6. Returning veterans
Following both World Wars, films explored veterans and the problems they encountered reentering society. The Roaring Twenties examined the employment difficulties World War I veterans encountered. There was no GI Bill to guarantee returning veterans their jobs following World War I. The film depicted many entering the underworld, enticed by the profits from bootlegging. It was an accurate reflection of the decade, during which Prohibition led to the expansion of organized crime in American cities. The film also presented the havoc caused by the stock market crash of 1929, and its effect on small businesses. Veterans during the period had little in the way of resources provided by the federal government.
The plight of veterans following the Second World War was explored in The Best Years of Our Lives. It presented themes little discussed in public at the time, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), problems with employment during the immediate post-war recession, marital stresses, and emotional and physical obstacles encountered by those wounded during the war. The widespread myth that the “Greatest Generation” had no difficulties returning to society is contradicted by the film, which depicts them in detail through three returning servicemen, Army, Navy, and Air Corps veterans. All three suffered during the war and endured problems returning to society, an accurate reflection of the time. The film won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.