The Poverty Czar
It’s not hard, therefore, to detect a political motive to Clinton’s proposal. The campaign has witnessed her transformation from a DLC viewpoint on economic issues to a more populist approach critical to her new, “Reagan Democrat” base. Moreover, the idea seems like an opportunity before the North Carolina primary to win over the backing of John Edwards—who has described ending poverty as the “cause” of his life, although he devoted little attention to the matter while representing the Tarheel State in the Senate. (It’s not clear Edwards’ endorsement would mean much: one recent poll showed that almost one-third of North Carolina Democrats would be less likely to vote for Clinton if Edwards backed her.)
The intersection between politics and idea of a poverty “czar” is nothing new. Although the term wasn’t used in the 1960s, Sargent Shriver essentially functioned as poverty czar during the Johnson administration. Johnson inherited from Kennedy the idea of a coordinated government campaign against poverty, though the new President, who entered politics as an admirer of FDR, seemed to have a greater personal commitment to the cause.
That said, politics, not policy, dictated the nature of the appointment of Shriver, the late President’s brother-in-law and Peace Corps director. Events of late January 1964 weren’t kind to Johnson: he had experienced a series of troubling revelations regarding his ties to his former Senate aide, Bobby Baker. (Baker eventually would go to jail on corruption charges.) While LBJ was the overwhelming favorite for the 1964 election, ethics was the one issue on which he clearly was vulnerable. Johnson had, after all, become a multi-millionaire despite spending his entire adult life on the government payroll; and, like many Texas Democrats of the time, enjoyed cozy ties with the oil, gas, and business interests that dominated the state’s economy.
Eager to displace the Baker stories from the headlines, and with a late-afternoon press conference looming, LBJ decided to jumpstart plans to name Shriver as a special assistant to the President, to handle poverty matters. Shriver, to put it mildly, was surprised to hear this news, as the clip below reveals.
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About an hour later, having had some time to reflect on the President’s demand, Shriver called back to the White House. From a policy angle, he noted, rushing the appointment made no sense. Johnson was not pleased.
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A bit later in the call, Shriver, fantastically, admitted that he didn’t have a very good idea of the anti-poverty program he would administer. Johnson, again, seemed unfazed.
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Finally, as the call came to an end and with the press conference just 60 minutes away, Shriver bowed to Johnson’s wishes, though in about the most unenthusiastic manner he could possibly muster.
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It’s unlikely Hillary Clinton will ever reach the point where she’s in a position to name her poverty czar. But she, like Johnson before her, has succeeded in getting some political mileage out of the issue.