25 “You save money on your programs”: Levine, Lessons from the War on Poverty, 62.
26 “We ought not to be in the business”: Califano, Triumph and Tragedy, 79.
27 “No such change in OEO’s policy”: OEO press release, Scottsdale, AZ, November 5, 1965, LBJ Library; Lander, War on Poverty, 54.
28 “I didn’t bother to clear my statement”: Kramer and Shriver, “We Called It a War.”
29 “It was overwhelmingly clear”: Sargent Shriver to President Johnson, and Charlie Schultze to President Johnson, November 6, 1965, LBJ Library.
30 Grafted onto LBJ’s legitimate concerns: Califano, Triumph and Tragedy, 7.
31 “bloodbath on Capitol Hill”: Ibid., 79–80.
32 Johnson had the Justice Department draw up: Ibid., 80.
33 “you’re the only one that’s not letting me down”: President’s daily diary, June 14, 1967, LBJ Library.
34 “the token Kennedy member”: Washington Post, February 10, 1968.
35 Shriver’s “stubborn idealism”: Ibid.
36 “Somebody has got to hang in there”: Edgar Cahn oral history, LBJ Library.
Chapter 32: Head Start
1 “My God, look at that”: Sargent Shriver oral history, LBJ Library.
2 Shriver had been working closely with Eunice: Eunice Kennedy Shriver, interview October 15, 2003.
3 “So we flew down to Gray’s research institute”: Eunice Kennedy Shriver, interview September 29, 2003.
4 “Like most Americans”: Zigler and Valentine, Project Head Start, 50.
5 “On the airplane”: Eunice Kennedy Shriver, interview October 15, 2003.
6 “a lot of poor kids arrive at first grade”: Sargent Shriver, interview August 3, 1997; Zigler and Valentine, Project Head Start, 51.
7 “If Joe’s not knocking this idea”: Sargent Shriver, interview August 11, 1997.
8 “it wasn’t until blacks grew up”: Zigler and Valentine, Project Head Start, 52.
9 “Look, we’ve got to get a program going”: Ibid., 52–53.
10 “We had to devise programs: Ibid., 54–55.
11 Shriver asked Dick Boone: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 230, LBJ Library.
12 “We deliberately tried to make it an interdisciplinary effort”: Jules Sugarman oral history, LBJ Library.
13 “the usually helpful pressure”: Mitchell Ginsberg, quoted in Zigler and Valentine, Project Head Start, 92.
14 “Okay, let’s get it operational”: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 230, LBJ Library.
15 “How about ‘Head Start’?”: Zigler and Valentine, Project Head Start, 116.
16 “We’re going to write Head Start across the face of the nation”: Urie Bronfenbrenner, quoted in Zigler and Valentine, Project Head Start, 82.
17 “That’s such a magnificent idea”: Edward Davens, quoted in Zigler and Valentine, Project Head Start, 90.
18 Edgar May recalled a meeting: Edgar May, interview February 21, 2002.
19 “Well, if I had wanted a bureaucrat”: Julius Richmond, interview February 18, 1998.
20 “The Head Start idea”: Johnson, A White House Diary, 219.
21 “being bloodied every day on the front page”: Jules Sugarman, quoted in Zigler and Valentine, Project Head Start, 117.
22 When Richmond began as director: Julius Richmond oral history, LBJ Library.
23 “It was like wildcatting for oil”: Zigler and Valentine, Project Head Start, 56.
24 Julius Richmond recalled: Julius Richmond oral history, LBJ Library.
25 Once, a courier: Zigler and Valentine, Project Head Start, 119.
26 while the applications were being processed: Jules Sugarman oral history, LBJ Library.
27 One study found: Zigler and Muechow, Head Start, 26.
28 “the major remaining battalion”: Mills, Something Better for My Children, 3.
29 the seventeen-hour workday was standard: William Phillips oral history, LBJ Library.
30 “OEO has attracted more bright”: Jules Sugarman oral history, LBJ Library.
31 “He’s a guy that you admired and couldn’t stand”: Eric Tolmach oral history, LBJ Library.
32 “A program as complex as Head Start”: Zigler and Valentine, Project Head Start, 128.
33 “When I first came to OEO”: Jules Sugarman oral history, LBJ Library.
