Modern History Sourcebook:
President Lyndon B. Johnson:
The War on Poverty, March 1964
Proposal for A Nationwide War On The Sources of Poverty'Lyndon B. Johnson's Special Message to Congress, March 16, 1964[]Because it is right, because it is wise, and because, for the first time in our
history, it is possible to conquer poverty, I submit, for the consideration of the
Congress and the country, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964.The Act does not merely expand old programs or improve what is already being done.It charts a new course.It strikes at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty.It can be a milestone in our one-hundred eighty year search for a better life for our
people.This Act provides five basic opportunities.It will give almost half a million underprivileged young Americans the opportunity to
develop skills, continue education, and find useful work.It will give every American community the opportunity to develop a comprehensive plan
to fight its own poverty-and help them to carry out their plans.It will give dedicated Americans the opportunity to enlist as volunteers in the war
against poverty.It will give many workers and farmers the opportunity to break through particular
barriers which bar their escape from poverty.It will give the entire nation the opportunity for a concerted attack on poverty
through the establishment, tinder my direction, of the Office of Economic Opportunity, a
national headquarters for the war against poverty.This is how we propose to create these opportunities.First we will give high priority to helping young Americans who lack skills, who
have not completed their education or who cannot complete it because they arc too poor. .
. .I therefore recommend the creation of a job Corps, a Work-Training Program, and a Work
Study Program.A new national job Corps will build toward an enlistment of 100,000 young men. They
will be drawn from those whose background, health and education make them least fit for
useful work. . . .Half of these young men will work, in the first year, on special conservation projects
to give them education, useful work experience and to enrich the natural resources of the
country.Half of these young men will receive, in the first year, a blend of training, basic
education and work experience in job Training Centers. . . .A new national Work-Training Program operated by the Department of Labor will provide
work and training for 200,000 American men and women between the ages of 16 and 21. This
will be developed through state and local governments and non-profit agencies. . . .A new national Work-Study Program operated by the Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare will provide federal funds for part-time jobs for 140,000 young Americans who do
not go to college because they cannot afford it.There is no more senseless waste than the waste of the brainpower and skill of those
who are kept from college by economic circumstance. Under this program they will, in a
great American tradition, be able to work their way through school. . . .Second, through a new Community Action program we intend to strike at poverty at
its source - in the streets of our cities and on the farms of our countryside among the
very young and the impoverished old.This program asks men and women throughout the country to prepare long-range plans for
the attack on poverty in their own local communities. . . .Third, I ask for the authority to recruit and train skilled volunteers for the
war against poverty.Thousands of Americans have volunteered to serve the needs of other lands.Thousands more want the chance to serve the needs of their own land.They should have that chance.Among older people who have retired, as well as among the young, among women as \vell
as men, there are many Americans who are ready to enlist in our war against poverty.They have skills and dedication. They are badly needed. . . .Fourth, we intend to create new opportunities for certain hard-hit groups to
break out of the pattern of poverty.Through a new program of loans and guarantees we can provide incentives to those who
will employ the unemployed.Through programs of work and retraining for unemployed fathers and mothers we can help
them support their families in dignity while preparing themselves for new work.Through funds to purchase needed land, organize cooperatives, and create new and
adequate family farms we can help those whose life on the land has been a struggle without
hope.Fifth, I do not intend that the war against poverty become a series of
uncoordinated and unrelated efforts - that it perish for lack of leadership and direction.Therefore this bill creates, in the Executive Office of the President, a new Office of
Economic Opportunity. Its Director will be my personal Chief of Staff for the War against
poverty. I intend to appoint Sargent Shriver to this post. . . .What you are being asked to consider is not a simple or an easy program. But poverty is
not a simple or an easy enemy.It cannot be driven from the land by a single attack on a single front. Were this so we
would have conquered poverty long ago.Nor can it be conquered by government alone. . . .Today, for the first time in our history, we have the power to strike away the barriers
to full participation in our society. Having the power, we have the duty .. . . .We are fully aware that this program will not eliminate all the poverty in America in a
few months or a few years. Poverty is deeply rooted and its causes are many.But this program will show the way to new opportunities for millions of our fellow
citizens.It will provide a lever with which we can begin to open the door to our prosperity for
those who have been kept outside.It will also give us the chance to test our weapons, to try our energy and ideas and
imagination for the many battles yet to come. As conditions change, and as experience
illuminates our difficulties, we will be prepared to modify our strategy.And this program is much more than a beginning.Rather it is a commitment. It is a total commitment by this President, and this
Congress, and this nation, to pursue victory over the most ancient of mankind's enemies.
Source:from Public Papers of U.S. Presidents, Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963-1964 (Washington:
G.P.O., 1965), 1, pp. 375-380.
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