History Bytes: The USO

July 28, 2016

The United Services Organization (USO) was founded in 1941 under President Franklin Roosevelt to provide entertainment and recreational facilities for American Servicemen. With federal grants, it merged the YMCA, Salvation Army and other existing social service organizations, specifically for the war effort. Newport had six USO sites including The United Baptist Church and the Edward Street clubhouse, built in 1944, now the Martin Luther King Center.

Jamestown’s USO building was erected in 1942 on the site of the old Gardner House Hotel, which was demolished the previous year. After 1946 it became the town recreation center and police headquarters.

Above: Image found in the 1942 publication “You and the War”  published by the US Office of Civilian Defense, from the NHS collection.

The cover of the 1942 publication “What Can I Do: the citizen’s handbook for war”, from the NHS collection.

 

An entry from “What Can I Do” suggesting ways in which actors and entertainers can support the war effort, from the NHS collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo of the Martin Luther King Center, by Bert Lippincott.

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