by Washington.

For many returning soldiers, it was the first, and only chance, to get a college or university education. This led to an academic flowering in postwar America, creating some of the most important minds at our service. Engineers, scientists, doctors, lawyers, politicians, judges, and even actors and directors were created thanks to the largesse of the GI bill.