[Pages S5742-S5744]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIGNING OF THE NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH ACT

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I would like to take a few minutes to
celebrate a birthday. June 4, 1996, marks the 50th anniversary of the
signing of the National School Lunch Act by President Harry Truman.
While turning 50 is not a happy occasion for most of us, the
celebration of this birthday is one that should make all of us happy.
The link between proper nutrition and a child's ability to grow and
to learn is undisputed. The School Lunch Program was founded in part,
because President Truman saw the alarmingly large number of World War
II draftees who failed their physicals due to nutrition-related
problems. President Truman declared it a ``measure of national security
to safeguard the health and well being of the nation's children.''
President Truman was right.
Numerous scientific studies have documented the nutritional benefits
of the program--children who eat school meals perform better on
achievement

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tests and are late and absent from school less often than children who
did not participate in the programs. Any parent or teacher will tell
you that a child who has not eaten cannot think and cannot learn.
In speaking at the 1969 White House Conference on Food Nutrition and
Health, President Nixon said that ``a child ill-fed is dulled in
curiosity, lower in stamina and distracted from learning.''
Over the last year or so the school nutrition programs have been the
subject of a lot of debate, with many extreme Republicans in the House
supporting a repeal of the School Lunch Act. This is a program that has
always enjoyed strong bipartisan support in the Senate.
Agriculture Chairman Lugar and Senators Dole and Cochran have always
supported the program, and have really helped make it what it is today.
Back in 1981 Senators Dole, Cochran, and Helms wrote, then-White House
chief of staff, Jim Baker and urged the Reagan administration not to
make cuts to the program.
In 1995, the Vermont School Lunch Program served over 7,663,000
lunches to students in 335 schools in Vermont. For many of these
children school meals are their main source of nutrition. School
lunches provide one-third to one-half of the recommended daily
allowances for key nutrients.
The school nutrition programs have done a fabulous job for the last
50 years of providing American children healthy school meals that
prepare them to learn today and to compete tomorrow. This program is an
example of what is working and what is good about Government.
Today's school nutrition programs are healthier than ever. As part of
the Better Nutrition and Health for Children Act of 1994 that I was
able to pass as chairman of the Agriculture Committee, all schools must
meet the dietary guidelines for Americans by the 1996-97 school year.
Many schools are ahead of the deadline and are already meeting these
guidelines that lower the sodium and fat content of the school meals.
For those schools that need help, USDA is working with them.
We in Congress are also working with the schools and asking them what
they need. Just last week the President signed H.R. 2066 giving schools
maximum flexibility in how they meet the new dietary guidelines. So I
think that we have reached a very good medium of Federal support and
guidelines while giving the individual schools the flexibility to do
what works best for them.
Last year marked a major milestone in the history of the National
School Lunch Program--for the first time in 50 years we made historic
changes in the nutrition standards for school meals. Under the
leadership of Under Secretary Haas we have the School Meals Initiative
for Healthy Children.
Then, realizing that change cannot be mandated, Under Secretary Haas
undertook one of the most sweeping, innovative programs in the history
of the program--Team Nutrition.
Team Nutrition's mission is to improve the health and education of
children by creating innovative public and private partnerships that
promote food choices for a healthy diet through the media, schools,
families, and communities across the country.
For 50 years, the National School Lunch Program has prepared children
for a healthier future.
Today, as we move into the 21st century, we are celebrating and
bringing together all those who care about the health of our Nation's
children. That's what Team Nutrition is all about--local community
coalitions joining together to promote nutrition education for children
and families. Already Team Nutrition has over 12,000 schools signed up.
Team Nutrition is reaching millions of children in thousands of
communities and inspiring educators, families, and community leaders to
work together to improve the health of our Nation's children.
I am also pleased that one of my former communication directors,
Alicia Bambara, is working with the Under Secretary on this effort and
doing a wonderful job. She also worked to found a shelter for homeless,
pregnant women in the District of Columbia.
I would like to congratulate the School Lunch Program and give a
special thanks to a few special people who have helped bring so many
healthy meals to Vermont school children: Jo Busha, the head of the
Vermont Child Nutrition Program, Marlene Senecal, Connie Bellavance,
and Sue Steinhurst at the Vermont School Food Service Association and
Rob Dostis with the Campaign to End Childhood Hunger. I also would like
to thank all of the wonderful school food service professionals who
work so very hard at this important task.
I ask unanimous consent that an article which gives an excellent
history of the program's first 50 years be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:

Decades of Dedication--The Early Years

(By Patricia L. Fitzgerald)

