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71-7513 MARTIN, Don Thomas, 1932- THE PUBLIC STATEMENTS OF PRESIDENTS TRUMAN AND EISENHOWER ON FEDERAL AID TO EDUCATION. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1970 Education, history University Microfilms, A XEROX Company , Ann Arbor, Michigan Copyright toy Don Thomas Martin 1971 THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED Copyright by Don Thomas Martin 1971 71-7 513 MARTIN, ! • A ; ‘ - t m i : r " T . ■ :/a a r iT-.i:r-TnriMTS TRUMAN AN. i ; i'NiA WiA FKPCKAI, AID To EDUCATi The OiiA • ,t ijh ; vr . i t: v , Ph.D. , 1970 Eciucat !•■ , : A : forv University Microfilms,A \fROX Company, A n n Arbor Michigan THIS DI'TEPTATIOJI HAr BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED THE PUBLIC STATEMENTS OP PRESIDENTS TRUMAN AND EISENHOWER ON FEDERAL AID TO EDUCATION dissertation Presented In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Don Thomas Martin, B.S. in Ed., M.A. « * # * The Ohio State University 1970 College of Education ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my slnoerest appreciation to Professor Robert B. Sutton for his Invaluable assistance in the preparation and completion of this study. His pro fessional and personal Interest in me was a continuing source of inspiration not only with this work but throughout my entire doctoral program. A speolal note of appreciation is extended to Professor M* Eugene Gllllom for the help he extended me. His interest in my study gave me often needed enoouragement. Appreciation is also extended to Professor Robert E. Jewett for his reading and helpful criticism of this study. Both Professors Gilliom and Jewett have shown interest in me during my doctoral work, and I am grateful to them for their assistance. I offer my most affectionate appreciation to my wife, Jane, for her never ending support during my past years of study, i am also grateful to my children Joe, Holly, and Jenny for their patience and understanding. 11 VITA January 26, 1932 ................ Born— Greensboro, Pennsyl vania 1952 - 1 9 5 6 .....................United States Air Force 1961 ............................. B.C., West Virginia Univer sity, Morgantown, West Virginia 1962 ........................... .. M.A., West Virginia Univer sity, Morgantown, West Virginia 1961 - 1962 ........... Teaoher, University High School, Morgantown, West Virginia 1962 - 1 9 6 3 .................... Teacher, Morgantown High School, Morgantown, West Virginia 1963 - 1966 .....................Teacher, Pleasantvlew High School, Grove City, Ohio 1966 - 1970 ..................... Teaching Associate, College of Education, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Eduoatlon History of Eduoatlon. Professor Robert B. Sutton Soolal Eduoatlon. Professors Robert E. Jewett and M. Eugene Gllllom Philosophy of Education. Professor Everett J. Klrcher ill TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................... 11 VITA ........................................... H I Chapter I. INTRODUCTION.................... 1 II. TRUMAN'S GENERAL VIEWS ON EDUCATION AND HIS SUPPORT OFEDUCATION IN SPECIFIC PROGRAMS . 13 Truman's General Ideas About Education Federal Control Opposed Research and Planning In Education National Needs and Goals as a Basis For Aid National Science Foundation Established Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Proposed Federal Impacted Areas Aid Enacted III. TRUMAN AND EDUCATION IN THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1 9 ^ 8 ................................ ^ 7 NEA Convention Controversy Special Congressional Session Republican Congress and Dewey Criticized Vigorous Support of Teacher's Salaries Call For Partisan Support Federal Aid to Education Compared to Federal Aid to Highways Anti-Communism Is Related to Federal Aid to Education Republican and Democratic Party Platforms The Election IV. TRUMAN'S SUPPORT OF BROAD PROGRAMS OF FEDERAL AID TO EDUCATION ..................................... 75 lv Aid to Elementary and Secondary Schools Aid to Higher Education Traditional Federal Education Programs Crisis As a Basis of Aid V. EISENHOWER'S GENERAL VIEWS ON EDUCATION AND HIS SUPPORT OF EDUCATION IN SPECIFIC PROGRAMS .... 9& Elsenhower's General Ideas About Education Federal Control Vigorously Opposed Segregation in Education Continues Research and Planning in Education National Needs and Goals As a Basis for Aid National Science Foundation Expanded Impacted Areas Aid Continued VI. EISENHOWER AND EDUCATION IN THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS OF 1952 AND 1956 ........................ ISO The 1952 Campaign Party Platforms and Early Maneuvering Democratic Response The 1956 Campaign Republican and Democratic Party Platforms Issues Concerning Federal Aid to Education Candidates' Statements Juxtoposed VII. EISENHOWER'S SUPPORT OF BROAD PROGRAMS OF FEDERAL AID TO E D U C A T I O N ..................................... 