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January 1962 |
President Kennedy reads The Other America by Michael Harrington |
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July 1963 |
President Kennedy instructs his agencies - CEA, Bureau of the Budget, DOL and Hew to "make the case for a major policy to attack poverty." |
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August 1963 |
250,000 persons led by Martin Luther King Jr., march on Washington for jobs & freedom. "I have a dream…", he tells America. |
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November 1963 |
President Kennedy decides "anti-poverty measures" are to be included in his 1967 legislative program. President Kennedy is assassinated. |
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January 1964 |
President Johnson declares "War on Poverty" in his State of the Union message |
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February 1964 |
Sargent Shriver is named head of War on Poverty program by President Johnson on February 1. He convenes first task force meeting to plan legislation. The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan Show, drawing 68 million viewers, one of the largest television audiences ever. |
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March 1964 |
Sargent Shriver presents legislative proposal to the hearings held by The House Committee on education and Labor. |
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July 1964 |
Economic Opportunity Act passes Senate. |
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August 1964 |
Economic Opportunity Act passes House and is signed into law. |
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November 1964 |
Office of Economic Opportunity makes first grants to community action agencies. Lyndon Johnson elected President. |
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December 1964 |
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. receives Nobel Peace Prize |
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February 1965 |
OEO memo from Jules Sugarman announces initiation of Project Head Start. |
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June 1965 |
House hearings held on expansion of the War on Poverty. |
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September 1965 |
Congress doubles the appropriations for OEO programs. |
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January 1966 |
President Johnson pledges to "speed up the War on Poverty" in 1966 State of the Union message. |
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February 1966 |
Eighteen months after the Community Action Program was launched over 1,000 CAAs have been funded. |
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March 1966 |
Republican Representative Quie proposes the percentage of poor on local CAA boards be at least 1/3, urges figure be written into legislation. |
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April 1966 |
Senator Robert Kennedy charges Johnson Administration’s budget cuts will hurt the poor the most. Community action agency employees paid from federal funds are made subject to the Hatch Act. |
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May 1966 |
Auto magnate Henry Ford II states "business leaders have duty to join War on Poverty". |
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September 1966 |
Representative Adam Clayton Powell, Chairman of House Education and Labor Committee, releases report showing the War on Poverty "has been a good program…" |
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November 1966 |
A.P. Randolph Institute introduces $185 billion "freedom budget" to end poverty. |
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December 1966 |
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. attacks national priorities that make war in Vietnam "national obsession" while reducing War on Poverty to a "skirmish". |
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March 1967 |
Administration sends its proposed Economic Opportunity Act of 1967 to Congress. In response to, Congress requires the state or local government to designate CAA. |
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December 1967 |
War on Poverty authorization (bottled up in congress for much of the year) is signed into law. |
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February 1968 |
Tet Offensive starts in Vietnam. |
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March 1968 |
Johnson nominates Sargent Shriver as Ambassador to France. |
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April 1968 |
Dr. Martin Luther King assassinated. |
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June 1968 |
Senator Robert F. Kennedy assassinated. |
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Summer 1968 |
Emergency Food and Medical Services established; (in 1975 becomes The Community Food and Nutrition Program). |
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August 1968 |
Watts riots |
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November 1968 |
Richard Nixon elected President. |
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January 1969 |
Commission appointed by President Nixon proposes a gradual dismemberment of OEO. |
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February 1969 |
Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s book Maximum Feasible Misunderstanding published. |
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April 1969 |
Donald Rumsfeld appointed OEO Director. Earth Day is celebrated for the first time. |
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July 1969 |
Head Start transferred from OEO to the new Office of Child Development in the Department of HEW. Neil Armstrong becomes first man to walk on the moon. |
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August 1969 |
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, Woodstock, NY. |
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September 1969 |
Job Corps transferred from OEO to Department of Labor. |
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November 1970 |
Phillip Sanchez confirmed as head of OEO. |
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December 1970 |
President Nixon vetoes $6.3 billion two-year OEO reauthorization bill. |
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January 1973 |
Nixon ‘FY 74 Budget proposes OEO dismantlement. |
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February 1973 |
Howard Phillips named acting OEO Director. Paris Accords signed, signaling end to U.S. involvement in Vietnam War. |
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March 1973 |
Congressional Black Caucus protests cutting back OEO programs that affect poor, black and disadvantaged Americans. CAA Directors, OEO union file suit to block dismantlement of OEO. |
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April 1973 |
Judge Walter Jones orders acting OEO Director Phillips to halt his termination of OEO programs and brands as "illegal" Nixon move to dismantle OEO. |
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June 1973 |
Judge Jones rules that Phillips can no longer serve as acting director because he had never been confirmed by the Senate. |
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September 1973 |
Alvin Arnett confirmed as Director of OEO. |
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October 1973 |
Egypt & Syria attack Israel on Yom Kippur. Arab oil embargo of the US begins. |
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Winter 1973 |
OEO funds pilot projects for energy conservation/weatherization and emergency fuel assistance under the leadership of Richard Saul. |
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May 1974 |
