The third talk of the Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy’s Spring colloquium series, featuring Dr. Jennifer Mittelstadt

Bio: Jennifer Mittelstadt is Associate Professor of History at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She has written and edited two books on social welfare, From Welfare to Workfare: The Unintended Consequences of Liberal Reform, 1945-1965 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005) and (with Premilla Nadasen and Marisa Chappell) Welfare in the United States: A History with Documents (New York: Routledge, 2009). A former fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, her writing has appeared in such publications as Jacobin, the New York Times, and the LA Times. Her most recent book is The Rise of the Military Welfare State (Harvard, 2015).

Abstract: Since the end of the draft, the U.S. Army has prided itself on its patriotic volunteers who heed the call to “Be All That You Can Be.” But beneath the recruitment slogans, the army promised volunteers something more tangible: a social safety net including medical and dental care, education, child care, financial counseling, housing assistance, legal services, and other privileges that had long been reserved for career soldiers. The Rise of the Military Welfare State examines how the U.S. Army’s extension of benefits to enlisted men and women created a military welfare system of unprecedented size and scope.

Copies of Dr. Mittelstadt's book will be available for purchase and signing.