Michael Harrington's The Other America

On January 8, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke to the nation in Johnson's first State of the Union address on the issues that were active in the United States during the 1960's. Johnson stated in his State of the Union address that "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", but most importantly that the "administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America." President Lyndon B. Johnson was not the only president during the 1960's who wanted to eliminate the threat of poverty in the United States; as the president before him, John F. Kennedy wanted to end poverty by the end of the 1960's. President Kennedy

Kennedy called his new legislation program the “New Frontier,” with which he planned to promote educational support, aid to health care, redevelopment in cities and civil rights. However, he wasn’t able to keep many of these promises; Congress refused the pass most of his proposals, including a medical plan for the elderly, tax reductions, and more civil rights. He concentrated on promoting present civil rights, sometimes dispatching troops to enforce racial integration in schools. Although action to improve civil rights and health care wasn’t very successful, Kennedy still managed to improve the economy (e.g. Increasing minimum wage) and negotiate a limited ban on nuclear testing.

The book “The Other America”, written by Michael Harrington, describes poverty in America in the 1950s and 1960s, when America became one of the most affluent and advanced nations in the world. The book was written in 1962, and Harrington states that there were about 50,000,000 (about 25% of the total population) poor in America at that time. The author did extensive research with respect to the family income levels to derive the poverty numbers, and used his own observations and experiences to write this book. This book addresses the reasons for poverty, the nature of poverty, the culture of poverty, the blindness of Middle Class America with respect to poverty, and the responsibility of all Americans in addressing the issue of poverty in America.

The Great Depression was a very influential era in American history, affecting many future generations. One of the most prevalent impacts it had on society was the extreme poverty that swept across the nation, affecting both people in cities and in the country. The main cause for this poverty was the mass loss of jobs among the middle class. Millions lost their jobs and consequently their homes. Families lived out of tents and cars in shanty towns or Hoovervilles. In these camps, many people didn’t have their basic human needs met, children and adults alike starved. They lived in clothes that were caked in dirt and tattered, too small for growing children and too cold for the frail elderly. Government relief programs attempted to help but offered little support to the now impoverished families of the millions that lost everything.

In the article, “What’s So Bad about Being Poor” by Charles Murray, Murray states that “One of the great barriers to a discussion of poverty and social policy in the 1980s is that so few people who talk about poverty have ever been poor”. He discusses how, contrary to present day, in America up until the 1950s those in positions of influence and power included a sizable amount of people who had been raised “dirt-poor”. Murray states that, because of this, many Americans with their lack of exposure to such people, they develop a skewed perspective of what poverty is. On account of this, Murray challenges the reader with several thought experiments which he uses to help the reader come to certain conclusions that convey his message.

Writings from The Other America took place in the 1960s and at that time things were not portrayed through the media as they are today, and that is what made the poor less invisible (Harrington, 1962). However, today reports are not only made through news stations, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines; they are also trending on social media cites, transmitted through websites, as well as cell phones and other electronic devices, and that makes me feel as though more people are aware of the poor, but choose to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear. I also feel that a great number of individuals living in poverty disguise poverty even today. Harrington made a great point by stating, “clothes make the poor invisible too: America has the best-dressed poverty the world has ever known” (Harrington, 1962, p.5). That particular point in the article is what convinces me that the poor may even be more invisible today than they were in the 1960s. A great majority of the population I service are people living in poverty. Although they are living in poverty, many are well-dress and well-groomed individuals who are unemployed and receive governmental subsides, but do not consider themselves as living in poverty. So, not only are these individuals invisible to a great majority of the world, they may also be living in

Lyndon Johnson was convinced that liberal nationalism and the power of the federal government could transform society. His faith grew out of his youthful experiences with poverty in Texas, his political apprenticeship during the New Deal, and his desire to surpass Roosevelt 's legacy. When he took office in November 1963, after John F. Kennedy 's death, Johnson inherited the early initiatives to address poverty that the Kennedy administration had under consideration. With characteristic enthusiasm and expansiveness, Johnson declared a war on poverty in 1964 and pushed legislation through Congress to establish the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).In this speech, the purpose Lyndon B. Johnson outlines his vision and goals for "The Great

