War on Poverty

Cultural  

1. A set of government programs, designed to help poor Americans, begun by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964. The War on Poverty included measures for job training and improvement of housing.

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Example Sentences

Here in the heart of America’s War on Poverty, some two-thirds of households with children still get food stamps, among the nation’s highest rates, and the estimated median household income hovers around $35,000.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 17, 2025

Shriver played a pivotal role in the War on Poverty.

From Salon • Jan. 20, 2025

And after Kennedy was assassinated, Shriver was tapped to head up President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty program.

From Scientific American • Oct. 26, 2023

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, President Lyndon Johnson’s advisers tried to work the program into the War on Poverty.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 10, 2023

Uncle Pete had disagreed, making his usual case for integration and support for President Johnson’s War on Poverty.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides