CABLE: "UAW DETROIT"

Solidarity House

8000 EAST JEFFERSON AVE.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN 48214
PHONE 926-5000

INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AEROSPACE & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA-UAW

WALTER P. REUTHER PRESIDENT
LEONARD WOODCOCK VICE-PRESIDENT

EMIL MAZEY SECRETARY-TREASURER
PAT GREATHOUSE VICE-PRESIDENT

April 17, 1964

Mr. Langston Hughes
c/o Alfred A. Knopf
501 Madison
New York, New York

Dear Mr. Hughes:

This is an appeal to you and your organization to join in an all-out
effort to mobilize a National Citizens Crusade Against Poverty.

President Johnson has won universal commendation for his call to
action for an unconditional war against poverty. The President's program is
an historic step in a long road we must travel before millions of American
families are liberated from the tragic plight of poverty which robs them
economically, culturally and spiritually and denies them the opportunity to
live useful and meaningful lives.

Dimensions of Poverty

The dimensions of human poverty in our supposedly affluent society
are shocking. Millions of American families live in the sub-basements of our
social structure. These are America's "have-not" people. They are the denied
and disadvantaged. They are the dispossessed and the discriminated against.
They are the old, the young, the Negroes and other minorities. They are the
sick and handicapped. They are the sharecroppers and the migratory workers.
They are the unemployed, the under-employed and the under-privileged. Not
only are they denied employment and opportunities for adequate income, decent
housing, good education, medical care; they are robbed of any sense of worth
or of human dignity for they are cut off and live apart from the rest of our
society and are denied any sense of belonging or any sense of participation.

No nation in the world is as richly blessed as is America in both
human and material resources, in technological development and productive
power. Yet despite a Gross National Product in excess of Six Hundred Billion
Dollars, millions of our people live in abject poverty and the vicious cycle of
poverty continues to breed more poverty in the face of social and economic
neglect and national indifference.

PRINTED IN USA

The dimensions of the problem of poverty are so staggering as to necessitate bold and adequate action at every level of government -- federal, state and local -- in a comprehensive, coordinated approach. Imperative as bold and adequate governmental action is, we must recognize, that government cannot do the job alone. What is needed is the full mobilization and cooperation and commitment of citizens groups; church, labor, industry, civil rights, civic organizations, student and others if our nation's effort to fight poverty effectively is to be successful.

## Needed: A National Citizens Crusade Against Poverty

We must mobilize for a National Citizens Crusade Against Poverty by building a coalition more broadly based than the National Coalition of Conscience, which is committed to the civil rights struggle. The National Coalition of Conscience represents a powerful and dedicated army of American citizens drawn from church groups -- Protestant, Catholic and Jewish -- civil rights and civic and student groups and labor and fraternal organizations. To this broad Coalition of Conscience we can win new allies in the National Citizens Crusade Against Poverty.

The leadership of the National Coalition of Conscience is confident that justice and morality will prevail and that a meaningful civil rights bill will be enacted by the United States Senate and will become the law of the land by the signature of President Johnson. But all of us realize that the civil rights bill is not an end unto itself. It will solve no problems automatically. It will provide us with a new set of tools with which to bring to fulfillment the bright promise of first class citizenship to all Americans.

## We Must Join The National Citizens Crusade Against Poverty With The Struggle For Civil Rights

To achieve the purpose of equal opportunity and first class citizenship, the civil rights struggle must be joined with the total fight against poverty, against unemployment, against under-employment, against slums and poor housing, inadequate education and all of the other evils which mean denial and discrimination against those who are dispossessed and disinherited.

Neither the struggle for civil rights nor the crusade against poverty can be won except as they are waged and won together. The National Coalition of Conscience represents the kind of broadly based citizens organization needed for an all-out assault on poverty. The churches, civil rights groups, civic, fraternal, veterans, student and labor organizations have contacts, organization, manpower and facilities in every community, large and small, where the pockets of poverty persist.