Despite all the changes of the past 50 years--technology,
economics, demographics, legislation--the history of school
foodservice is truly remarkable for how much has stayed the
same. The mission hasn't changed since the earliest programs
in the 19th century: Provide meals to children at school to
ensure their health and promote their ability to learn. And
while many faces have changed, the school foodservice
profession has always been composed of individuals who have a
true and dedicated commitment to this mission.
Many of the obstacles that confronted the profession's
pioneers still exist--in different forms--today. These
include managing tight budgets, surviving political
maneuverings, meeting nutritional requirements in the face of
children's tastes and preferences and fighting resistance to
consider school meals an integral and intrinsic part of the
education system.
But where did all of this--the need, the dedication, the
challenge--begin? How did two groups of foodservice directors
find themselves merging together in 1946 to create a
profession dedicated to advancing standards and managing a
new federal program?

roots

According to historical records, the first known program to
combine lunch and education began in 1790, in Munich,
Germany. Court Rumford, Benjamin Thompson, established the
Poor People's Institute, which included a program of teaching
and feeding hungry, vagrant children. Half of the day, the
children worked making clothes for the army and the other
half they received an education. Food was primarily a soup
made from potatoes, barley and peas.
Throughout the 19th century, all over Europe, charitable
organizations began to take on the burden of feeding and
educating children in poverty, but as the century wore on,
local governments began to pick up more and more of the
financial burden. By 1877, the Paris government started
school ``cantines,'' providing meals at public expense for
children in need. In England, the Education (Provision of
Meals) Act passed in 1905, after lobbying from 365 private
and charitable organizations. And in Holland in 1900, a royal
decree ordered municipals to supply food and clothing to
needy school children.
These efforts in Europe were paralleled by ones in the
United States. In 1853, the Children's Aid Society in New
York served meals to students attending vocational school,
but it wasn't until 1919 that the Board of Education assumed
full responsibility for all lunch programs in Manhattan and
the Bronx. The movement was similar in other U.S. cities. In
Philadelphia, for example, the Starr Center Association began
serving penny lunches in one school in 1894; in 1909,
responsibility for operating and supporting the lunch program
was transferred to the city's school board.
In smaller cities, ``charitable organizations'' often meant
the mothers of the children at school. In 1904, the Women's
School Alliance of Wisconsin began furnishing lunches to
children in Milwaukee. The meals were prepared in the homes
of women who lived near the schools and were willing to cook
and serve. And in rural areas, the responsibility was often
assumed by the teachers themselves, preparing soups and other
hot dishes from meats and vegetables brought by the children.

the great depression

The stock market crash of 1929 brought a whole new urgency
and visibility to the issue of hunger in America. As
unemployment skyrocketed, the country's middle class suddenly
became the ``new poor,'' and the country looked to the
government for help.
Unfortunately, President Herbert Hoover's administration
had no answers, and the Depression wore on without relief.
Instead of slowing the expansion of local school lunch
programs, the bleak economics drove home their value. In many
communities, a school meal program was initiated and provided
by a legion of volunteers.
Aid came in the form of new president Franklin Delano
Roosevelt's New Deal, and the establishment of a number of
``alpha-bet organizations,'' government programs designed to
provide opportunities for employment. In 1933-34, burgeoning
school lunch programs in 39 states found valuable assistance
from the Civil Works Administration and the Federal Relief
Administration. And in 1935, the Work Projects Administration

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(WPA) was created; needy women all over the United States
found work under WPA programs to prepare and serve school
lunches. And with much of the labor burden off of school
districts, lunch prices could be kept low, which increased
participation.
Donated commodities were another key to early school lunch
success. While unemployment in the cities was rampant,
America's farmers were having bumper crops. But without a
market to buy, surpluses grew, prices fell and farmers began
to go out of business. In 1935, the government began to
remove price-depressing surplus foods from the market, and
school lunch programs were one excellent outlet for the
goods.
Throughout the 1930s, many states and cities began to adopt
legislation--often including appropriations--that mandated
schools to serve lunch to students. By 1937, 15 states had
passed laws specifically authorizing local school boards to
operate lunchrooms, serving meals at cost or less.
The numbers tell the story. By 1941, WPA school lunch
programs were in all states, the District of Columbia and
Puerto Rico, serving an average of nearly 2 million lunches
daily and employing more than 64,000 people.

