Word: harrington
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Michael Harrington, the author of The Other America, has at least a dozen sides to his personality. When he spoke at Winthrop House Sunday night, Harrington discussed poverty with a business-like precision, mixing a surprising realism with his energetic, crusading determination. Afterwards, in private, he was personable and easy-going, full of jokes and boyish charm. Throughout the evening, Harrington seemed entirely befuddled by his recent success...
...outspoken author began by sketching both his definitions and the dimensions of poverty in this country. Harrington defined a poor person as one who has a "multiplicity of miseries, each of which reinforces the other." Within that definition, he mentioned jobs, housing and education as three of the most recurrent problems of the poor...
...Full employment is a precondition to an unconditional 'War on Poverty'," Harrington said, "for without it, we may only recruit more and more people to the ranks of the poor...
Unless more jobs, more housing, and more education are provided, Harrington continued, "poverty may create social chaos, and it may lead to a very violent and explosive sort of situation...
Much more comprehensive solutions and programs than those of President Johnson are needed, Harrington said. First of all, he said, the government must realize that the "War" will be "won or lost in Washington D.C., not with a grass roots movement." Secondly, the public sector must be extended, primarily because the private sector is not generating jobs. Finally, he said, "we must begin to redistribute the wealth of this country" by "having social planning on a national level for decent purposes...