Johnson, Lyndon (Administration)

War on Poverty

Before the antipoverty programs got off the ground, Johnson shepherded through Congress the tax cut proposed by Kennedy. The Revenue Act of 1964 was designed to help spur a faltering economy; the taxes cut amounted to about 10 percent of the federal budget [Page 598]and, because of stimulated growth, led to an increase in revenues of about 20 percent from 1963 to 1966, when the cuts were fully implemented.

To galvanize public support for his War on Poverty, President Lyndon B. Johnson (center) conducted a “Poverty Tour” in 1964. Here he shakes the hand of one of the residents of Appalachia, one of the poorest regions in the United States.

The central pillar of Johnson's War on Poverty was the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. This act created the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), instituted in order to break away from the existing bureaucracies, thus allowing a single administrator to manage and coordinate all antipoverty initiatives. The OEO managed a whole range of new antipoverty programs, including VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America), the Job Corps, the Neighborhood Youth Corps, Head Start, adult basic education, family planning, community health centers, congregate meal preparation, economic development, foster grandparents; legal services, neighborhood centers, summer youth programs, and senior centers. Although the act received strong congressional support, the OEO remained controversial from the outset. Especially controversial was its use of Community Action Agencies (CAAs) that bypassed state and local governments and tried to avoid a centralized management system run from Washington, D.C. The idea was that poor people would form committees that would decide how best to attack poverty in their neighborhoods by giving them federal assistance with limited oversight.

The plan did not live up to the ideal. Many local CAAs were filled with politically connected people who worked as appendages of state or local agencies. Others siphoned off money through high salaries, patronage [Page 599]jobs, or insider contracts. Still others took over the local committees in an attempt to leverage the resources toward bringing about social revolution. They organized rent strikes, sit-ins, and rallies, and used other disruptive tactics to take on perceived injustices.

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