Richard Nixon on Welfare & Poverty President of the U.S., 1968-1974

Build foundation under the income of every needy family

• Richard Nixon, August 1969: "What I am proposing is that the Federal Government build a foundation under the income of every American family that cannot care for itself--and wherever in America that family may live."
• Barack Obama, October 2016: "What is indisputable is that as AI gets further incorporated, and the society potentially gets wealthier, we'll be debating unconditional free money over the next 10 or 20 years."
• Martin Luther King Jr., 1967: "The solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income."

1969: build foundation under income of every family

• Martin Luther King Jr., 1967: "The solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income."
• Richard Nixon, August 1969: " What I am proposing is that the Federal Government build a foundation under the income of every American family .that cannot care for itself--and wherever in America that family may live."
• Milton Friedman, 1980: "We should replace the ragbag of specific welfare programs with a single comprehensive program of income supplements in cash--a negative income tax."

1970s Family Security Plan: national income guarantee

Founded Legal Services Corporation to assist poor

Entitlements are most ruinous concept of modern America

It is healthy for all Americans to strive for the amenities of life, but dangerously destructive to foster the notion that they are entitled to them. Entitlement is one of the most ruinous concepts in the philosophical lexicon of the modern American liberal.

Giving money to the poor is tragically misguided

Unless a program motivates the recipients to change their behavior, it cannot be considered a success. By those standards, 90% of the current welfare system is an abject failure. It not only perpetuates the behavioral pathologies, but also actively encourages them by making the decision to work or go on welfare purely a pragmatic one of which pays better, with welfare often the winner.

Welfare too high is dependency trap; too low is hardship

Margaret Thatcher repealed British Socialism

Place floor under the income of every family with children

The present welfare system has become a monstrous, consuming outrage--an outrage against the community, against the taxpayer, and particularly against the children it is supposed to help. We may honestly disagree, as we do, on what to do about it. But we can all agree that we must meet the challenge, not by pouring more money into a bad program, but by abolishing the present welfare system and adopting a new one.

So let us place a floor under the income of every family with children in America-and without those demeaning, soul-stifling affronts to human dignity that so blight the lives of welfare children today. But let us also establish an effective work incentive and an effective work requirement. Let us provide the means by which more can help themselves. This shall be our goal.

Kitchen Debate: Right to choose is the difference

NIXON: This house can be bought for $14,000, and [at that price] most Americans can buy a home.

KHRUSHCHEV: Your American houses are built to last only 20 years so builders could sell new houses at the end. We build firmly. We build for our children and grandchildren.

NIXON: After 20 years, many Americans want a new house or a new kitchen. Their kitchen is obsolete by that time.

KHRUSHCHEV: This theory does not hold water. Some things never get out of date--houses, for instance. In Russia, all you have to do to get a house is to be born in the Soviet Union. You are entitled to housing. In America, if you don't have a dollar you sleep on the pavement.

NIXON: Diversity, the right to choose, the fact that we have 1,000 builders building 1,000 different houses is the most important thing. We don't have one decision made by one government official. This is the difference.