Jill Lepore’s contribution to the September style and design special issue, “The Unseen: How a Magazine Article Became the Declaration of War on Poverty” is informative and timely. Would that it could call the attention of candidates for president today to the current increase in poverty in the United States with the same power that Dwight Macdonald’s review of The Other America by Michael Harrington caught the attention of our leaders in the 1960s.
I hope that the Smithsonian magazine would consider devoting an issue to the War on Poverty, perhaps in commemoration of its 50th anniversary in 2014. With a thorough and balanced account of the impact that War on Poverty programs have had, readers would gain a deeper understanding of the policy’s complex effects, successes, mistakes, and continuing benefits (such as in education, workforce diversity, job readiness, health, legal representation, and, yes, a continuing downward trend in the overall rate of poverty during the decade before the administrations of President Reagan and successors attempted to dismantle War on Poverty initiatives). The statement that President Johnson “lost that war” (p. 20), echoing the simplistic bromide from critics that we declared war on poverty and poverty won, could then be read in the context of what strategies have worked better than others in alleviating poverty. Imagine how much worse off we would be today if Head Start, VISTA, Upward Bound, legal aid, neighborhood health clinics, community action and model cities agencies, and other War on Poverty initiatives had not taken hold. And imagine how much better off we would be if the War on Poverty had included strategies that led to increased income for families and more jobs that paid a living wage.
Sincerely,
Anthony A. Bibus III, PhD, LISW
Professor Emeritus
Augsburg College Social Work Department

I have ordered the book "The Other America", by Michael Harrington. According to book supplier copy of the New Yorker essay "Our Invisible Poor" written by Dwight Macdonald is not available. Any suggestions in order for me to obtain copy of Macdonald's 13,000-word essay. Any suggestions? (Like surgery - one must not venture into the "surgery room" sans all facts and staff). Thank you for your cooperation and assistance. "Lucky" Could it be that the majority of Americans just don't give a dam? L J C

Your 'poverty' essay (The Unseen) says of Macdonald's 1963 New Yorker essay (Our Invisible Poor), "No piece of prose did more to make plain the atrocity of poverty in an age of affluence." Just over a century ago, Henry George wrote and published a book, "Progress and Poverty," conveying much the same idea. A Google search of the two authors (+ poverty)returned about 1,120.000 hits for George and 6,390 for Macdonald. That piece of prose catapulted George to worldwide fame and nearly the mayorship if New York. Surely, it deserves at least a tie with Macdonald's. What's perhaps more significant is that neither your (Lepore's) nor Macdonald's essay mentioned it. Unlike Macdonald's sources, George had an idea of "who ought do it" and how. Needless to say his proposal was not adopted, as the succeeding years continued or exacerbated poverty providing the base for Heller's and Johnson's assaults and wars and generating the enormous bureaucracy that feeds off the poor, making them indispenable, even if unseen. Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/How-a-New-Yorker-Article-Launched-the-First-Shot-in-the-War-Against-Poverty-165589956.html#ixzz28LYdSL7F

Solving poverty, in so far as it can ever be solved, cannot be accomplished in a nation that perpetually throws open its borders to the world’s ever-multiplying poor and unemployed, and their offspring, as if that nation were perpetually a wide-open frontier with unlimited economic, environmental and cultural resources. It is ironic that the policies that are most advertised as being the most “compassionate” are often, in the long run, the most cruel.

While individual people do what they can for the poor, volunteering at shelters, donating to charitable organizations, etc. it is still the responsibility of the government to ensure that poor people are not left behind. Government is the problem when there are cutbacks in social programs to help the poor. Government can also be the solution when social programs are properly funded.

This article is absolutely correct that the poor make less money and pay more taxes; I get for retirement less than $25,000 a year and pay the federal and state over $1,100 combined on my income taxes each year since retirement. I moved to Alabama to our old home to live with my sister, and we have fought tooth-n-nail to have the roads repaired, but was told that we live on private property and it cannot be repaired. Poverty is not only ecnomics, it's racial too. There are no roads that white people live on in the south that is not paved, but where black people live, we still get stuck in the mud when it rains. Some people believe that poverty steams from laziness and ignorance, but it really steams from prejudice and bigotry. Poor people are sicker because the doctors don't care because we are disposable property. Nobody listens to the counsel of a poor man, not even when they are giving advice about themselves. Poverty is one step above sick and dead and some of the richer people think we enjoy it, otherwise we'll do better. It's a sad state of being.

The best overall view of poverty in the world is presented by Dr. Paul Farmer in his writings and books about Haiti and the world in poverty and disease. His writing is current and offers an anthropological view of poverty and governments. He also places a non-political or more correctly an (all political) etiology for blame and the managing of persons attempting to live with virtually no resources. Every American should spend a few weeks in Haiti before they decide where to point fingers. The war on poverty had nothing to do with squandering resources for political manipulation or everything to do with it. Take your pick. The Smithsonian is beginning to look like the New Yorker but less literate and humorless.

"The Unseen" indicated "where are we today? re: this article on the poor in America. I saw the article printed on the screen as in the magazine but nothing further. Did I miss something? Thanks, Mary

i just read the article in sep 12 article.i wish to respond-i am one of america's poor.i live in the poorest area-to my knowledge-in leavenworth,ks.we,the poor,get lots of attention.in grocery stores ive been told i should find "other places" to shop since i am in the way of cash paying customers.i recently moved to this poor community,the crime is the highest in the city.my renters insurance went up about 50%-state farm.auto hasn't-yet.the apartments are allowed to ignore fire codes because of crime-the poor lives are considered less valuable.i find myself getting more disabled with age.but thats life.but it is wrong to be considered criminal just because we are poor.This is the New America