FDR, Kennedy, LBJ, Reagan, and Clinton
Here are various passages from five presidents addressing poverty and welfare, but inter dispersed in three paragraphs. After the passage, the author (one of the five presidents) is identified in brackets. Their views are similar enough regarding poverty and welfare that the sentences meld well. See what you think.
Relief
A large proportion of these unemployed and their dependents have been forced on the relief rolls. The burden on the Federal Government has grown with great rapidity. We have here a human as well as an economic problem. [FDR] But merely responding with a “relief check” to complicated social or personal problems — such as ill-health, faulty education, domestic discord, racial discrimination, or inadequate skills — is not likely to provide a lasting solution. [Kennedy] To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. [FDR] Federal welfare programs have created a massive social problem. [Reagan] It is inimical to the dictates of sound policy. It is in violation of the traditions of America. [FDR] We‘re going to put an end to welfare as we know it. [Clinton] The Federal Government must and shall quit this business of relief. [FDR] We declared a war on poverty and poverty won. [Reagan]
Work and Poverty
I used to get up in the morning and watch my mother get ready to go to work. And we had a lot of trouble in my home when I was a kid, and she still got up every day, no matter what the hell was going on, and she got herself ready and went to work….. It kept food on the table, but it gave us a sense of pride and meaning and direction….I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for a child to grow up in a home where the child never saw anybody go to work…. I know that it’s sometimes hazardous to extrapolate your own experiences…. But on this I don’t think it is. [Clinton] Work must be found for able-bodied but destitute workers. [FDR]
Welfare and Poverty
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. [Johnson] We must find ways of returning far more of our dependent people to independence. We must find ways of returning them to a participating and productive role in the community. [Kennedy] But poverty is not a simple or an easy enemy. It cannot be driven from the land by a single attack on a single front. Were this so we would have conquered poverty long ago. Nor can it be conquered by the government alone. [Johnson] Let’s start making our welfare system the first rung on America’s ladder of opportunity. [Reagan]
Here are the actual quotes and sources. Pictures from Whitehouse.gov.
All of the presidents are really addressing the purpose of welfare as it relates to those in poverty. Is the purpose of welfare to help those in poverty get back on their feet again, or is it to provide for the needs of those in poverty while they are poor? It is a delicate balance. All the presidents are pushing to move welfare toward providing the impetus for people to transcend poverty. It is a question that has persisted throughout the history of welfare and is still relevant today.