Launching the War on Poverty: An Oral HistoryHead Start, Job Corps, Foster Grandparents, College Work-Study, VISTA, Community Action, and the Legal Services Corporation are familiar programs, but their tumultuous beginning has been largely forgotten. Conceived amid the daring idealism of the 1960s, these programs originated as weapons in Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, an offensive spearheaded by a controversial new government agency. Within months, the Office of Economic Opportunity created an array of unconventional initiatives that empowered the poor, challenged the established order, and ultimately transformed the nation's attitudes toward poverty. In Launching the War on Poverty, historian Michael L. Gillette weaves together oral history interviews with the architects of the Great Society's boldest experiment. Forty-nine former poverty warriors, including Sargent Shriver, Adam Yarmolinsky, and Lawrence F. O'Brien, recount this inside story of unprecedented governmental innovation. The interviews capture the excitement and heady optimism of Americans in the 1960s along with their conflicts and disillusionment. This new edition of Launching the War on Poverty adds the voice of Lyndon Johnson to the story with excerpts from his recently-released White House telephone conversations. In these colorful and brutally candid conversations, LBJ exercises his full arsenal of presidential powers, political leverage, and legendary persuasiveness to win one of his most difficult legislative battles. The second edition also documents how the OEO's offspring survived their volatile origins to become broadly supported features of domestic policy. |
Contents
| 1 | |
2 THE WAR ON POVERTY TASK FORCE | 30 |
3 CREATING THE COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM | 81 |
4 EMPLOYMENT VERSUS POVERTY | 105 |
5 RURAL PROGRAMS | 119 |
6 THE ENACTMENT OF POVERTY LEGISLATION | 127 |
The Most Action In Town | 187 |
8 THE JOB CORPS | 212 |
13 CHALLENGES TO HEAD START | 318 |
14 THE JOBS CORPS UNDER SIEGE | 337 |
Legislative Battles | 360 |
16 OEOS STRUGGLE TO ENDURE | 375 |
17 EPILOGUE AND ASSESSMENTS | 401 |
Oral History Interviews | 415 |
Notes | 417 |
| 431 | |
Other editions - View all
Launching the War on Poverty:An Oral History: An Oral History Michael L. Gillette No preview available - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
administration antipoverty areas assistant BAKER became Bill Moyers CAHN called CDGM committee community action agencies Community Action Program Congress congressional Conversation between Lyndon Department deputy didn’t director Economic Opportunity Act fact federal funds going Head Head Start hell idea involved Jack Conway Job Corps Job Corps centers JOHNSON juvenile delinquency KELLY Kennedy kids kind knew Labor Landrum LBJ’s conversation Legal Services legislation Lyndon Baines Johnson Lyndon Johnson maximum feasible meeting million Neighborhood Youth Corps never O’BRIEN OEO’s operation organization participation Peace Corps political poor poverty program president president’s problem projects Recording of Telephone recruiting Republican rural Sarge Sargent Shriver Senate SINGLETARY staff SUGARMAN talked task force Telephone Conversation tell there’s thing thought tion trying urban VISTA volunteers vote Walter Heller War on Poverty Washington White House Wirtz Yarmolinsky