Video from the event
Session 1 – Poverty and Economic Opportunity, Then and Now
Moderator: Cordelia W. Reimers, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Panelists:
Richard B. Freeman, Herbert S. Ascherman Professor of Economics, Harvard University
Robert H. Haveman, Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs and Economics and Research Associate at the Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center
Leticia Van de Putte, Texas State Senator
POVERTY AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, THEN AND NOW
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“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.”
–President Lyndon Baines Johnson, State of the Union,
Washington, D.C., January 8, 1964“I have had but one objective – to be the President of all the people; not just the rich, not just the well-fed, not just the fortunate, but President of all of America.”
–President Lyndon Baines Johnson
Multimedia Resources
“Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty.” All Things Considered. Robert Siegel.
National Public Radio. January 8, 2004.
—Robert Siegel and Sheldon Danziger, professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, discuss LBJ’s declaration of War on Poverty in the President’s 1964 State of the Union Address forty years after the speech. Danziger also examines the effect of President Johnson’s War on Poverty and its impact today.Books and Articles by Speakers
Blank, Rebecca. “Fighting Poverty: Lessons from Recent U.S. History.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 14(2), Spring 2000:3-19.
Danziger, Sheldon H. & Haveman, Robert H., eds. Understanding Poverty. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001.
Freeman, Richard & Devroye, Dan. “Does Inequality in Skills Explain Inequality in Earning Across Countries?”
Freeman, Richard B. America Works: The Exceptional U.S. Labor Market. New York: Russell Sage Foundation Publications, 2008.
Harrington, Michael. The Other America: Poverty in the United States. New York: Penguin Books, 1971.
Haveman, Robert H. “What Does It Mean to be Poor in a Rich Society?”
La Follette School Working Paper Series, 2009.Patterson, James T. America’s Struggle against Poverty in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Piven, Frances Fox & Cloward, Richard. Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare. New York: Random House, 1993.
Plotnick, Robert D. & Skidmore, Felicity. Progress against Poverty: A Review of the 1964-1974 Decade. Academic Press, 1975.
Images from the panel
Cordelia W. Reimers, Professor Emerita of Economics, Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York15-Mar-2012 09:08, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, 7.1, 66.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
Cordelia W. Reimers and Richard B. Freeman15-Mar-2012 09:08, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, 7.1, 40.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
Richard B. Freeman, Herbert S. Ascherman Professor of Economics, Harvard University15-Mar-2012 09:09, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, 7.1, 70.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center15-Mar-2012 09:09, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, 7.1, 70.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
Leticia Van de Putte, Texas State Senator15-Mar-2012 09:09, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, 7.1, 56.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
Cordelia W. Reimers, Richard B. Freeman, Leticia Van de Putte, Robert H. Haveman and Frances Fox Piven in conversation on Poverty and Economic Opportunity–Then and Now15-Mar-2012 09:11, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, 7.1, 24.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
Richard B. Freeman, Herbert S. Ascherman Professor of Economics, Harvard University15-Mar-2012 10:03, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, 7.1, 70.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
Leticia Van de Putte, Texas State Senator15-Mar-2012 10:04, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, 2.8, 170.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 1600
Ervin Duggan, LBJ's Staff Assistant; former President of PBS15-Mar-2012 10:05, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, 7.1, 70.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
Ervin Duggan, LBJ's Staff Assistant; former President of PBS15-Mar-2012 10:05, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, 7.1, 28.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
Robert H. Haveman, Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs and Economics and Research Associate at the Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin–Madison15-Mar-2012 10:06, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, 3.2, 116.0mm, 0.013 sec, ISO 1600
Leticia Van de Putte and Robert H. Haveman15-Mar-2012 10:08, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, 3.2, 200.0mm, 0.013 sec, ISO 1600
Leticia Van de Putte, Texas State Senator15-Mar-2012 10:13, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, 7.1, 31.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
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