It provided funds and made the area more accessible. Funds also were made available for new schools and health facilities, land and mine reclamation, and timber and water conservation. The poverty in America will not be solved all at once (650a). Simply creating jobs will not help eliminate poverty because there are some people who are disabled and just can not work (650a). The government social welfare programs help to add income to many people (650a).

The American citizens who suffers from poverty did not have the choice to be or not to be in their situation so they suffered greatly since they were not given equal opportunity's as the rest of America. People might have thought that these people on the streets are just lazy people who never gave a damn in their lives and did not want to work for their necessities. But Michal Harrington knew the real reason why this so called "Other America" was the way they were, " But the real explanation of why the poor are where they are is that they made the mistake of being born to the wrong parents, in the wrong section of the country, in the wrong industry, or in the wrong racial or ethnic group ... [so] most of them would never even had had a chance to get out of the other America" (The Other

Jim Blatt, who recently moved back to Boston after living in Charlotte for 12 years, joined TIAA-CREF in 2012 from Bain Capital. Before Charlotte, the Senior Director of Enterprise Platform Delivery Team spent 15 years in Boston where he received his MBA from Boston College. As he proclaims it is “the best city in America,” there is no question as to his favorite sports teams. “Anything Boston,” Jim exclaimed. And aside from watching sports in his spare time, Jim enjoys listening to a number of different podcasts. His tastes have a broad range across news, sports, and pop culture. “This American Life is probably my ultimate favorite. It takes an in-depth look across very diverse topics and tells the story in a long narrative format. It’s

One of Johnson’s major issues about society was poverty. The first major policy of his Great Society was the Appalachian Region Development Act. This gave people, who were struck by poverty, in the mountainous regions about $1.1 Billion for health centers, highways, and industrial development. These regions stretched from Pennsylvania to Alabama and Georgia. This act also decreased the amount of poverty in the United States to victory.

During President Johnson's term in office from 1964 to 1968, Johnson had declared a war on poverty. This is made evident when Johnson attempts to attack poverty at its roots. He states,

Lyndon Johnson was convinced that liberal nationalism and the power of the federal government could transform society. His faith grew out of his youthful experiences with poverty in Texas, his political apprenticeship during the New Deal, and his desire to surpass Roosevelt's legacy. When he took office in November 1963, after John F. Kennedy's death, Johnson inherited the early initiatives to address poverty that the Kennedy administration had under consideration. With characteristic enthusiasm and expansiveness, Johnson declared a war on poverty in 1964 and pushed legislation through Congress to establish the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).In this speech, the purpose Lyndon B. Johnson outlines his vision and goals for "The Great

The decaying state of the American economy and the onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s brought about the necessity for the United States to reconsider its attitudes and examine the long term effects of its policies concerning wide-scale socioeconomic problems that were constantly growing bigger. The Great Depression led to the creation of many new and innovative government policies and programs, along with revisions to older economic systems. However, these cost the government billions of dollars in a country that had consistently been stretching the gap between the rich and poor. This continued as the Great Depression began to change everything people had grown old knowing,

Ronald Reagan once said, “We fought a war on poverty, and poverty won.” I read the book, Dancing in the dark by Morris Dickstein. This book was about the great depression, and the impacts it had on American life. The traditional thought of poverty, people dying of hunger and people lying in the roads, has been erased. America has abolished poverty by the traditional standards but the thought of poverty and what it is has changed. In America we consider poverty to be spending all your money on bills, so you have no money left for food to feed your family. We consider poverty to be just being poor. One-Third of our population makes less than $38,000. This is not enough to be able to be above the poverty line. Anything below this