. case you did not hear me the first time, get out. after moo at 3:45 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span c-span is youriltered view of government, funded by these television companies more, including midco. ♪c-span service, along with these other television p seat to democracy. anniversary of lbj's war on poverty. ersation this morning is the president and executive director at the center for law and social policythe social mobility director of the center of opportunity at

the american enterprise institute, thank you both for being here. i want toin with when this came about for lyndon during his presidency. it his january, 1964 state of the union a when he first declared this war on poverty in america. want to show that for our viewers and come back and that will launch the conversation this morning about that. [video clip] >> very often, the lack of jobs and is not the cause of pothe cause may light deeper in our failure to give our fellow citizens a fair chance to their own capacities. a lack of education and training and a lack of medical care and housing and a lack of decent communities in which to live and bring up their children the cause must pursue poverty, pursue it wherever it exists from city towns sharecropper migrant worker k -- camps.

on indian young as well as the aged depressed areas. our aim is not only to relieve the symptom of poverty it and above all [applause]host: lyndon whatrtant? guest: thanks for having me on. johnson was following in robert kennedy, john kennedy, when you about that level of national political leaderslyndon this personally from his own experiences in texas. he knew that the was being driven apart multiple ways related to racial segregation and to the incredible disparities but also economically. it was a real risk that someeconomic progress that had been made since the end of world war sustained at least not equally sustained.

oment is so important because here youproposes something bold with the wherewithal and willpower and passion, the belief that this is something, even if we didn't have all the answers could take on as a country and that it would be good for all of us. host: what do you make of this moment in time and what is happening in america at this time? in 1964, it was the middle of boom, the likes of which we haven't seen since. it would wind down within a few years partly because of the attempts to poverty at the same time president johnson the conflict in vietnam. by the end960's, this dream of growth will lift to new heights that we've not seen before, few years but in 1964, it was the apogee of optimism about what the country can a compass together. we don't have big deficits, so there's not a lot of concern about that.

democrats hadthat would get even stronger y goldwater getting badly beaten by johnson. it was a time where there was a and a lot of believe that there were no limits to what the federal government could do. host: marking coming up is of lbj's great society speech at the university of michigan.what was it about this speech? guest: the great society and the war on poverty, th happening at the same time that overlap. i think the great society ends up being even more ambitious the war on poverty as part of it but part agendas that you have a lot of p involvement andhings like headstart and other programs that aren't necessarily about reducing property but expanding opportunities. that in some ways is anexpansion of this original idea of lifting more peoplepove oy.

guest: when president is giving this speech of the university of michigan, he's tryingo country and inspire future generations and talk about what'it was an older society approach, it was about government. one of the things president johnd was to promote the development of help guide and valuate the progress. saying povertour racial dis the justice and he talked a lot about protecting the environment and you can see how relevant all these issues are today. he said we need to come together as a country and it will help us together that we solve these problems and we will grow together. shortcomings but by and large that spe vision of how we can t some of our greatest problems together with a few initial t no certainty about all of the answers. host: this wednesday march th anniversary of that speech.

here is an audio expert -- excerpt of it. [video clip] >> in your time, we have the opportunity to move not only towards a richerul society but the great on abundance and liberty for all. poverty and racial injustice. to which we are totally committed in our time. [applause] president l great society and marking the 60th anniversary of that speech this wednesday. out of that came the war on poverty and that is our discussion this morning. some key legislation during thattime, social security amendments of 1965 created medicare and medicaid and expanded social security benefits. the food stamp act of 1964, the opportunity act of corps, the federal work-studyer of other initiatives and then you have elementary and secondary educationschool districts

with as. in many ways, but thicoverage and human a better term, helping people develop educational knowledge, skills preparing them for the labor force. but generally to have which administration wanted to have a guaranteed income but then decided against it. we really made progress later on a bipartisan as bases unde ford and under president o big gap. what came from this time was pretty remarkable. these are duramedicaid not only reduces poverty by most m coverage but it reduces system which is really important in an is another thing the president didn't foresee but that path. what didn't come was a

balancing of the economy. similarly, as scott said, there is a sense that was sort of true when you look back to whenkennedy first use that met about stuff happening in part of that is because there massive decline in unionization. the economy is notit once did in an even way. it didm. that made it more and more if we didn't change out the economy wass and earnings for groot more was necessary to have in publ benefits and support. we h durable programs like headstart that have shown to ha in many studies and sometimes these programs even pay for themselves which is prettyat the same time, happening that were not well addressed by what are your thoughts on the legisla it's a mixed bag. medicare and medicaid were huge advances in terms of insurance to a large segment of the

the war on poverty most mediate help most americans. there were improve and we can get into what the official measures of poverty says buthe elderly were certainly helped by the securihealth insurance for non-elderly was also very important. i think there were other of the great society and the war on poverty that were less successful. liberalization of the aid to families with dependent children program which i program was in existence at the time. probably counterproductive in terms of expanding thjohnson was clear whenever he talked about poverty that the to lift people above an arbitrary transfers, he wanted people to more self-sufficient, he didn't want -- he would say dependent on the dole. by that criteria, the legacy of the war on poverty is more mixed for a long time, the ways in which we expanded these

counterproductive in the 1990's, there isk about but it set would mean -- remained with us today. wethese programs and if we don't like them, we should find them rather than discarding them. we want to hear from all of you. if you live in the eastern or central part of the country, dial in at (202. mountain/pacif. you can join us on c-span and on xc-span wj or text us at (202) 748-8003. what is neededas a society? guest: the united economy that has among the largest share of low-paid there is a glut of very when scott talks about people

being think we all depend on each other in variousten we are thinking about people working. turns lots of people are working and are paid poorly in the united states and that relates to the decline in unionization. we see worker void and need to see more power. or been gains for people who have low income including especially for some communities of color but also for white they top and they also, in my view, they often are dependent on some ofprograms and transfers e