Food Stamps

The food stamp program is a federal initiative aimed at alleviating hunger and food insecurity in the United States. A version of the program first operated between 1939 and 1943, when the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture was authorized to promote domestic consumption of foods as a way to reduce surplus agricultural commodities. The current program was authorized in 1959 and began as a pilot project in 1961 under the administration of President John F. Kennedy. At the urging of President Lyndon Johnson, Congress made food stamps a permanent federal program in 1964, though states and counties were permitted to decide how they would participate. By the early 1970s Congress established uniform eligibility requirements, and by 1975 all states and counties took part in the program.