LBJ, Sarge, and Community Action
LBJ
In the book Maximum Feasible Success: A History of the Community Action Program (published in
2000 by the Community Action Partnership—known then as the National Association of Community
Action Agencies), it is noted that in the early 1960s, writers such as Michael Harrington began discussing
poverty. “A haunting tour of deprivation in an affluent society - that inspired Presidents
John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson to wage a war on poverty” was how a March 25, 2012 Huffington
Post article described Harrington’s book, The Other America: Poverty in the United States, which was
published in 1962.
The federal government also recognized it as a critical national issue. While campaigning in West
Virginia, President John F. Kennedy was said to be struck by the area’s chronic unemployment and lack
of economic prosperity.
President Lyndon B. Johnson brought up the concept of a “War on Poverty” in his first State of the Union
address on January 8, 1964. Below are a few key excerpts from his speech. For the full speech, go to
http://www.lbjlibrary.net/collections/selected-speeches/november-1963-1964/01-08-1964.html
“Unfortunately, many Americans live on the outskirts of hope—some because of their poverty, and
some because of their color, and all too many because of both. Our task is to help replace their despair
with opportunity.
This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America. I urge this
Congress and all Americans to join with me in that effort.
It will not be a short or easy struggle, no single weapon or strategy will suffice, but we shall not rest until
that war is won. The richest Nation on earth can afford to win it. We cannot afford to lose it. One
thousand dollars invested in salvaging an unemployable youth today can return
$40,000 or more in his lifetime.
Poverty is a national problem, requiring improved national organization and support. But this attack, to
be effective, must also be organized at the State and the local level and must be supported and directed
by State and local efforts.
For the war against poverty will not be won here in Washington. It must be won in the field, in every
private home, in every public office, from the courthouse to the White House.”
The Johnson Administration sent a draft of the
Economic Opportunity Act to Congress on March
16, 1964. President Johnson said: “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.”
And he discussed the creation of Community Action programs:
“…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. These are not plans prepared in Washington and imposed upon
hundreds of different situations. They are based on the fact that local citizens best understand their own
problems, and know best how to deal with those problems.”
(To read the entire message go to the University of California, Santa Barbara’s American Presidency
Project website, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=26109#axzz2hqGV6Kyd)
On August 20, 1964* in Washington, DC, President Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity
Act into law. The Act created Community Action Agencies, and other programs such as Job Corps,
Medicare, and VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) to fight his War on Poverty.
Sarge
In early 1964, President Johnson called R. Sargent “Sarge” Shriver and informed him that he would be
appointed the director of the War on Poverty. Maximum Feasible Success notes that the President saw
him as a “sensible idealist who could get along with Congress and make programs work.” Shriver,
founding director of the Peace Corps during President Kennedy’s Administration, is described on the
website sargentshriver.org as someone with the “ability to create feasible, effective programs that
promote human dignity and welfare.” In October 1964, Shriver officially became the architect and first
director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (which was established through the Economic
Opportunity Act). President Johnson referred to the Office of Economic Opportunity—which
administered the Community Action program—as “a national headquarters for the war against
poverty.” Shriver is revered throughout the Community Action world as an exemplary public servant and
the father of Community Action. The Community Action Partnership was honored to have him speak at
several conventions—including the 1999 convention in Chicago, where he spoke at the Gala Dinner and
personally presented the Partnership’s inaugural Sargent Shriver Achievement and Jayne Thomas
Grassroots Volunteer awards to the winners. Afterwards, he stayed at the head table for more than an
hour signing dinner programs, posing for pictures, and chatting with the attendees. One year after his
death—at the 2012 convention in New York—the Partnership was also honored to have Shriver’s son
Mark provide remarks and sign copies of his new book, Reflections on a Good Man: Rediscovering My
Father, Sargent Shriver.
Community Action
Shriver wanted to see Community Action implemented on a national scale as quickly as possible and
Community Action Agencies were established in hundreds of American communities as part of what is
described in Maximum Feasible Success as a “direct broad-based national assault on poverty.” As a
result of Community Action, low-income individuals were involved in planning and implementing
programs and people became more aware of poverty in their neighborhoods. Today, there are
approximately 1,100 Community Action Agencies covering 99% of America’s counties in rural, suburban,
and urban communities. The agencies help millions of low-income people and families move out of
poverty and achieve economic stability through a variety of targeted programs such as Head Start,
Weatherization, job training and placement, financial education, housing, energy assistance, and
transportation. Some agencies also provide natural disaster relief and recovery, food pantries, health
care, and broadband access. They help veterans, senior citizens, families, children, students, and
everyone in between. Because of help from Community Action, people have been able to purchase
homes, get college degrees, start their own businesses, and access childcare and healthy foods.