Poverty In The 1960 Essay

This feature page focuses primarily on poverty in the 1960's. The war on poverty began in the 1960’s to battle the poverty that was striking Americans. It was to reveal and combat the causes of poverty alongside with prevention methods (1). In the 1960’s, more women were becoming the head of their household, mostly due to the Vietnam War. The more women that became the head of the household, the more the poverty rate for families grew. However, there was income inequality that became a leading factor into the poverty rise in America. With women being paid less and raising a family, it combines the two that factors into the poverty rise in the 1960’s. In 1967, more women were living below the poverty line than black people, white people, Hispanic people and two parent households. However, it did not take into account whether the women including those of another race (2). The war on poverty was a part of President Lyndon B. Johnson plan once he got into office. This is how the War-on-Poverty Tour started with Johnson. Johnson mention that from 1953 to 1963, only one percent of those living in poverty got out of poverty while the numbers were much higher in previous years. One of the issues and reasons behind poverty in the 1960’s was people moving to more urban areas and less farming happening. People with farmer skills could not necessarily grow their own food and sell their food in more urban areas (3).

Johnson spent around $3 billion with the War on Poverty programming with in the Great Society’s Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. It was believed empowerment was the major key to get those who were in poverty involved with the War on Poverty. There was resistant from the conservatives, however, Johnson was able to achieve the following programs: Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, federal spending for arts and literature, and Head Start