Fifty years ago, in his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared an “unconditional War on Poverty in America.” To mark this year’s anniversary of the federal anti-poverty policy initiative, the National Equal Justice Library has set up a new blog, Right On. A particular focus of the blog will be on providing information about the history and critical role of the civil legal aid programs, which eventually became part of the federal anti-poverty efforts. The blog aims to be a combination of historical reflections and analyses, entries featuring relevant resources, collections, and scholarly publications, and announcements of events and programs relating to the 50th anniversary that will be held during this year and beyond.
The first blog entry by Earl Johnson, Jr. begins as series on the emergence of the legal services program as a component of the War on Poverty during 1964 and 1965. Earl Johnson Jr. highlights that President Johnson did not mention the denial of justice to poor and low-income people in his speech, and writes that it was to prove difficult to introduce a legal services component as part of the “War on Poverty.” Further postings by Johnson will trace the slow movement to establish a viable legal services program over the course of 1964. The entries will be combined with links to selected relevant historical sources and resources from the NEJL and other collections.