The Legacy of the War on Poverty: A 50-Year Retrospective

1. The Legacy of the War on Poverty: A 50-Year Retrospective

2. 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 President • Landslide victory in ‘64 + most liberal Congress since New Deal

3. Johnson’s War on Poverty • Grand ideals • “eliminate the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty” • “rehabilitation instead of relief” (JFK) focused on “young” • “no doles” (LBJ) • Landmark legislation • Economic Opportunity Act, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Medicare and Medicaid, Civil Rights Act and much more

4. Trends in Individual Poverty Rates and Real GDP per Capita, 1959–2003

5. Did the War on Poverty Succeed? • Johnson’s view “…that bitch of a war [Vietnam] cost me the only woman I ever loved [war on poverty]” • 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. This Volume’s Objectives • (Re)define the War on Poverty • What are its programs and which are still “with us”? • Describe programs at their inception • Describe programs’ evolution over time • What do we know (and not know) about them • How good is the evidence on programs’ effects • Policy implications • Research agenda for interested scholars

9. Key Dates November 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