it began with a speech by president lindon johnson. mark snyder looks back. >> and this is demonstration today. declares unconditional war on poverty in america. >> the speech came less than two months after the assassination our aim is to relieve the symptom of poverty. but decure it. above all. to prevent it. >> poverty had been a major concern of president kennedy, and with the country still grieving and almost one in five americans living in poverty, johnson declared war on poverty.

it all began 50 years ago with president lindon johnson. some say there's been no improvement since then, others say the battles have been won, but the war itself continues. we will bring you stories from around the country from people who tackled this issue each and every day, despite the new policies that stem from that landmark speech. also in just a few moments he hear from the president who is set to unveil the first of five areas that he is calling promise zones. we will bring that you live when it happens. now the five regions the president is focusing on are south eastern kentucky, san antonio, philadelphia, los angeles, and the nation of oklahoma which is an american inian tribe. the new initiative coming as they look back at the 50th anniversary of the war on poverty. it began with a speech by president lindon johnson. mark snyder looks back. >> and this is demonstration today. declares unconditional war on poverty in america. >> the speech came less than two months after the assassination our aim is to relieve the symptom of pove

the plan followed president lindon johnson's war on poverty ageneral da which started 50 years ago. stale television show him attending ask art gallery opening. the first time he has been seen in public in nearly a year. those are the headlines i will see you back here at 11:00 eastern, 8:00 pacific america tonight with joey chen is coming up next, and of course you can always get the lastest news on aljazeera.com. we will see you later on tonight. on america tonight, reconsidering a return to fukushima. in the final part of our exclusive look at the aftermath of the nuclear power disaster we ponder that nation's energy future. ism imagines of an iraqi city under power. and why falujjah is luking to descend into a new cycle of violence. it is not just this spectacle, to rap revelation. >> the outsider acts that cob signs of a slow thaw with north korea. good etching and thank you for joining us. for many of us there are certain fears, real, imagined, about nuclear power tie the most memorable vision of that long controversy energy resource, there's three-mile island through nobodile

it all began 50 years ago with president lindon johnson.ome say there's been no improvement since then, others say the battles have been won, but the war itself continues. we will bring you stories from around the country from people who tackled this issue each and every day, despite the new policies that stem from that landmark speech. also in just a few moments he hear from the president who is set to unveil the first o

mineville kentucky. 50 years after president lindon johnson declared a war on poverty.he child poverty level is the same as it was in 1964. in new orleans, a staggering 65% of african-american children under five live in poverty. new orleans is not on the list, robert gray joining us with more, over to you. >> yes, tony, i met a lot of people wish they were on the list that he announced today, and he also said that the next year will be about recovery for the poor. here is the issue. for child poverty the statistics have not changed that much, so there isn't really a recovery process, but more something we need to completely fix. take a look over here, this is a house project right outside the french quarter. like so many of the housing projects across the city, they are being torn down, and made into mixed income development as lot of people that used to live here are in those and awaiting to get into the new development which should be done in the next year or so. now the families here are trying their best, there are local nonprofits to try to give them a better life

rubio's speech came 50 years to the day after president lindon johnson uttered these words. >> this administrationdeclares unconditional war on poverty in america. rubio used the anniversary of johnson's dark ldeclaration for announcing his own words. he declared johnson's war on poverty a failure. >> for 50 years now we have tried big government and too many people have remained trap in despair. >> that might sound familiar, it's a refrain republicans have been offering for more than a generation. >> friends some years ago, the federal government declared war on poverty and poverty won. dependency has become the one enduring heirloom passed from generation to the next. >> an article among conservatives, we fought a war on poverty and poverty won, it's not true. one recent study found when you take into account government intervention, the fraction of americans with incomes below the poverty line has dropped. 47% in 1967 to 11% today. some good news in rubio's remarks today, he's joined other republicans in at least talking about poverty. maybe misleading people about the legacy of the war, but at