Nixon's Good Deed: Welfare Reform

by Vincent J. Burke

Nixon's Good Welfare Reform

Genres: History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1974

Reviews

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book looking at Richard Nixon's attempts at passing the Family Assistance Plan, Nixon's Good Deed is much better-written than Kenneth Bowler's volume. Writers Vincent J. and Vee Burke examine Nixon's welfare policy in the context of a tug-of-war between his advisers over how to address the shortcomings of Johnson's Great Society programs. Conservative advisers like Arthur Burns and Maurice Stans called upon Nixon to completely slash welfare programs altogether; his liberal domestic adviser, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and moderate cabinet officials Elliot Richardson and George Shultz persuaded him that fixing the system was more feasible, both practically and politically, than discarding it altogether. Thus Nixon adopted the concept of a negative income tax for low income, working families, artfully styling the program as "workfare" to emphasize its encouragement of employment for Republicans, along with an expanded food stamp program. Even more striking, Nixon also proposed a guaranteed basic income to those below the poverty line. The resultant bill died in the Senate when both Democrats and Republicans found things to criticize in FAP; eventually a heavily-neutered resolution made its way through Congress, persuading Nixon that there was no more political gain in pressing the issue. Whether Nixon was sincere or not (and the Burkes suggest that Nixon, considering his own hardscrabble background, felt some investment in helping the "working poor"), in some ways it was a remarkably progressive measure. On the other hand, the program also had opportunities for abuse or selective enforcement, such as cutting unemployment benefits and otherwise rerouting funds away from "welfare loafers," which left Nixon open to charges of racism. Either way, FAP was one of many liberal policies advocated by this notably unliberal President; and considering that modern Republicans view any form of welfare or human services as an affront to their platform, even Nixon's opportunistic liberalism now seems remarkable.