a sense of permanence

When America went to war, it sent its boys overseas and its
women to work in the defense industry. By 1944, the WPA's
payroll was gone, but the demand for continuation of lunch
programs was not. In 1944, Congress earmarked funds to
maintain the programs for the year and repeated this action
in 1945. Behind the scenes, a campaign to establish a
permanent, reliable federal subsidy for school lunch was in
the works.
In 1946, Congress recognized the need to establish a
national, permanent, federally funded school lunch program.
Section 2 of the final law succinctly explains the
legislators' rationale: ``It is hereby declared to be the
policy of Congress, as a measure of national security, to
safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation's children
and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious
agricultural commodities and other food, by assisting the
States, through grants-in-aid and other means, in providing
an adequate supply of foods and other facilities for the
establishment, maintenance, operation and expansion of
nonprofit school lunch programs.''
After considerable lobbying by the burgeoning school
foodservice profession and with the support of some heavy
hitters in the Senate, Congress passed the National School
Lunch Act of 1946, which was signed into law by President
Harry Truman on June 4. In addition to defining
appropriations--including those for administrative expenses--
the new law set minimum nutritional requirements for three
types of acceptable lunches.

a new profession

Although school foodservice began with unskilled
volunteers, it was quick to grow into a bona fide profession
during the 1930s. Cafeteria management and foodservice
direction were new careers. And the early pioneers (see
sidebar, page 50) developed high standards for sanitation,
nutrition and home economics. The Thirties saw the formation
of two national organizations created to further this brand-
new profession: the Conference of Food Service Directors and
the National School Cafeteria Association.
After passage of the National School Lunch Act, these two
groups agreed to a merger conference to join forces and
create a new organization. On October 10-12, 1946, in
Chicago, the School Food Service Association was born (the
word ``American'' wouldn't be added to the name of the
organization until 1951). There were 300 school foodservice
professionals in attendance, representing programs in 34
states, as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Constance C. Hart, a school foodservice director from
Rochester, N.Y., and a founder of the Conference of Food
Service Directors, was elected ASFSA's first president.
Through the end of the 1940's, the Association concentrated
on getting on its feet, administering the new federal school
lunch program and providing professional development
opportunities for its growing membership. In 1947, member
rolls were 709. Oklahoma became ASFSA's first state
affiliate. The first annual convention was held in Dallas in
November. Attendance at the convention was 478, and there
were 39 exhibitors, including many still-familiar names, such
as American Dietetic Association, The Cleveland Range
Company, Florida Citrus Commission, The Hobart Manufacturing
Company and the National Livestock and Meat Board. In 1948,
membership remained steady, Betsy Curtis was president and
the convention was held in Detroit.
Dr. Mary deGarmo Bryan took the helm in 1948-49, and
ASFSA's first constitution was adopted. That year also saw
the development of the Association's first membership
publication: School Meals. Membership grew to 920. Thelma
Flanagan's term as 1949-50 president say many actions that
gave shape to the infant association. We'll examine these in
the next installment of ``Decades of Dedication.''

O PIONEERS!

The school foodservice profession owes a debt to all of the
leaders that guided it through the turbulent waters of change
and growth over the past 50 years. In this issue we pay
special tribute to just a few of those who fought for the
establishment of a federal school lunch program and helped
shape a brand-new profession. Their influence is still felt
today.
Dr. Mary deGarmo Bryan. A professional educator, she was
largely responsible for the professional standards of the
program, teaching many of the first generation of school
foodservice professionals. Her 1936 text, The School
Cafeteria, was one of the bases for the school lunch program.
A professor at Columbia University Teachers College for over
20 years, deGarmo was president of ASFSA in 1948-49.
Marion Cronan. Through her regular column, ``The School
Lunch,'' in Practical Home Economics magazine, Cronan was
instrumental in bringing the professional concerns of lunch
programs to the attention of a foodservice audience. She
served as ASFSA president for 1967-68.
Thelma Flanagan. Considered by many to be Florida's ``first
lady of the profession,'' Flanagan also made an indelible
impact on the national association. As ASFSA's 1949-50
president, Flanagan was responsible for giving the fledgling
association some shape, creating specialized departments and
instituting long-range planning. Today, the Thelma Flanagan
Gold Award recognizes states that excel in meeting ASFSA's
Plan of Action.
Constance Hart. Director of Lunchrooms for the Rochester,
N.Y., public school system in 1942, Hart was an early
proponent for nutrition education in the schools. A founder
of the Conference of Food Service Directors in 1935, Hart
became ASFSA's first president, elected at the merger meeting
between the Conference and the National School Cafeteria
Association. She served in 1946-47.
Senator Richard B. Russell (D-Ga.) As chair of the Senate
Agriculture Committee's Appropriations Subcommittee, his
support of the National School Lunch Act was invaluable for
getting the bill through Congress.
John Stalker. In 1935, Stalker headed Massachusetts'
commodity distribution program and became the state's
director of school foodservice programs. Stalker set
nutrition and management standards that were national models.
He designed ASFSA's first emblem and served as a valuable
legislative leader at both the state and national levels.
Frank Washam. Director of Chicago's school lunch program,
Washam was a leader in the National School Cafeteria
Association and a leader in the movement to obtain permanent
federal support for school lunches.

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