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Article: Veterans Affairs, Department of
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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VETERANS AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF
VETERANS AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF.
On 3 July 1930, Congress established the Veterans Administration and charged it with handling all matters of disability compensation, pensions, home and educational loan benefits, medical care, and housing for American war veterans. Offices for veterans' affairs prior to 1930 originated in the common colonial practice of supporting those disabled in the defense of the colony. A federal veterans' pension provision was administered by the secretary of war under the supervision of Congress from 1776 to 1819, when the program passed entirely to the War Department. In 1849 it moved to the Interior Department, where it remained ...