The Causes of Poverty
President Lyndon B. Johnson
War on Poverty
Speech, 1964
We are citizens of the richest and most fortunate nation in the history of the
world…[W]e have never lost sight of our goal: an America in which every citizen
shares all the opportunities of his society, in which every man has a chance to
advance his welfare to the limit of his capacities. We have come a long way
toward this goal. We still have a long way to go.
The distance which remains is the measure of the great unfinished work of our
society. To finish that work I have called for a national war on poverty. Our
objective: total victory.
There are millions of Americans – one fifth of our people – who have not shared
in the abundance which has been granted to most of us, and on whom the
gates of opportunity have been closed.
What does this poverty mean to those who endure it? It means a daily struggle
to secure the necessities for ever a meager existence. It means that the
abundance, the comforts, the opportunities they see all around them are
beyond their grasp. Worst of all, it means hopelessness for the young.
The young man or woman who grows up without a decent education, in a
broken home, in a hostile and squalid environment, in ill health or in the face of
racial injustice--that young man or woman is often trapped in a life of poverty.
He does not have the skills demanded by a complex society. He does not know
how to acquire those skills. He faces a mounting sense of despair which drains
initiative and ambition and energy…
[W]e must also strike down all the barriers which keep many from using those
exits. The war on poverty is not a struggle simply to support people, to make
them dependent on the generosity of others. It is a struggle to give people a
chance. It is an effort to allow them to develop and use their capacities, as we
have been allowed to develop and use ours, so that they can share, as others
share, in the promise of this nation.
We do this, first of all, because it is right that we should…We do it also because
helping some will increase the prosperity of all. Our fight against poverty will be
an investment in the most valuable of our resources-the skills and strength of our
people…It strikes at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty.
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