It isn't FICA, it is FUTA or SUTA. What this means is that although your spouse earned enough to qualify, some of the employers he worked for were not required to contribute federal or state unemployment tax (FUTA and SUTA respectively). For example, agricultural workers, family businesses, certain government positions, are not required to contribute.
It may also be that he worked for an insured employer, but the time he worked was not sufficient to cover him as far as the insurance paid for by the employer. The person he spoke to may have states "payroll taxes", and since FICA is a type of payroll tax, it is to confuse the issue.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.