Letter from Mrs. Morton Livingston to Senator Claude Pepper Regarding the School Lunch Program
2/7/1946
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On February 7, 1946, in response to an urgent bulletin sent to all Florida school districts by the state's department of education, Mrs. [Janette] Morton Livingston wrote to Senator Claude Pepper. The December 1945 bulletin expressed concern that the federal government might cease to fund the nation's school lunch program. In her single-page letter, Livingston, president of the Parent Teacher Association of Fort Ogden, Florida, urged the senator to support the program. Her earnest plea was among many letters and telegrams that the senator's office received as Congress held hearings on H.R. 3370, The National School Lunch Act. In 1935, Congress had passed legislation that enabled the secretary of agriculture to purchase surplus agricultural commodities, which were often used to provide school lunches for children who could not afford to pay. Federal funding of school lunches continued on a year-to-year basis during World War II. As the war drew to a close, many school boards hesitated to include the school lunch program because of the decrease in federal support through donated food. The House and Senate held hearings on the creation of a permanent school lunch program in 1944 and 1945, and President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Act into law on June 4, 1946.
Text adapted from “Letter about the School Lunch Program” in the September 2009 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) publication Social Education.
This primary source comes from the Records of the U.S. Senate.
National Archives Identifier:
5815516Full Citation: Letter from Mrs. Morton Livingston to Senator Claude Pepper Regarding the School Lunch Program; 2/7/1946; (SEN 79A-E5, H.R. 3370); Papers Accompanying Specific Bills and Resolutions, 1901 - 1946; Records of the U.S. Senate, Record Group 46; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/letter-from-mrs-morton-livingston-to-senator-claude-pepper-regarding-the-school-lunch-program, May 4, 2024]
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