THE GREAT SOCIETY
A Vision for Economic Reform
WAR ON POVERTY
"This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America. ~~ Lyndon B. Johnson, First State of the Union Address, January 8, 1964.
The series of programs called the "War on Poverty" was dedicated to totally eradicate poverty by providing economic opportunities.
"NEW FEDERALISM"
"The solution to these problems does not rest on a massive program in Washington, nor can it rely solely on the strained resources of local authority. They require us to create new concepts of cooperation, a creative federalism, between the National Capital and the leaders of local communities."
~
Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks at the University of Michigan, May 22, 1964
Lyndon Johnson also sought a reform on federal-state relations, called "New Federalism": a decentralized, cooperative model between federal funding and localized distribution.
THE TIES OF OPPORTUNITY WITH ECONOMIC EQUALITY
From LBJ Presidential Library Collections.
Both King and LBJ believed that providing economic opportunity would change the current predicament of social inequality.
"LBJ, King, and the Watts Revolt," From The LBJ Telephone Tapes.
The recording is clipped to suit media requirements.
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 1964
The Economic Opportunity Act encompassed a wide variety of programs, including education, health, and employment to help the poor.
Neighborhood Youth Corps, Newark, N.J in 1965. From Library of Congress.
Signing of the Poverty Bill. From Wikimedia.
Project Head Start, from Cleveland Memory Project.
Head Start is a program that aims to provide preschool services nationally.
The specific focus of the Poverty Bill is to provide "opportunity" and giving initiative to the people in need, allowing them to support themselves, which acted through the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).
DECENTRALIZATION IN CENTRALIZATION
"Many congressmen objected to the concentrated power of the OEO director... Democrats ultimately compromised to include an apportionment index [to set up funding according to local poverty population], but not the one Frelinghuysen proposed [which allowed state governments to set up apportionment index]... The combined effect of the EOA’s provisions was to allow Shriver to circumvent state and local governments, which many believed had failed to alleviate poverty or, worse, been complicit or instrumental in its persistence..."
~ How Johnson Fought the War on Poverty: The Economics and Politics of Funding at the Office of Economic Opportunity.
The decentralization of LBJ's programs was to direct contact federal with local organizations -- without consulting the indirect representation of state governments.
COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAMS (CAPs)
Community Action Programs, as defined in the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. From govinfo.gov.
"...the “maximum feasible participation” mantra of the War on Poverty’s Community Action Program, they underscored the need to have “projects.. . carried out not for the community, but rather by the community—with external financial assistance—to attack community problems.” ~ Indians, Liberalism, and the Great Society.
Community Action Programs was the best example of this idea, introducing "
maximum feasible participation": letting the residents direct the movements and integrate into local political activism, and thus avoiding insufficient funding due to local racial discrimination or less political voice of minority groups.