In response to Wil Struggard's Dec. 3 letter, "O'Reilly's 'good old days'," he takes only a small portion of that time and accentuates only the negatives.
Some positive facts: Even though there was no base measurement for the poor at that time, it has since been estimated, at the end of World War II in 1945, 49 percent of the people in the US were still poor. A 17 percent improvement over 1932's estimated 63 percent, a period of 13 years. By 1960 that number had dropped to 20 percent! A phenomenal 29 percent improvement in only 15 years!
Most of this improvement can be attributed to the GI Bill. Millions of GIs were issued vouchers for up to four years of college and housing. This instituted some of the most prosperous and progressive times in U.S. history.
He was correct in stating "LBJ became president" as a negative. Since LBJ's "Great Society" programs were instituted, it has been onward and downward.
- Carl Robinson, Chesterton
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