This may be nitpicky, but when was the USDA foodstamps program actually started? I wasn’t aware it was happening that early in the 60s.
The food stamp program was intially a test one and Hawaii participated right from inception in 1959. It became a permanent program in 1964. I have already checked into that wondering if it was an actual program when Ann was living in Hawaii! When she returned to Hawaii in 1963 she could have applied for the program if she was on her own with Jr but once she moved in with her parents she would NOT have been eligible. She would also have been eligible when she was working on her master’s between 1972 and 1974 and living in the apartment on Poki St. just down from Punahou.
Gun's and Butter Johnston, I remember it well.
Back when reporter actually looked for news, they went out and showed welfare people's refrigerator's stocked with beer, Johnston argued it was no ones business what people chose to do with their cough, cough money.
Food stamps have been around in various forms as far back as the 1940’s. The current program didn’t go into effect until sometime in the 1970’s if I remember correctly. I think it was in about 1977 or so, but not certain about that.
Before that time people had to buy the stamps and then use them to buy their food. I don’t know the ratio of cash to food stamps in the 1960’s, but a family I knew as a child in the 1960’s used the program to stretch their food dollars. I was just a kid then, so I don’t know all the details about the program back then.
It is my understanding that the program was something like if you purchased say $5.00 in food stamps it would have cost you less than that to purchase them, but that when you used them to buy groceries they would be taken at the face value of $5.00. I have no idea what you had to do to qualify at that time.