The Legacy of the War on Poverty:

A 50-Year Retrospective

Johnson’s War on Poverty

• Johnson declared an “unconditional war on poverty” in his first State of the Union address (Jan. 1964) echoing JFK’s 1960 campaign for Presidento Landslide victory in ‘64 +

most liberal Congress since New Deal

Johnson’s War on Poverty

• Grand idealso “eliminate the paradox of

poverty in the midst of plenty”o “rehabilitation instead of relief”

(JFK) focused on “young”o “no doles” (LBJ)

• Landmark legislationo Economic Opportunity Act,

Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Medicare and Medicaid, Civil Rights Act and much more

TRENDS IN INDIVIDUAL POVERTY RATES

AND REAL GDP PER CAPITA, 1959–2003

Did the War on Poverty Succeed?

1. Johnson’s view“…that bitch of a war [Vietnam] cost me the only woman I ever loved [war on poverty]”

2. Other contemporaries“It was an era that attracted some of the brightest social thinkers in the country but not those with the most well-organized minds. It was an era of great administrative confusion.” ~Robert A. Levine, 1970

Did the War on Poverty Succeed?

“of the Great Society programs, the war on poverty is the most open to criticism. The promises were extreme; the specific remedial actions were untried and untested; the finances were grossly inadequate; the political restructuring was so vulnerable that it had to be radically reformed within a few years after the program was launched.”

~Eli Ginzberg and Robert Solow (1974:219)

“We fought the War on Poverty and poverty won.” ~Ronald Reagan, State of the Union Address,

1988

What is the Evidence?

• Almost 50 years limited evidence about the effects of many of era’s programs

• Many claims about the War on Poverty’s success are only loosely related to the era’s broad set of initiatives

• But…most of the War on Poverty’s programs still exist

This Volume’s Objectives• (Re)define the War on Poverty

o What are its programs and which are still “with us”?o Describe programs at their inceptiono Describe programs’ evolution over time

• What do we know (and not know) about themo How good is the evidence on programs’ effects

• Policy implications

• Research agenda for interested scholars

Key DatesNovember 18 Present abstracts and coordinate content

December 2 Submit revised abstract for chapter

December 16 Submit proposal to Russell Sage Foundation

May 2012 Submit paper drafts

June 2012 Conference—present paper to be discussed

July 2012 Authors receive comments from editors

Sept. 5, 2012 Authors submit revised chapters

Dec. 1, 2012 Authors receive reviewer comments

Jan. 15, 2012 Authors submit revised chapters