Editing Lyndon B. Johnson (section)

==="War on Poverty"===
{{main|War on poverty}}
{{further|Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson#"War on Poverty"}}
[[File:President Johnson poverty tour.jpg|thumb|President Johnson's poverty tour in 1964]]
In his 1964 State of the Union Address Johnson stated, "this administration today, here and now, declares an unconditional [[war on poverty]] in America. Our aim is not only to relieve the symptoms of poverty but to cure it–and above all, to prevent it."<ref>Bornet (1983), pp. 54–55</ref> In April 1964, Johnson proposed the [[Economic Opportunity Act of 1964]], which would create the [[Office of Economic Opportunity]] (OEO) to oversee local [[Community Action Agencies]] (CAA) charged with dispensing aid to those in poverty.<ref>Zelizer (2015), pp. 132–134.</ref> Each CAA was required to have "maximum feasible participation" from local residents, who would design and operate antipoverty programs unique to their communities' needs.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Liberal Hour: Washington and the Politics of Change in the 1960s|author=G. Calvin Mackenzie and Robert Weisbrot}} p. 102.</ref> This was threatening to local political regimes who saw CAAs as alternative [[power structure]]s in their own communities, funded and encouraged by the OEO.<ref name="The Liberal Hour">{{cite book|title=The Liberal Hour: Washington and the Politics of Change in the 1960s|author=G. Calvin Mackenzie and Robert Weisbrot}} p. 103.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160606135116/http://millercenter.org/presidentialclassroom/exhibits/mayor-daley-on-the-community-action-program Mayor Daley on the Community Action Program] The Miller Center</ref><ref name="lbj_russell_cap_1966_06_02_miller">"[http://millercenter.org/presidentialclassroom/exhibits/lbj-and-senator-richard-russell-on-the-community-action-program LBJ and Senator Richard Russell on the Community Action Program] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160606135111/http://millercenter.org/presidentialclassroom/exhibits/lbj-and-senator-richard-russell-on-the-community-action-program |date=2016-06-06 }}," audio recording June 2, 1966: conversation excerpt (President Johnson and Georgia Sen. Richard Russell express dislike and distrust of Community Action Program), Conversation Number:  WH6606.01 #10205, The Miller Center</ref> In 1967, the Green Amendment gave city governments the right to decide which entity would be the official CAA for their community. The net result was a halt to the [[citizen participation]] reform movement.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tolbert |first1=Jovita A. |title=A Brief History of Community Action |url=http://www.nascsp.org/data/files/events/conference%20materials/mid-winter/2013/a-history-of-community-action-in-brief-2013.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328020225/http://www.nascsp.org/data/files/events/conference%20materials/mid-winter/2013/a-history-of-community-action-in-brief-2013.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 28, 2016 |website=NASCSP}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gillette |first1=Michael L. |title=Launching the War on Poverty: An Oral History |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=235–236}}</ref>

The Economic Opportunity Act created the [[Job Corps]] and [[AmeriCorps VISTA]], a domestic version of the [[Peace Corps]].<ref>Zelizer (2015), pp. 135–136.</ref> Modeled after the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] (CCC), Job Corps was a [[residential education]] and job-training program that provided academic and [[vocational education|vocational skills]] to low-income at-risk young people.<ref name="Economic Opportunity Act">{{cite web |title=Economic Opportunity Act |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Economic-Opportunity-Act |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Job Corps |url=https://www.usa.gov/agencies/job-corps |website=[[USA.gov]]}}</ref> VISTA deployed volunteers on community projects across the nation to address issues such as [[illiteracy]], inadequate housing, and poor health.<ref name="Economic Opportunity Act"/> By the end of 1965, 2,000 volunteers had signed on.<ref>{{cite web |title=Volunteers in Service to America |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Volunteers-in-Service-to-America |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> The act reflected Johnson's belief that the government could best help the impoverished by providing them with economic opportunities.{{sfn|Patterson|1996|pp=535, 538–539}}

During the Johnson administration, national poverty declined significantly, with the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line dropping from 23 to 12&nbsp;percent.<ref name="histeval"/> Johnson took an additional step in the War on Poverty with an [[urban renewal]] effort, the "Demonstration Cities Program". To be eligible, a city was required to demonstrate its readiness to "arrest blight and [[urban decay|decay]] and make a substantial impact on the development of its entire city". Johnson requested an investment of $400&nbsp;million per year totaling $2.4&nbsp;billion. In late 1966, Congress passed a substantially reduced program costing $900&nbsp;million, which Johnson later called the [[Model Cities Program]]. ''The New York Times'' wrote 22&nbsp;years later that the program was largely a failure.<ref>{{harvp|Dallek|1998|pp=320–322}}</ref>