War on Poverty — 40th Anniversary

Forty years ago this week, President Lyndon Johnson announced a bold new plan to wipe out poverty in America. Join in a discussion with some of the people who served on the front lines of America's War on Poverty and what its legacy is today. NPR's Lynn Neary guest hosts today.

Guests:

Larry Levinson
*Helped Johnson write the War on Poverty section of memoirs
*Now a partner at Piper Rudnick law firm

Polly Greenberg
*Author of the The Devil Had Slippery Shoes about starting Head Start in Mississippi
*Started in the Office of Economic Opportunity, quit to work for Mississippi Head Start program

Joseph Califano
*Johnson's top domestic aide starting in mid-1965 to 1969
*Current head of the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University

Loyal Jones
*Former director of the Council of the Southern Mountains
*Founded Appalachian Center at Berea College

Myron Magnet
*Author of The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties Legacy to the Underclass
*Edits the Manhattan Institute's City Journal