The War on Poverty

Nearly one in five American children grows up poor
Five decades into the War on Poverty, nearly one in five American children is growing up poor.
Photo by Steve Schapiro

The number of people in the U.S. living in poverty is on track for a record increase, with the ranks of working-age poor approaching 1960s levels that led President Lyndon B. Johnson to declare a war on poverty. An American RadioWorks documentary, ""The War on Poverty: From the Great Society to the Great Recession," examines the modern face of poverty and asks why LBJ's dream of a Great Society is still beyond reach.

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