Economic Opportunity, Labor, and the Struggle for Reform in the War on Poverty

Economic Opportunity, Labor, and the Struggle for Reform in the War on Poverty

        In 1964, the Economic Opportunity Act initiated President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s War on Poverty. The programs implemented caused controversy both across party lines and within the Democratic Party itself, but on an even larger scale, the Economic Opportunity Act signaled a significant policy shift with regard to the role of the United States government with aiding the impoverished. “Community action” introduced an alternative for the poor that helped them engage in and solve their own problems, rather than rely on welfare and transfer payments.^[1] These Community Action Programs (CAPs) were complemented by a government that also focused its resources on improving job training, education, and community development. The Jobs Corps, the Neighborhood Youth Corps, and CAPs were examples of programs established by the War on Poverty that enforced this mandate. The execution of these programs revolved around two key players: the newly-formed Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), which ran the Jobs Corps and community action, and the Department of Labor, which was tasked with running the Neighborhood Youth Corps. The relationship between the two was stressful, in part due to a basic disagreement over the merits of community action. The struggle in achieving reform in the War on Poverty was influenced not only by this fundamental difference in ideology, but also by the influence (or lack thereof) of President Lyndon Baines Johnson,  the administrative issues that arose with passing key legislation, and the actual execution of the programs within the heavily bureaucratic structure of the Department of Labor.

        Jack Conway, a key organizer for the Office of Economic Opportunity, described himself as “an institution builder”, someone who “felt that it was important to organize people into some kind of an instrument which was capable of carrying out an effective program.”^[2] As a man with his own ideas regarding community organization, Conway aimed to channel this and his previous experience working with labor unions into the Community Action Program he was asked to plan for the OEO. While some community organizers such as Saul Alinsky utilized the “devil theory” to create an enemy for people to mobilize against, Conway focused on positive objectives. He preferred a singular organization for the community, rather than a collection of smaller, institutional groups.^[3] With community action, Conway aimed for “the enfranchisement, the empowerment of literally hundreds and thousands of people who had been out of it before” – in essence, getting people involved in the resolution of their own problems.^[4] He parallels this empowerment to what he accomplished in labor: just as he created union people out of nothing, CAPs allowed the illiterate, inexperienced, and impoverished to take the responsibility necessary to lead themselves out of their own problems.^[5]