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Just what is a Welfare State?
As defined by Encyclopaedia Brittanica, the Welfare State is:
"[a] concept of government in which the state or a well-established network of social institutions plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social wellbeing of citizens."
Food stamps, SSI, Medicare - all of those programs are a part of the American Welfare State. But such government aid wasn't always available throughout the history of the United States.
Before the Welfare State, most aid was produced by individuals, mostly acting within community organizations....
....until the Great Depression
Private charities faced great difficulty in their fight against the Depression, which led President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (or FDR) to institute several programs designed to help Americans in need.
Click on each of the text boxes to be directed to a page with more information about each program.
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Further Development
36th President of the United States
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson (or LBJ) began to institute what were known as "Great Society" programs, which stood to entirely eliminate poverty via financial aid and increased opportunities for the children of the destitute.
40th President of the United States
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan saw the Great Society as a failure, and worked to reform the welfare system - most famously using the example of "Welfare Queens" who gamed the system with children born out of wedlock and financial fraud.
42nd President of the United States
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton cut welfare even further via the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.