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Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Job Corps to 1973

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The largest of the War on Poverty programs, Job Corps, was created to alleviate poverty by providing affective, remedial, and vocational training for disadvantaged youth throughout the country. Job Corps was the first attempt in the United States to establish and operate a national program of residential vocational education. Legislation and plans for the program were drafted in a very short period of time, and the gains and failures of Job Corps' first ten years can be attributed to the speed with which the program was enacted. Despite early shortcomings, Job Corps survived a political attack by President Nixon, and emerged as a viable poverty program in the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) legislation. Records of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), Department of Labor, and the White House were reviewed. Interviews were taken with former OEO Director Sargent Shriver, two Job Corps Directors, and Job Corps staff so the first ten years of the program could be documented. Job Corps' planning and establishment, its operational problems and innovations, and its transformation from a program of vocational training in a Democratic administration to a politically-viable entity in a Republican administration, are described.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Ed. D.
Level thesis:degree_level
doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Vocational and Technical Education
Department dc:contributor.department
Vocational and Technical Education
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Year dc:date.issued
1985

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Combs, Paul W.
Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Hunt, Thomas C.
  • Asche, F. Marion
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Bryant, Clifton D.
  • Eschenmann, K. Kurt
  • Morgan, Samuel D.

Subjects

dc:subject × 1

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en_US

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/10919/54744
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/54744

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Combs, Paul W.. Job Corps to 1973. doctoral thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/54744