Poverty was widespread in America.
Away from the nation's affluent suburbs was another country, one inhabited by the poor, the ill-fed, the ill-housed, and the ill-educated. This was the assertion made by author Michael Harrington in his 1962 book, The Other America: Poverty in the United States. Harrington's book had an impact on the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. President Johnson's "Great Society" plans aimed to address the problems of poverty in America.