Trusteeship - November/December 2023 - 37

fallen short? And how can all of this inform
the HESA commission's work this year and
its final recommendations next year? The
answers to these questions should serve to
both inform and motivate HESA commissioners
and advisors in the year ahead.
World War II left an indelible mark on the
Truman Report
The report Higher Education for American
Democracy was commissioned by President
Truman in 1946 and completed in 1947.
Also known as the Truman Commission
Report, the six-volume final report has as
one of its primary recommendations the
establishment of a network of free public
" community colleges, " a relatively new term
at the time but one that became popular and
an important part of the U.S. higher education
system in the years that followed. The
Truman Commission Report also called for increased federal assistance
( " scholarships, fellowships, and general aid " ) for students.
In effect, the Truman Commission called for tuition-free public
education through the 14th grade. Both a product of its time
(the atomic age) and ahead of its time (years before others would
call for free community college), the report cited technological
advances and the need for broader understanding of social processes
as the basis for its recommendations, saying that higher
education was vital to preparing Americans to unite and save
humanity in the atomic age.
The report was also decades ahead of its time in its calls for
embracing and leveraging diversity, describing the country as a
" union of an indefinite number of diverse groups, " a free society
that " seeks to create a dynamic unity. " The Truman Commission
Report followed the conclusion of World War II, a time when U.S.
foreign policy was shifting, asserting " Owing to the inescapable
pressure of events, the Nation's traditional isolationism has been
displaced by a new sense of responsibility in world affairs. " To
achieve this position of global leadership and model of democracy
" requires of our citizens a knowledge of other peoples-of their
political and economic systems, their social and cultural institutions-such
as has not hitherto been so urgent. "
The report's greatest urgency, indeed that of the nation and the
world, was the uncertainty (and fears) of the new atomic age with
its " ambivalent promise of tremendous good or tremendous evil
for mankind. " The report anticipated significant social and economic
changes that would accompany the application of atomic
energy to industrial uses. The authors seemed to point to the need
for education and research to both (1) responsibly and safely use
atomic energy, and (2) protect democracy and world peace.
SHUTTERSTOCK/ WERKAT
To achieve this position of
global leadership and model
of democracy " requires of our
citizens a knowledge of other
peoples-of their political
and economic systems,
their social and cultural
institutions-such as has not
hitherto been so urgent. "
nation and unquestionably helped to shape
the commission's three principal goals for
higher education: " (1) education for a fuller
realization of democracy in every phase of
living; (2) education directly and explicitly for
international understanding and cooperation;
and (3) education for the application of
creative imagination and trained intelligence
to the solution of social problems and to the
administration of public affairs. "
These were very erudite goals focused
more on securing our democracy in an age
of technological complexity, a shifting world
order, new anxieties and uncertainties,
and new pressures on and expectations of
a society that was becoming more diverse
than they were on expanding access to
education or job training. The goals were
about protecting democracy and securing the United States' global
prominence and primacy.
There are clear parallels to today's challenges, needs, and hopes
for higher education. Moreover, one cannot help but be struck
by how ahead of its time this report appears to have been. The
Truman Commission Report lay the groundwork for a massive
community college system and a new model for federally funded
need-based scholarships. It called for actions to overcome educational
inequity and for the first two years of college to be free to all
students. Although progress has been made, one cannot overstate
how much these recommendations (some quite radical) have
shaped U.S. higher education, political platforms, policies, and legislation
in the past eight decades.
Some of the recommendations were adopted and goals realized.
Others were not or, more likely, were unable to achieve their lofty
goals or create conditions for their endurance. To be certain, democracy,
diversity, inclusion, and world peace are not simple matters.
But there were also very concrete recommendations such as
doubling the college-going rate in the United States by 1960. This
recommendation was based on a social calculus reflective of its
time, and certainly not one that would be used today. The commission
determined that at least 49 percent of the U.S. population
had " the mental ability to complete fourteen years of schooling that
should lead either to gainful employment or to further success at
a more advanced level, " and that 32 percent of the population had
the talents necessary to attain a baccalaureate or advanced degree.
The doubling figure also recognized the opportunity provided by
the 1 million veterans returning to college under the G.I. Bill.
The recommendations for enrollment growth were tied directly
to recommendations around access, equity, and affordability. Specific
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