The War on Poverty is the name given to legislation that was first proposed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s. This consisted of social welfare programs intended to end poverty in the United States.
Johnson's legislation argued that people were poor not because of a moral failing, but because the government was not giving them opportunities to develop their skills. Some programs were indeed established and made a small difference. These included the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the Job Corps, VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) and Head Start. If Johnson had been able to make the difference he had expected, what would have happened is that poverty would have reduced significantly in the United States. Moreover, other services such as education and healthcare would have improved in quality and became easily accessible for the whole population.