34 “I’ve never been in such stimulating staff meetings”: William Phillips oral history, LBJ Library.
35 “He was tired of the bullshit”: Edgar Cahn oral history, LBJ Library.
36 OEO originally made a $1.5 million grant: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 66–68, LBJ Library; Jules Sugarman and Julius Richmond oral histories, LBJ Library.
37 One faction was led by Bill Haddad: Robert Clampett to William Haddad, August 4, 1965, OEO Office of Inspection Files, Kennedy Foundation Archives.
38 “Some of those [Head Start] centers were feeding SNCC”: Don Baker oral history, LBJ Library.
39 “the headquarters of the project will continue to operate”: Sargent Shriver to John Stennis, August 13, 1965, Shriver Papers, JFK Library.
40 “a center of civil rights activities”: Senate Appropriation Committee Hearings, October 14, 1965, 515.
41 “made clear that civil rights work … would not be tolerated”: Sargent Shriver prepared statement to Senate Appropriations Committee, October 14, 1965, Shriver Papers, JFK Library.
42 Because Head Start was such a popular program: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 69–71, LBJ Library.
Chapter 33: A Revolution in Poverty Law
1 Before the 1960s: Johnson, Justice and Reform, 3–10.
2 In most Western European democracies: Ibid., 14–18.
3 “It was like Columbus discovering America”: Washington Post Magazine, August 18, 1991.
4 In November 1962, they had: Johnson, Justice and Reform, 22.
5 their role became controversial: Ibid., 23.
6 the Cahns argued: Ibid., 33.
7 “watering down the legal services organizations”: Ibid., 42.
8 But about this time Lowell Beck: Edgar Cahn oral history, LBJ Library.
9 When Cahn reported this information: Dick Boone to Edgar Cahn, November 27, 1964, Shriver Papers, JFK Library.
10 at an ABA conference in mid-November: Johnson, Justice and Reform, 48–49.
11 Shriver made that task harder: Chicago Daily News, November 18, 1964.
12 was deluged with angry letters: Lewis Powell and Edgar Cahn oral histories, LBJ Library.
13 On January 12 the Cahns met: Jean Cahn and Edgar Cahn oral histories, LBJ Library.
14 Over the next week: Sargent Shriver, “The Organized Bar and Legal Services,” American Bar Association Journal, March 1971, 57:223–27; Lewis Powell oral history, LBJ Library.
15 But just as relations: Johnson, Justice and Reform, 64–65.
16 Shriver had his own reasons: Sargent Shriver, interview December 28, 1997.
17 “if ABA members had visualized”: Lewis Powell oral history, LBJ Library.
18 Jean Cahn dug in her heels: Johnson, Justice and Reform, 65.
19 Jean Cahn attacked Shriver publicly: Washington Post Magazine, August 18, 1991.
20 the Legal Services program was in disarray: Johnson, Justice and Reform, 65–66.
21 Part of the problem: Richard Pious, “Policy and Public Administration,” Politics and Society, 1971, 365–72.
22 keynote address at the ABA’s upcoming annual convention: Sargent Shriver address to ABA 88th annual meeting, August 11, 1965, Shriver Papers, JFK Library.
23 Bamberger “was establishment”: Johnson, Justice and Reform, 69.
24 “the greatest adventure in the history of the legal profession”: Ibid., 70.
25 In a tour de force performance: Pious, Politics and Society, 374.
26 In the eighteen months beginning in January 1966: Johnson, Justice and Reform, 82–
95.
27 “the entire Legal Services program was drifting”: Ibid., 26.
28 he quickly signed on to the growing consensus: Stumpf, Community Politics and Legal Services, 270.
29 “Equal justice cannot be accomplished”: Johnson, Justice and Reform, 127. 441 on March 17, 1967: 90th Cong., 1st sess., 1967, S. Rep., 40.
30 During the nine years of the official existence: Lawrence, The Poor in Court, 34–35.
31 “caused a lot of trouble”: Mickey Kantor, interview March 6, 2002.
32 “maybe the most important thing that we are doing”: Don Baker oral history, LBJ Library.
33 “The LSP … did seem to increase feelings of political efficacy”: Lawrence, The Poor in Court, 34–35.
34 “changed whole bodies of law”: Edgar Cahn address to National Center on Poverty Law annual dinner, May 1, 2003.
