This article challenges the conventional view of veterans’ politics in the United States as an “iron triangle” or a “subgovernment,” terms that connote a low-profile field dominated by a small number of elite actors operating consensually behind closed doors. It shows instead that veterans’ affairs were at the center of a heated national debate to which both grassroots activists and national leaders contributed as part of a larger social movement, as demonstrated by the controversy over the First Hoover Commission. Created by Congress in 1947 to find ways to make the executive branch more efficient, the commission’s proposals to reform veterans’ affairs were all defeated by the countercampaign of the largest and most influential veterans’ group of the era, the American Legion. Former soldiers were not alone (they benefited from the assistance of key state actors such as the heads of the Veterans Administration and of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs) but their mobilization proved decisive. This episode shows that even veterans of World War II, traditionally seen as the most deserving cohort of former soldiers in US history (the “Greatest Generation”), had to organize to defend their benefits against attacks. The privileged position of veterans in the US welfare state is therefore less the result of their exalted cultural status (as is often presumed) than of their ability to mobilize politically and to override the preferences of significant numbers of public and private actors—just like any other group making claims on the state.

中文翻译：

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退伍军人作为一项社会运动：美国军团、第一胡佛委员会和美国福利国家的形成

本文挑战了将美国退伍军人政治视为“铁三角”或“次政府”的传统观点，这些术语意味着一个低调的领域，由少数精英演员在闭门造车的情况下达成共识。相反，它表明退伍军人事务处于激烈的全国辩论的中心，草根活动家和国家领导人作为更大的社会运动的一部分做出了贡献，正如关于胡佛第一委员会的争议所证明的那样。该委员会于 1947 年由国会创建，旨在寻找提高行政部门效率的方法，改革退伍军人事务的建议都被那个时代最大、最有影响力的退伍军人团体美国退伍军人组织的反击所挫败。前士兵并不孤单（他们受益于关键国家行为者的协助，例如退伍军人管理局和众议院退伍军人事务委员会负责人），但事实证明，他们的动员具有决定性意义。这一集表明，即使是二战老兵，传统上被视为美国历史上最应得的前士兵群体（“最伟大的一代”），也必须组织起来捍卫自己的利益免受攻击。因此，退伍军人在美国福利国家中的特权地位与其说是他们崇高的文化地位（正如人们通常认为的那样），不如说是他们有能力在政治上动员并推翻大量公共和私人行为者的偏好——就像任何人一样其他对国家提出要求的团体。