Megan Johnson

Mr. Ferlo, Period 1

Poverty Policies After 1970

In 1970 the official percentage of Americans in poverty was 12.6 percent. The

population at the time was 205.1 million, so this means that about 25,842,600 people lived in

poverty. Today about 14.5 percent of Americans live in poverty; about 47,222,832 people.

Inside these 47 years many policies have been put in place to help alleviate poverty, but have

they really worked? Some may have done what they were meant for, but others might have

made the problem worse.

According to History.com, many Americans, particularly working class and middle class

whites, responded to the turbulence of the 1960s- the urban riots, the anti war protests, and the

alienating counter culture by embracing a new kind of populism. Sick of what they interpreted

as spoiled hippies and whining protesters, tired of an interfering government that, in their view,

coddled poor people and black people at their taxpayer expense, these individuals formed what

political strategists called a Silent Majority. This silent majority swept President Richard Nixon

into office in 1968. Almost immediately, Nixon began to dismantle the welfare state that had

fostered such resentment. He abolished as many parts of Lyndon Johnsons war on poverty as he

could, and he made a show of his resistance to mandatory school desegregation plans such as

busing Nixons policies favored the interests of the middle class people who felt slighted by

the Great Society of the 1960s.

President Richard Nixon started off strong in the 1970s by establishing the Family

Assistance Plan. This plan provided assistance for families with dependent children, food
stamps, Medicaid, and also gave direct cash payments for people in need of the extra assistance.

Help was given to single-parent families, and the poor who were still working. All people

receiving assistance were required to work or take some type of job training except for mothers

who had preschool aged children. President Nixon proposed that all families were to be

guaranteed at least $1600 every year for a family of four. Food stamps provided the necessary

nutritious foods for no or low income families who couldnt afford to feed themselves. Medicaid

is a government run health care program that provided health care insurance for people who

couldn't afford other types of insurance. Although some of these programs helped out no or low

income families, President Nixon was scolded by many for giving out so many free handouts.

He fought for the bill to be passed until 1972 when he wanted to be re-elected for President of

the United States, and knew that he wouldn't be re-elected if his bill got passed. Richard Nixon

won back the presidency during the 1972 election, but only served as President of the United

States for another two and a half years because of the Watergate scandal. Many people say that

most of President Nixons policies mostly provided for women and people in the minority.

On August 9, 1974 Richard Nixons vice-president Gerald R. Ford was inaugurated as

the 38th President of the United States. He was the first vice president to be put in as the new

president according to the 25th Amendment of the Constitution. He didn't have a very easy

transition into the White House, and he wasnt left with a very trusting country. He was more

conservative the his predecessor, and had some revisions to make to programs he put in place. In

President Fords 1976 State of the Union address to congress he stated Complex welfare

programs cannot be reformed overnight. Surely we cannot simply dump welfare into the laps of

the 50 States, their local taxpayers, or their private charities, and just walk away from it. Nor is it
the right time for massive and sweeping changes while we are still recovering from the recession.

Nevertheless, there are still plenty of improvements that we can make especially tightening up

the rules for eligibility and benefits. Last year I twice sought long overdue reform of the

scandal-riddled food stamp program. This year I say again: Let's give food stamps to those most

in need. Let's not give any to those who don't need them. From this statement you can tell that

he has a plan of what he wants done, but he knows he cant do it all overnight. His more

conservative views are most definitely seen when he talks about wanting to tighten up the rules

for eligibility and benefits. He wants to give first priority for these programs to the people who

need them the most.

Ronald Reagan was our president from the year 1981-1989. According to On The Issues,

President Reagan believed in helping the less skilled acquire the skills they need to get a job and

support themselves. Unlike Romney, Reagan connected with the daily struggles of ordinary

Americans. Reagan did not dismiss 47% of the country as a bunch of moochers. Quite the

opposite: At the Republican convention in Detroit he appealed to those who wanted nothing

more than to get off government assistance and find work. He promised that "for those without

job opportunities, we'll stimulate new opportunities, particularly in the inner cities where they

live. For those who have abandoned hopes, we'll restore hope and we'll welcome them into a

great national crusade to make America great again. He believed that every American was

capable of getting back on their feet and making something of themselves. He wanted everyone

to participate in making America the greatest it could be.

On August 22, 1996, President Bill Clinton made a miraculous change to Americas

welfare system. He signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation
Act which would end welfare as we know it. He saw our welfare system to be broken and he

wanted to fix and reform it to make sure the American people were progressing and not taking

advantage of it. He wanted to encourage people to work harder and be more responsible in order

to take care of their families.

Poverty seems to have risen during most recent President Barack Obamas presidency.

According to NPR, 6 million more people are in poverty now than when he became president.

He instituted the American Relief and recovery Act in 2009 which helped lower or no income

families. It is tough to judge how well President Obamas policies worked because of the

situation he was left in from previous President Bush, but nevertheless the percentage of people

in poverty did rise.

Overall, we can see the efforts of many presidents since the 1970s trying to alleviate and

reduce poverty. Although they all had different ideas on how to accomplish this, they all had

one goal in mind: to take care of the American people. Poverty isnt something that can be

solved in a short time, but we can continue to take small steps towards ending it. As we look

towards the future, it is important to assess what each of us may be able to do in order to help out

a fellow American who might be in this type of situation.