cadet nurse corps cadet nurse corps the united states (u.s.) cadet nurse corps (cnc) was authorized by the u.s. congress on 15 june 1943 and signed into law by president franklin d. roosevelt on 1 july. the purpose of the law was to alleviate the nursing shortage that existed before and during world war ii. the legislative act contained a specific provision that prohibited discrimination based upon race, color, or creed. the united states public health service (usphs) was named the supervisory agency; it was answerable to thomas parran, jr. the surgeon general of the united states. the usphs established a separate division to administer the cnc program and parran appointed lucile petry a registered nurse (rn) as its director. cadet nurse corpsseal of the u.s. public health service (usphs)agency overviewformed1 july 1943dissolved31 december 1948headquartersunited statesagency executivelucile petry, registered nurse (rn)parent agencyunited states public health service (usphs) the program was open to all women between the ages of 17 and 35 who were in good health and had graduated from an accredited high school. nearly every type of media source advertised for the cnc. all state nursing schools in the u.s. were eligible to participate in the program; they were, however, required to be accredited by the accrediting agency in their state and be connected with a hospital that had been approved by the american college of surgeons. the participating schools of nursing were required to compress the traditional 36-month nursing program into 30 months, and they were obligated to provide the students with the clinical experiences of medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and obstetrics. the cadets came from locations across the nation and from all backgrounds. the cnc allowed young women to serve their country in uniform while being protected by law against discrimination. of the 1,300 schools of nursing in the country, 1,125 participated in the program. the cnc operated from 1943 until 1948; during this period 179,294 student nurses enrolled in the program and 124,065 of them graduated from participating nursing schools. the american hospital association credited the cadet student nurses with helping to prevent the collapse of civilian nursing in the u.s. during world war ii. background the u.s. experienced a shortage of nurses long before its entry into world war ii; this shortage worsened with the prewar buildup of the military and industrial upturn that this caused. professional nursing groups were unprepared to deal with the problem. on 10 july 1940, however, the situation changed when isabel m. stewart, professor of nursing at columbia university and a member of the national league for nursing, wrote to its president: "i believe we should have a committee or board that is representative of the nursing profession as a whole and it should be at work now ... within three weeks, on 29 july 1940, representatives of the national nursing community gathered in new york city, under the umbrella of the american nurses association, where they formed the nursing council on national defense. in its first order of business, the council concentrated on surveying nursing resources and securing federal funding to expand nursing educational opportunities. the survey results indicated that 100,000 nurses were eligible for military service, and that most nursing schools were ill-equipped to enlarge their instructional or housing facilities. the council submitted its federal aid request for fiscal year 1 july 1941 to 30 june 1942 to the u.s. commissioner of education, who approved it and moved it on to the bureau of the budget. the congress then enacted and funded the nurse training program, which assisted in the education of 12,000 students at 309 nursing schools. through the program, 3,800 inactive nurses received refresher courses and 4,800 graduate nurses received postgraduate training. by the end of the fiscal year, 47,500 students were enrolled in nursing schools but this did not meet the country's demands. nurses could not be trained quickly enough to keep pace with the country's civilian and military needs. during 1942 the office of war information tried to mobilize interest in the nursing profession, using prime-time radio advertisements to focus their broadcasts on interviews, dramatic sketches, and spot announcements urging young women to join the nursing profession. while these efforts were helpful, they did not meet expectations. the supporters of the nurse training programs recommended doubling federal aid for basic nursing education in the fiscal year ending 30 june 1943. representative frances p. bolton of ohio, a longtime advocate of nursing, supported the proposed increase in federal aid and informed the congress that further aid requests for nurse training programs were likely. creation of the program lucile petry (rn) was the director of the cadet nurse corps from 1943 to 1948 on 29 march 1943 bolton took the initiative and introduced h.r. 2326, a bill to create and fund a training program for nurses. the senate added an amendment that prohibited discrimination based upon race, color, or creed. at the bill's legislative hearings, hospital groups explained how distressed nursing care in civilian hospitals had become. support for the bill also came in the form of letters and telegrams. the bill passed both houses of the congress by unanimous vote on 15 june 1943 and became public law 74 on 1 july 1943; with the title of nurse training act of 1943 but commonly referred to as the bolton act. it provided for the training of nurses for the armed forces, government and civilian hospitals, health agencies, and war industries through grants to the institutions providing the training. it also contained a provision requiring that those trained under the act would comprise a uniformed body but without military status. the division of nurse education was established in the usphs to supervise the program; it was answerable to the surgeon general of the united states, thomas parran jr. he appointed lucile petry (rn), a registered nurse, as its director. the federal security administrator was required to appoint an advisory committee to assist in guiding the nurse-training programs. the committee consisted of people in the nursing and related fields who were drawn from various parts of the country. on 25 june 1943, the committee met for the first time with government officials