173 Aid for Elementary and Secondary Classroom Shortages Financing Federal Aid Teacher Shortages in Elementary and Secondary Schools Specialized Aid to Elementary and Secondary Schools in the National Defense Education Act Aid to Higher Education Temporary Emergency Aid Temporary Aid for Science VIII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ...............................212 Some General Controversies Specific Programs in Education The Presidential Campaigns Broad Programs in Education Financing Federal Aid Some Concluding Comments v BIBLIOGRAPHY CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION When many Americans first encounter the issue of federal sld to eduoatlon, they regard it as a controversial polltioal Issue of quite recent origin. The truth is that federal aid to the nation's schools is as old as our nation, for it began with the Land Ordinance of 1785 in which a section or square mile of federal land in eaoh township of the North west Territory was set aside for the support of education. Between 1785 and World War II, Congress passed a number of eduoatlon bills, but there were only two acts of Congress which can be said to have had as profound an effect upon American eduoatlon as did the Land Ordinance of 1?85: the Morrill Act of 1862 and the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917* The Morrill Act granted to eaoh state thirty thousand acres of federal land for each of its Senators and Representatives in Congress for the purpose of establishing and maintaining at least one iand-grant college of agriculture and the "mechanic arts." Through this act and subsequent legislation, the 1 2 federal government allocated approximately seventeen million acres of land to the various states which, in turn, sold most of it for the building and maintenance of land grant colleges. A logical follow-up of the Morrill Act of 1862 was the Smith- Hughes Act of 1917 which gave considerable aid to the states for training teachers of vocational subjects and for in structing in home economics and various trades. With the exception of limited emergency federal aid provided for eduoatlon during the depression of the 1930's and the Service man's Readjustment Act of 19^. most federal aid to eduoatlon between 1917 and the end of World War II was provided for vocational education. Presidential support of federal aid to education is also considered by many people to have started recently, but, to the contrary, most presidents have spoken in favor of it. President Washington, in his last State of the Union Message, called for the establishment of a national univer sity and a military academy and in a number of his other messages he spoke about the need for the federal government to be Interested in education. Speaking in his Farewell Address Washington said that in the interests of popular government the national government should promote "insti tutions for the general diffusion of knowledge" and said that "In proportion as the structure of government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should bo enlightened."* Although many of the presidents from the late eight eenth through the mid-nineteenth century spoke favorably about federal aid to education, most of their statements were general and lacked specific legislative proposals for eduoatlon and. therefore, had little effect toward the enactment of such aid. But the land grants to the states for educational purposes begun by the Land Ordinance of 1785 were continued under the various Statehood Acts be ginning with the Ohio Enabling Act of 1802 and continuing through the statehood acts of Alaska and Hawaii. Many state eduoational systems benefited from this practice, and a total of 98*5 million acres has been granted by the federal govern ment to the states for the support of public schools.2 In addition to1 the Enabling Aots, in 186? Congress established and President Andrew Johnson approved of a Federal Department of Education which until the mid-twentieth century had as Its main function the collection and diffusion of information *James D. Richardson, editor, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. 1789-1902. I (MawYorks Bureau of National Literature and Art, 189/). p. 212. ^Sidney W. Tledt, The Role of the Federal Government in Education. (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1966), P. 17. 4 about education.^ From President Grant's administration in the Recon struction Period through President Hoover's term of office in the early part of the depression, many of the Presidents spoke even more favorably than their predecessors about the need for federal assistance to education. Yet except for the Smlth-Hughes Act of 1917. not much aid was provided by the federal government