35 “Before the OEO program”: Johnson, Justice and Reform, 188.
36 “the top people in each law school class”: Mickey Kantor, interview March 6, 2002.
37 At one point during the Clinton administration: Clinton Bamberger, interview February 18, 1998.
38 “bought into a whole mess of trouble”: Edgar Cahn address to National Center on Poverty Law annual dinner, May 1, 2003.
39 “fondest of Head Start”: Kramer and Shriver, “We Called It a War.”
40 “We’re going to go into health in a big way”: Joe English interviews, February 18, 1988; October 12, 2000.
41 Shriver and company decided to research two kinds of programs: Administrative History of the War on Poverty, LBJ Library.
42 “What impressed him most”: Clymer, Edward M. Kennedy, 86–87.
43 The AMA had on principle opposed: English interviews, February 18, 1998; October 12, 2000.
44 Eunice made a choreographed entrance: Clymer, Edward M. Kennedy, 87.
Chapter 34: “Double Commander-in-Chief”
1 “When I look back now”: Bobby Shriver, interview May 21, 2003.
2 During the week: Richard Ragsdale, interview October 16, 2000; Andy McCutcheon, interview February 20, 2003.
3 “As the War on Poverty moved into high gear”: Kramer and Shriver, “We Called It a War.”
4 “Sen. Joe Tydings has a campaign under way”: Marvin Watson to President Johnson, February 20, 1965, LBJ Library.
5 “the chief problem for the Peace Corps”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 399.
6 “One of the things I am most interested in making clear”: Peace Corps staff meeting minutes, February 10, 1964, Shriver Papers, JFK Library.
7 “It was fascinating to me in those early days”: Edgar May, interview February 21, 2002.
8 Early in 1965: Sargent Shriver to President Johnson, March 10, 1965, Shriver Papers, JFK Library.
9 “high-water mark of the Peace Corps”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 302.
10 “the most informal as well as the liveliest”: New Yorker, March 20, 1965.
11 The day built to a magnificent crescendo: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 302.
12 told Shriver to send the volunteers as soon as possible: Sargent Shriver to President Johnson, October 12, 1965, Shriver Papers, JFK Library.
13 “a tool for political blackmail”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 328. 450 “If you knew the mood the President was in”: Ibid., 328–29.
14 sent a blistering memorandum to the president: Sargent Shriver to President Johnson, October 12, 1965, LBJ Library.
15 the Peace Corps threw a massive anniversary party: Sargent Shriver to President Johnson, November 2, 1965, LBJ Library.
16 A Louis Harris poll: Sargent Shriver to President Johnson, August 24, 1965, LBJ Library.
Chapter 35: The OEO in Trouble
1 “We sat in his office face to face for the first time in months”: Kramer and Shriver, “We Called It a War.”
2 “I was perplexed”: Ibid.
3 “a verb that may not be well chosen”: Levine, Lessons from the War on Poverty, 63.
4 “from the very beginning”: Herb Kramer oral history, LBJ Library.
5 “ ‘Maladministration’ may be too harsh a phrase”: C. Robert Perrin oral history, LBJ Library.
6 Shriver had to compromise from the outset: Wall Street Journal, March 9, 1966.
7 “ugly problems of the political establishment”: New York Times, April 28, 1966.
8 the staunchest supporter of increasing the OEO’s funding: Donovan, The Politics of Poverty, 74.
9 He told HEW secretary Wilbur Cohen: Wilbur Cohen oral history, LBJ Library.
10 Johnson sent a note to his political aide: Lemann, The Promised Land, 188.
11 “Robert Kennedy was passing Sargent Shriver on the left”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 421.
12 “I will not participate in a riot”: New York Times, April 15, 1966.
13 According to Bayard Rustin: Ibid.
14 “Shriver was trying to overwhelm them”: Washington Post, April 19, 1966.
15 “irreducible minimum”: Donovan, The Politics of Poverty, 77–78.
16 “A triple blow has been struck”: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 559–61, LBJ Library.
17 When this article was brought to the president’s attention: President Johnson to Bill Moyers, December 2, 1966, LBJ Library.
18 “shocking and incredible beyond belief”: Kramer and Shriver, “We Called It a War.”