to establish the rules and regulations to carry out the act. as required, they were approved by the surgeon general and published in the federal register. the surgeon general then sent telegrams that outlined the program to 1,300 nursing schools in the united states and puerto rico. this was followed up with applications and instructions sent by mail. the territory of hawaii's two nursing schools were not eligible for the program because they were in a war zone and the territory of alaska had no nursing schools at the time. the regulations required interested nursing schools to: be state accredited; be connected with a hospital approved by the american college of surgeons or a hospital of equal standards; maintain adequate instructional facilities and personnel; provide adequate clinical experience in four basic services—medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and obstetrics; provide maintenance and a stipend of $30.00 for all senior cadet nurses, or arrange for their requested transfer to federal or other hospitals (a student nurse became a senior cadet in the last six months before graduation); provide satisfactory living facilities and an adequate health service for students; provide for an accelerated program; and restrict its hours of practice. the standards of the national league for nursing were adopted to evaluate the participating schools. after issuing these regulations, the surgeon general said:the schools of nursing are free to select students, to plan curricula, and to formulate policies consistent with the act and the traditions of the institution concerned. this is a partnership job between the usphs, the institutions, and the students ... . the cnc was open to all women between the ages of 17 and 35 who were in good health and had graduated from an accredited high school. marriage was permissible subject to individual nursing school guidelines. successful applicants were eligible for a government subsidy that paid for tuition, books, uniforms, and a stipend. in exchange, student cadets were required to pledge to actively serve in essential civilian or federal government services for the duration of world war ii. the corps pledge was a statement of good intentions rather than a legal contract. all state-accredited schools of nursing were eligible to participate in the program; each school, however, was required to apply individually. of the 1,300 nursing schools in the country, 1,125 participated. for this program, the traditional 36-month nurse training was accelerated to 30 months. senior nursing students were required to work for a six-month period in a hospital or in another health agency. in return, the federal government would pay the schools for the related tuition and fees of the students. the advisory committee was also responsible for naming the new program. the victory nurse corps and the student war nursing reserve were considered, but both names were rejected in favor of the united states cadet nurse corps (cnc). housing in its 1940 survey, the nursing council on national defense reported that most of the nursing schools in the u.s. were ill-equipped to enlarge their housing and classroom facilities. in the following two fiscal years, federal aid was provided to nursing schools for nurse training but it did not provide any aid for housing facilities. even with the passage of the nurse training act of 1943, the problem remained. some schools were able to rent or purchase additional buildings; those that could not requested assistance from the federal government. without funds for physical facilities, the usphs arranged with the federal works agency to allow nursing schools to share in some of the construction funds provided under the national defense act of 1940. the two federal agencies agreed the need for housing and other facilities in nursing schools would be based on school participation in the cnc program. the federal works agency would decide where, how, and to whom the aid would be granted. under the agreement, the schools of nursing that could not otherwise accommodate classes would receive a share of the federal aid for housing. it would include aid for living quarters, library space, classrooms, and demonstration rooms. the amount allocated for construction projects was $25,657,785. the federal works agency projects started in september 1943 and ended in november 1944; during this period, about 400 applications consisting of 160 for training facilities, 172 for construction, and 68 for the purchase, lease, or renovation of existing buildings were cleared. nursing schools in all but nine states were helped by the federal aid; the arrangement called for the nursing schools to share in the cost of the projects. of the $25,657,785 spent on the nursing school projects, federal aid paid $17,397,002 (about 67.8 percent) and the nursing schools paid $8,260,783 (about 32.2 percent). recruitment general the usphs recruiting campaign was aimed at reaching the maximum number of potential applicants in the shortest period of time. the primary target was the high-school graduate but college women were also recruited. the selling point was a free education in a proud profession while providing an essential service to the country. appeals to join the cnc reached more than 7,000,000 newspaper and magazine readers, and millions of radio listeners and movie patrons around the country. pleas were made in speeches, through billboards, and in leaflets. u.s. corporations donated $13,000,000 worth of advertising space and technical services to the program in one year. nearly every type of media source advertised for the cnc. a recruiting advertisement in life magazine, 24 january 1944 the eastman kodak company sponsored a full-page advertisement in life magazine (24 january 1944) touting the cnc as a way to serve the country in "a war job with a future". the advertisement said young women who could qualify as cadet nurses were "lucky girls" who were eligible for free training with pay, room and board, and gray uniforms with gray berets. the uniforms were described as one for summer and one for winter, which "you'll wear with pride". applicants were assured they could wear something "frilly and feminine" instead of uniforms for dances, that they would have time for dating, and that many schools allowed students to marry. in the same year, a motion-picture company produced a recruiting film about the cnc called reward unlimited for the