Why did we start the National School Lunch Program?

[underpants]

From "Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill"



ANSWER on post #1

[underpants]

1. ANSWER

ANSWER-National Security. About 40% of WWII draftees were rejected due to ill heath, bad eyesight, or bad teeth due to malnutrition, a result of the Great Depression amongst other things

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_School_Lunch_Act

Establishment of the program
The main driving force to the establishment of the program was not what many would think (only health and nutrition issues), but also national security. The driving force behind the program was actually General George C. Marshall, then a minister on the cabinet in the Truman's Government.
During the WWII, the United States facing the needs for an expanding military to cope with war on two fronts. However many of the conscripts, especially those from working class families had had a hard life in the great depression of the 1930s and had adverse effects on their health. This led to an increasing number of conscripts not meeting basic health requirements for basic military services. This is caused alarm at the Department of Defense as it adversely affected the ability to meet the US troop requirements.
As soon as the WWII was finished, the US was already preparing for the next fight with Communism lead by the Soviet Union. It is with this in mind, with planners preparing for the next wave of conscriptions, that the US launched the National School Lunch Act as a means to boost overall health and nutrition for its population.

http://www.educationbug.org/a/the-history-of-the-school-lunch-program.html
The History of the School Lunch Program


President Harry S. Truman began the national school lunch program in 1946 as a measure of national security.
He did so after reading a study that revealed many young men had been rejected from the World War II draft due to medical conditions caused by childhood malnutrition. Since that time more than 180 million lunches have been served to American children who attend either a public school or a non-profit private school.

http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2395/School-Food-Programs.html
The National School Lunch Program
During World War II, many U.S. draftees were found to be malnourished to such an extent that they were turned down for military service. The realization of this low nutritional state of the general population led to the passage of the National School Lunch Act (NSLA) in 1946, which established the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in elementary and secondary schools. This landmark legislation, although amended many times, continues in force today, with its original objectives still in place. These objectives are "to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation's children, and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities and other food."

[Virginia Dare]

5. Same reason Eisenhower built the Interstate system...

so the Russkys wouldn't get us.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

2. To find a permanent home for over-cooked vegetables...

And to provide full employment for elderly one-eyed women who are tired of the glitz of carnival life.

[rodeodance]

3. actually from what I have read, The health problem (rural men) was

recognized as WWI broke out.

[underpants]

4. LOL

:rofl:

[annabanana]

6. DUzy Alert!. . . . .n/t

[msongs]

7. welfare subsidies for corporate farmers with surplus foodstuffs? certainly dairy welfare

becasue the nation is overflowing with extra cows milk that has no natural market so the dairies are propped up by taxpayer money to keep the supply and demand artificially balanced.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[underpants]

8. I left out Corporate welfare and creating artificial demand

because those are involved but I wanted to highlight the National Security aspect of it.

Good read that book. I haven't finished it yet but so far it is very informative.

[donsu]

9. because we used to care about children - hungry children

a hungry child cannot learn or enjoy life


of course enjoying life will get harder and harder under climate change and the criminal neo cons.

[YvonneCa]

10. Thank you. n/t

[YvonneCa]

11. Because it is impossible...

...to teach a young child when they are hungry. Without the school lunch program...that's what I would face every day in my classroom.