After completing his military service, he went to college on the GI Bill as one of the first men to attend the newly coeducational Sarah Lawrence College. Manings felt uneasy during the McCarthyist period, during which time several friends were blacklisted, and moved to Canada until the early 1960s.
Upon finishing his military duty, he pursued higher education through the GI Bill at Sarah Lawrence College, a pioneering institution that welcomed coeducation. During the tumultuous McCarthy period, Manings felt anxious as friends faced blacklisting, prompting him to move to Canada until the early 1960s.