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Church Groups and Federal Aid to Education, 1933–1939

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Ambrose A. Clegg Jr.
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Extract

Earliest efforts to provide some form of federal aid to education can be traced to the days of the Northwest Ordinance of 1785. The century following provided many precedents in legislation and judicial interpretation and witnessed the long heritage of interest by various groups in such proposals. Gordon Lee has carefully examined this background and has analyzed the first major efforts to obtain federal aid for the schools during the years 1870–1890. During the twentieth century there has been a continuous and increasing interest in proposals for federal aid to elementary and secondary schools. More than a dozen bills have received serious consideration by Congress between 1900 and 1945 and since then federal aid bills have been introduced regularly in every session. Congress, however, has failed to pass any of them.

Type
Research Article
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , September 1964 , pp. 137 - 154
Copyright
Copyright © 1964, University of Pittsburgh Press 

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References

Notes

1. Lee, Gordon C., The Struggle for Federal Aid: First Phase: A History of the Attempts to Obtain Federal Aid for the Common Schools. 1870–1890 (New York, 1949).Google Scholar

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7. The most extensive discussion of the New Deal's educational efforts is Harry Zeitlin, “Federal Relations in American Education, 1933–43: A Study of New Deal Efforts and Innovations” (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1958, microfilm). See also, Hopkins, Harry L., Spending to Save: The Complete Story of Relief (New York, 1936).Google Scholar

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9. Ibid., 140. Cf. Pierce v. Society of Sisters 268 U.S. 510 (1925).Google Scholar

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11. Ibid., 155, 157.Google Scholar

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31. Statement of Rev. Johnson, George, Director of the Department of Education, National Catholic Welfare Conference, Ibid., 196–99.Google Scholar

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48. For extended documentation from Protestant journals see Clegg, op. cit., 129.Google Scholar

49. 1937 House Hearings, p. 365. See also Paul Mort, Federal Support for Public Education (New York, 1936), 266–68.Google Scholar

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56. “Wolves in Sheep's Clothing” (editorial), Biblical Recorder, February 2, 1939, 6.Google Scholar

57. Christian Century (editorials): “A Cardinal Speaks,” LV (April 6, 1938), 423–24; “Aid for Catholic Schools in New York and Maryland,” LV (June 8, 1938), 718; “Catholic Bus Bill Adopted by New York Convention, LV (August 10, 1938), 955–56; “Threats to Religious Liberty,” LVI (June 21, 1939), 790–91.Google Scholar

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59. “Threats to Religious Liberty” (editorial), Christian Century, LVI (June 21, 1939), 791.Google Scholar

60. Abel, Aaron I., American Catholicism and Social Action: A Search tor Social Justice, 1865–1950 (Garden City, N. Y., 1960); Broderick, Francis L., The Right Reverend New Dealer: John A. Ryan (New York, 1963).Google Scholar

61. A recent effort to fill this gap is John Courtney Murray, S.J., We Hold These Truths (New York, 1961).Google Scholar

62. “The Issue of Public Aid for Parochial Schools,” Information Service, Department of Research and Education, Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, XVII (June 4, 1938) 1–3. Christian Advocate (New York): Frank M. McKibben, “What is Education?” CXIV (January 19, 1939), 60, 72; “Religion and the Public School,” CXIV (February 2, 1939), 108, 120; “When Church and State Cooperate,” CXIV (February 9, 1939), 132, 144. Watchman-Examiner (editorials): “Christian Responsibility to Educate,” XXVII (September 14, 1939), 1025. Statement of Gould Wickey, Executive Officer, Council of Church Boards of Education, 1939 Senate Hearings, 369–73.Google Scholar