Enlightened Localism: A Narrative Account of Poverty and Education in the Great Society

Abstract

In this article, I intend to convey a certain point of view about the "Great Society" (and about public policy and its processes) to those who know of it only through hearsay and history textbooks. I attempt to fix this point of view by reviewing the planning that went into two fundamental Great Society programs - the "War on Poverty" and educational planning. To facilitate thinking about the Great Society's legacy, I conclude with a brief analysis of what has become of its policy initiatives in poverty and education, and with a projection about what the history of those initiatives implies for the future.