By the Ronald Reagan era, it had become a cornerstone of conservative ideology that poverty is caused not by low wages or a lack of jobs and education, but by the bad attitudes and faulty lifestyles of the poor. In their view, government programs could do nothing to help the poor, because poverty arises from the twisted psychology of the poor themselves. Although underfunded, the War on Poverty still managed to provoke an intense backlash from conservative intellectuals and politicians. But there was never enough money for the fight against poverty, and Johnson found himself increasingly distracted by another and deadlier war-the one in Vietnam. Johnson seemed to have established the principle that it is the responsibility of the government to intervene on behalf of the disadvantaged and the deprived. Poverty among seniors was significantly reduced by improvements to Social Security.
Longstanding programs such as Head Start, the Legal Services Program, and the Job Corps were created. So starting in 1964 and for almost a decade, the federal government poured at least some of its resources in the direction they should have been going all along: toward those who were most in need.
He announced a War on Poverty, saying that its “chief weapons” would be “better schools, and better health, and better homes, and better training, and better job opportunities.” Johnson made a move that was unprecedented at the time and remains unmatched by succeeding administrations.
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