House approves bill which would abolish OEO and transfer CAAs to HEW. |
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July 1974 |
Bert Gallegos nominated to become OEO Director. Congress approves transfer of Legal Services to new independent corporation. |
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August 1974 |
President Nixon resigns. Gerald Ford sworn in as president. |
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January 1975 |
President Ford signs bill replacing OEO with The Community Services Administration. |
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July 1976 |
Celebration of the nation’s Biscentennial. |
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November 1976 |
Jimmy Carter elected President. |
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March 1977 |
Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) wins amendment to provide $200 million for an Emergency Energy/Fuel Assistance Program for families unable to pay fuel bills. |
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April 1977 |
Graciela Olivarez appointed CSA Director. |
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October 1977 |
The Department of Energy opens its doors. |
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Winter 1978-79 |
The Fuel Oil Market Advisory Committee co-chaired by Anthony Maggiore designs the framework of the LIHEAP program. |
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August 1979 |
50% of Weatherization program transferred to Department of Energy. |
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October 1979 |
Senate Interior Appropriations bill includes $1.2 billion in emergency aid for poor people to pay fuel bills. |
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November 1979 |
Congress authorizes the home Energy Assistance Act. Senate approves bill establishing within CSA a comprehensive energy conservation services program, to include Weatherization and Crisis Intervention services. |
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May 1980 |
Mount St. Helens in Washington erupts. |
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June 1980 |
Richard Rios nominated to be Director of CSA. |
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August 1980 |
U.S. boycotts Summer Olympics in Moscow. |
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November 1980 |
Ronald Reagan elected President. |
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January 1981 |
Ronald Reagan sworn in as President. 52 American hostages released after 444 days of captivity in Iran. Reagan transition team recommends retaining The Community Services Administration. National Community Action Foundation is established by CAA leadership. |
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March 1981 |
Assassination attempt on President Reagan. |
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May 1981 |
House of Representatives approves by a narrow margin Gramm-Latta 1, bill calls for abolition of CSA/Economic Opportunity Act. Supports the Reagan Administrations package of budget reductions. |
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June 1981 |
Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee on 11 to 9 votes defeats Metzenbaum amendment to reauthorize Economic Opportunity Act. Later, by 11 to 9 vote approves creation of the Community Services Block Grant. |
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August 1981 |
House-Senate conference approves creation of CSBG. |
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September 1981 |
The Community Services Administration closes its doors. 1,000 employees laid off. |
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October 1981 |
Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first female Supreme court Justice. |
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July 1982 |
Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution dies, three states shy of 38 needed. |
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September 1982 |
Congress re-authorizes the Community Service Block Grant. |
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March 1983 |
First CD players hit the market in U.S., prige tag: $800-$1000. |
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November 1983 |
A terrorist car bomb kills 147 Marines stationed in Lebanon. |
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July 1984 |
Geraldine Ferraro becomes first female candidate for Vice President. |
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November 1984 |
President Reagan re-elected. |
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May 1985 |
Last-minute budget deal saves CSBG during senate floor debate on FY 1986 Budget. |
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January 1986 |
The space shuttle challenger explodes. |
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April 1986 |
Chernobyl reactor meltdown. |
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June 1986 |
GAO study concludes CSBG is "a necessary and vital program for the poor". |
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September 1986 |
Congress re-authorizes CSBG. |
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May 1987 |
House approves major role for CAAs in McKinney Homeless Act. |
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October 1987 |
On "Black Monday" the Dow falls 508 points, or 22.6 percent. |
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November 1988 |
George Bush elected President. |
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December 1988 |
Pan Am flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all aboard. |
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March 1989 |
Exxon Valdez spills 260,000 bbl. Of crude oil into Prince William Sound. |
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May 1989 |
Tiananmen square massacre. |
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November 1989 |
Berlin Wall torn down. |
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January 1990 |
Douglas Wilder becomes the nation’s first black governor. (Virginia). |
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February 1990 |
Nelson Mandela released from prison after 27 years in captivity. |
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September 1990 |
Congress approves reauthorization and expansion of The Community Services Block Grant. |
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November 1990 |
Margaret Thatcher, the longest serving British Prime Minister in more than 160 years, resigns. |
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June 1991 |
Boris Yeltsin elected President of Russia. |
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May 1992 |
L.A. riots |
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November 1992 |
Bill Clinton elected President. |
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April 1994 |
President Nixon dies. |
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May 1994 |
Jacquline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis dies. |
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October 1994 |
Congress re-authorizes CSBG. |
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March 1996 |
Speaker Gingrich agrees to help dramatically increase CSBG funding. |
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August 1996 |
Welfare "reform" signed into law. |
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August 1997 |
Taxpayer Relief Act and Balanced Budget Act signed into law. |
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October 1998 |
Congress re-authorizes CSBG once again. Head Start funding reaches $5 billion, CSBG funding reaches one half billion. |