SOLDIERS IN THE SCHOOLHOUSE
Established in 1916, with training programs in over three thousand high schools and an enrollment of more than half a million student cadets across the country, the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) is the largest and most enduring military public outreach program in the history of the United States. JROTC has nevertheless been surrounded by controversy. Defenders see it as a magnificent citizenship education and character development program, while its detractors view it as a tool to propagandize and recruit underage youth, persuade minorities to fight America's wars, ensure domestic order, and promote neoliberal globalization.
Soldiers in the Schoolhouse provides a comprehensive history of JROTC and addresses the program's place in the country's national defense and civil-military relations. Arthur T. Coumbe follows the JROTC program through the decades: from its battle against communism in the 1940s and 1950s, to its establishment in inner-city schools as an attempt to instill strict order in the 1960s and 1970s, and to its introduction to disadvantaged Sun Belt neighborhoods in the 1990s—an expansion the military hoped would help meet manpower needs.
Using army memoranda, personal letters, training manuals, and military reports, Coumbe showcases how pedagogical developments, international events, and social forces have affected federally sponsored high school military training. By presenting a better understanding of JROTC's frequently changing and complex role, Soldiers in the Schoolhouse offers insights to how the military views and interacts with US society.
A Message from Arthur
I was first introduced to the JROTC program in the 1980s while serving as an assistant professor of military science at the University of California, Berkeley. My ROTC unit would periodically inspect local JROTC programs. I developed a deeper interest in JROTC during my time as command historian for the U.S. Army Cadet Command (headquarters for the Army’s ROTC program) from 1992 to 2010. In 2010, when I transferred to the Army G-1’s Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis (OEMA), I gained additional insights into the program from a different perspective.
From my experiences in both Cadet Command and OEMA, I concluded that while the program was large, it was poorly understood. Although numerous articles and dissertations focused on various aspects of JROTC, no comprehensive history existed. Most studies, written by educators and sociologists, focused on topics like recruitment or citizenship education, but none provided a full history from a military perspective, covering its origins in the 19th century to the present.
Through my research, I became fascinated by the collaboration among various stakeholders—federal and state governments, military services, citizen groups, and school systems—that shaped the JROTC program. This complex interaction of interests deepened my commitment to understanding its full history, and I hope Soldiers in the Schoolhouse helps bring greater understanding to this important program.
Table of Contents
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms
1. Introduction and Antecedents
2. JROTC in the Aftermath of War, 1918-1929
3. Depression and War, 1930-1945
4. From Truman to Kennedy, 1945-1963
5. McNamara and the Modern JROTC, 1963-1964
6. JROTC Expansion during the Vietnam War, 1964-1973
7. The Advent of the AVF, 1973-1980
8. JROTC in the Reagan Era, 1980-1985
9. JROTC at the End of the Cold War, 1986-1992
10. JROTC in the Post-Cold War Era, 1992-1996
11. JROTC Enters the 21st Century
Index
Annex A
Annex B
Acknowledgments
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