In building the National Citizens Crusade Against Poverty we can call upon and secure the participation of other groups, including industry, farm, veterans, educators and others who can immeasurably strengthen our efforts to effectively support and supplement the meaningful implementation of programs on a community, state and federal basis.

## Organize The Unemployed, The Under-Employed And The Under-Privileged

The poor are not only invisible, they are inarticulate and they are without a voice. They must be organized so that they can make their voices heard and so that they may participate in the struggle to free themselves from the poverty that imprisons them. Only as the unemployed and the under-privileged are drawn actively into this total effort can we release the full dynamics of the economic and social forces needed to do the job.

The fight against poverty must not develop along the lines of a well-intentioned social welfare program of the rich doing favors for the poor. The unemployed, the under-employed and the under-privileged must share the sense of dignity and belonging that only their active participation in this struggle can provide. So long as the unemployed, the under-employed and the under-privileged are unorganized, they will continue to be lost and their voices will not be heard. Organized they can contribute a new dynamic dimension to the struggle to wipe out the pockets of poverty.

## New Bold Approach Needed

None of the organizations that make up the National Coalition of Conscience has the resources, the manpower or the organizational contacts to take on this task of organizing the unemployed, the under-employed and the under-privileged single handedly. The organizations making up the National Coalition of Conscience, supported by participation from industry, agriculture, education, veterans and other groups, would make up the National Citizens Crusade Against Poverty and together they do have the resources to do the job.

## Proposal For Action

It is proposed the national leadership of the ninety-odd organizations that make up the National Coalition of Conscience, plus representation from other organizations, including industry, agriculture, education, veterans, student groups, etc., be called into a national conference at the earliest possible date for the purpose of launching a National Citizens Crusade Against Poverty. Such a one-day national conference would give consideration to:

A. Setting up a representative provisional steering committee charged with the responsibility of following through on all matters related to the launching of a National Citizens Crusade Against Poverty.

B. Setting up a representative task force committee charged with the responsibility of discussing and developing recommendations on structure, program and policies needed to effectively mobilize citizens groups and to make the greatest possible contribution in the war against poverty.

C. Setting a date for the calling of a broad citizens conference to hear and act upon the report and recommendations of the task force committee and of the provisional steering committee and to formalize the creation and launching of a National Citizens Crusade Against Poverty.

At the recent 19th Constitutional Convention of the UAW, the enclosed program, entitled "Full Mobilization for a Total War on Poverty," was adopted by the unanimous action of the approximately 2,400 delegates. The leadership and the membership of the UAW are deeply committed to the war against poverty and we are most desirous of joining and cooperating with other groups so that we might together make our maximum contribution in the war against poverty.

As a token of our commitment to this effort, the UAW International Executive Board, following the recent UAW Convention, authorized a contribution of One Hundred Thousand Dollars as seed money to be used to help launch the National Citizens Crusade Against Poverty. The UAW International Executive Board authorized an additional One Million Dollars as a pledge against the operating budget of the National Crusade Against Poverty when such a group is formed.

The purpose of this letter is to ask if you and your organization would be willing to participate in a representative national conference called for the purpose of discussing and exploring the setting up of a National Citizens Crusade Against Poverty.

I would appreciate your sympathetic consideration of this idea and I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Kindest personal regards.

WPR:ob
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Enc.

Walter P. Reuther, President
International Union, U A W

May 28, 1964

Dear Mr. Reuther:

Langston Hughes was pleased to learn of
the proposed organization of a National
Citizens Crusade Against Poverty, and
is indeed in sympathy with the formation
of a Citizens' Committee committed to
the war against poverty.

Unfortunately, Mr. Hughes is preparing
to leave the country--as soon as current
commitments are completed. And so, he
will be unable to participate in the
national conference for the purpose of
discussing and exploring the setting
up of a National Citizens Crusade
Against Poverty, but he does send his
best wishes and good will for the
success of the conference and proposed
organization.