1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910827862303321

Autore

Phelps Wesley G

Titolo

A people's war on poverty : urban politics and grassroots activists in Houston / / Wesley G. Phelps

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Athens, Georgia : , : The University of Georgia Press, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

0-8203-4672-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (264 p.)

Disciplina

305.5/69097641411

Soggetti

Community development - Texas - Houston - History - 20th century

Poor - Services for - Texas - Houston - History - 20th century

Poor - Political activity - Texas - Houston - History - 20th century

Poverty - Government policy - Texas - Houston - History - 20th century

Social action - Texas - Houston - History - 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction. The War on Poverty and the Expansion of Democracy; One. Declaring a War on Poverty in the Midst of "Pervasive Conservatism": The Tumultuous Road to Establishing a Community Action Agency, 1964-1965; Two. Creating an Alternative Antipoverty Philosophy for Houston: Grassroots Religious Activists and VISTA Workers Outside the City's Community Action Agency, 1964-1966; Three. An Aggressive Vision for the Community Action Program: Confrontational Politics and the Expansion of Democracy, 1966-1967

Four. A Closing Window of Opportunity for Expanding Democracy: Houston's Public Officials and the Taming of the Community Action Program, 1967Five. A Triumph for the Limited Vision of Democracy: New Leadership and the Expulsion of the Organizers, 1967-1969; Six. National Changes with Local Results: De- escalation of the War on Poverty, 1969-1976; Conclusion. The War on Democracy; Notes; Bibliography; Index;

Sommario/riassunto

In A People's War on Poverty , Wesley G. Phelps investigates the on-



the-ground implementation of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty during the 1960's and 1970's. He argues that the fluid interaction between federal policies, urban politics, and grassroots activists created a significant site of conflict over the meaning of American democracy and the rights of citizenship that historians have largely overlooked. In Houston in particular, the War on Poverty spawned fierce political battles that revealed fundamental disagreements over what democracy meant, how far it should extend, and who...