It began on January 20, 1961 with this historic call-to-action:
The challenge President Kennedy made to the nation in his inaugural speech continued to resonate in the wake of his assassination and on January 8, 1964 was narrowed in focus in the State of the Union address of his White House successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Johnson trained his sights on the nation’s Appalachian region.
Credit:Bettman/Corbis/NPR
How politics and ideologies can transform and mutate the best of intentions is detailed and examined in the pages of Thomas Kiffmeyer’s book, Reformers to Radicals: The Appalachian Volunteers and the War on Poverty. The Morehead State University history professor talked with Tom Martin on a recent edition of WEKU’s Eastern Standard.
Listen to Eastern Standard on 88.9 WEKU for UnderMain artist interviews and updates on cultural events in the region. Programs are available as podcasts on NPROne, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher. You can listen online at esweku.com and download the WEKU app to your mobile device.
