The US Actually Had Universal Child Care In The 1940's - Bryce Covert Discusses

[matthewf]

[jwirr]

1. I was born in 1941. There was no such thing as universal day care in the area I lived in. My guess

is that if you did not live where they needed workers for the war factories the program was not pushed. Rural areas did not have these factories. Plus it was traditional for grandparents to do child care for the family.

And as to repealing the bill. At the end of the war the men came home and there was a concentrated effort to get the women back into the home so the men could have the jobs. This was definitely unfair to the women but it was no doubt the reason the bill was repealed.

In 1945 when I went to kindergarten fulltime it was still a controversial issue in many states and some did not have a kindergarten for years.

[Rozlee]

2. Head Start isn't a child care program.

But, it sure helped me out with child care costs. The hours that my kids were in the program and that I had to work or attend classes were a life saver. They also had after school programs that were free and that helped out a great deal. This was back in the 1980s. It upsets me to hear about cuts in Head Start and other child programs that made it possible for me to support my family as a single parent and to go back to school. My grandchildren's school has an after school program now that operates on a sliding scale fee and my daughter was on a waiting list to put my grandkids on it, which after two years, she got a slot, which surprised me because she's a high earner. But, they need a certain quota of high income parents to add additional funds to the program for the parents who can't afford to pay very much.

[HoosierCowboy]

3. Not only child care...

....but health care too. During WWII Uncle Sams cost plus contracting meant that defense companies could pass their health care costs onto the bill for all the ships and planes produced.
Health coverage during WWII took off as it was a method of attracting workers that were in demand for war production.