The 1940s: The War Years
Recruits doing calisthenics in the stadium
during Hardening Course in 1942.
War was raging in Europe, and after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, the U.S. entered the fray. As the young men left school to serve in the Armed Forces, enrollment dropped to record lows and the vast majority of students remaining in the School of Education were women. Military uniforms appeared all over campus.
In 1940, University President Alexander Ruthven appointed Dean Edmonson to a three-member Steering Committee on National Defense to consider problems of policy and personnel growing out of the draft and other national defense measures. This group later grew into the University War Board. Throughout the war years, the Armed Forces sent various individuals and groups to campus for specialized training. The Judge Advocate General's School took up residence in the Law Quad to prepare Army lawyers.
Judge Advocate General's retreat
in May 1943. JAG students are parading
in the Law Quad, where the school
relocated from Washington, D.C.
By 1945-46, enrollment was increasing rapidly as veterans returned to campus and the University readjusted to peace. From a low of 607 undergraduates and 1,259 graduate students in 1943-44, enrollment in the School of Education jumped to 1,825 undergraduates and 3,285 graduate students by 1948-49.
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