19 Shriver had had enough: Ibid.
20 Califano delivered a handwritten note: Sargent Shriver to President Johnson, December 19, 1966, LBJ Library.
21 “he hopes that his resignation can be handled”: Bill Moyers to President Johnson, December 19, 1966, LBJ Library.
22 “During the past ten days”: Hubert Humphrey to President Johnson, December 17, 1966, LBJ Library.
23 Stennis said the grant would fund “extremists”: Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, 90th Cong., 1st sess., 1967, S. Rep., 782.
24 On July 7, when the CDGM submitted: “CDGM Situation Report,” September 27, 1966, Office of Inspector General Files, Kennedy Foundation Archives.
25 he liked the fact that the CDGM served mainly African Americans: Sargent Shriver, interview March 31, 2000; Edgar May oral history, LBJ Library.
26 The array of problems was substantial: “CDGM Situation Report,” September 27, 1966, Office of Inspector General Files, JPK Foundation.
27 A week later, Shriver announced: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 76, LBJ Library.
28 Shriver wrote back: Ibid., 78–79.
29 “Say It Isn’t So, Sargent Shriver”: New York Times, October 19, 1966.
30 “I’d never really seen him as moved and angry”: Jules Sugarman oral history, LBJ Library.
31 Shriver fired back: Sargent Shriver to New York Times, October 19, 1966.
32 “during that period of turmoil”: Zigler and Valentine, Project Head Start, 64.
33 Under pressure from the White House: Jules Sugarman oral history, LBJ Library.
34 “agreement in principle” had been reached: Herb Kramer to Marvin Watson, December 19, 1966, LBJ Library.
35 At Timberlawn over Christmas: Kramer and Shriver, “We Called It a War.”
Chapter 36: King of the Hill
1 Califano said that the president planned: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 564, LBJ Library.
2 “Cutting through the agency’s organization chart”: Kramer and Shriver, “We Called It a War.”
3 “single basic issue”: Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1967, 1058.
4 the bill the White House submitted: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 567, LBJ Library.
5 Community Action could be pronounced dead: New Republic, March 25, 1967.
6 call off the War on Poverty: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 575, LBJ Library.
7 staggering amount of time on Capitol Hill: Ibid., 578ff.; Sundquist, On Fighting Poverty, 176.
8 �
�The question at which”: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 578, LBJ Library.
9 Politicians and reporters accused: Ibid., 579–80.
10 “I was able to meet a lot of the young cats”: Seale, Seize the Time, 35.
11 “After the riots began”: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 581–82, LBJ Library. 473 “in almost every one”: Ibid., 584–85.
12 In the House: House Committee on Education and Labor, Hearings, 90th Cong., 1st sess., August 1, 1967, Part 4, 3577–78.
13 The message these officials sent: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 587, LBJ Library.
14 the House delivered its most stinging blow: Special message from Sargent Shriver to all OEO employees, October 12, 1967, LBJ Library.
15 the OEO had run out of money: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 594–95, LBJ Library.
16 “I think it would be a gross deception”: New York Times, November 6, 1967.
17 “a sellout to the establishment”: Senate, Hearings, 90th Cong., 1st sess., 1967, 2697.
18 “too much Alinsky in it”: Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1967, 1076.
19 “The original legislation”: “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 600–1, LBJ Library.
20 The ensuing debate: Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1967, 1076.
21 Privately, however: Don Baker and Bertrand Harding oral histories, LBJ Library.
22 “saving what is worth saving”: Davies, From Opportunity to Entitlement, 195.
23 “nothing but trouble”: C. Robert Perrin oral history, LBJ Library.
24 deft bit of political jujitsu: Andy McCutcheon, interview February 20, 2003; Barefoot Sanders oral history, LBJ Library.
25 “There’s going to be an amendment coming up”: George McCarthy oral history, LBJ Library.
26 “I don’t want OEO broken up”: Bill Kelly oral history, LBJ Library.
27 “The fact of the matter is”: Don Baker oral history, LBJ Library.
28 “doomed to failure”: Phil Landrum to Sargent Shriver, August 22, 1967, Barefoot Sanders Personal Papers, LBJ Library.
29 by a larger margin in both houses: Levine, Lessons from the War on Poverty, 76–77; “Administrative History of the War on Poverty,” 604–7, LBJ Library.
Sarge: The Life and Times of Sargent Shriver Page 91