War on Poverty

THE WAR ON POVERTY (1964–68) was a campaign of legislation aimed at reducing poverty in the United States. Nearly 40 million, or just over 22 percent of Americans were considered as living in poverty in 1960, according to the Census Bureau. The term was first introduced by Lyndon B. Johnson during his first State of the Union address on January 8, 1964: “This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America.”

The War on Poverty is often tied to Johnson's Great Society, a term he used in a May 1964 speech in Michigan to motivate his domestic policies. Many of these policies have roots in the John F. Kennedy administration, though it was Johnson who publicized and signed them into law. Great Society legislation included the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Michael Harrington's book The Other America (1962) often receives credit as a catalyst for this movement. The Other America consists of statistics, analysis, and anecdotes of impoverished Americans who, Harrington argued, were largely ignored by the media and government. The book enjoyed widespread popularity, and it is believed a copy was given to Kennedy in 1963, though it is not certain whether he read it.

The major pieces of War on Poverty legislation include the following:

Economic Opportunity Act (EOA) of 1964. The EOA represented a unique approach by the federal government; it combated poverty by federally funding local programs tailored toward a given community. The EOA termed these programs Community Action Agencies (CAAs). Examples of CAA programs and initiatives are Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA, later amended to Americorps during the Bill Clinton administration), Job Corps, Head Start, adult basic education, senior centers, food pantries, homeless shelters, job training, Meals on Wheels, various youth programs, and family planning. By 1968, CAAs serviced nearly two-thirds of all American counties.

The EOA also established the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to administer its many sections. The first head of OEO was Sargent Shriver, who was the director of the task force called to design the EOA and later the Democratic vice presidential candidate in 1972. Many states would later create their own OEOs in order to improve the welfare of their state and also to have a say in funding matters. After a myriad of changes and redefinitions during the Nixon administration, the federal OEO was terminated in 1974 and replaced by the Community Services Administration (CSA). The CSA was abolished in 1981, though many of the community programs remained. Many of the state-level OEOs remain in existence today.

Although many of the original CAA programs were changed substantially or cut during the Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan administrations, some notable programs still exist in close to their original form. Head Start is a child development program for low-in-come children ages 5 and under (including prenatal care), funding a variety of efforts, including immunization, preparing children for school, and nutrition information. A second program remaining close to its original form is Job Corps, which provides vocational training for young adults between 16 and 24 years old.

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