Oral history transcript, Milton P. Semer, interview 1 (I), 10/22/1980, by Michael L. Gillette

Early ideas and leadership in Congress that led to the War on Poverty; getting the depressed areas bill, also known as the area redevelopment bill, passed in 1961; administration and funding of the area redevelopment programs; housing legislation in the 1950s and its effect on the development of public housing; Semer's involvement in the War on Poverty task force; the official War on Poverty and its relation to programs already in existence before the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) existed; the Model Cities program; the development of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Robert Weaver's involvement; legislation involving Demonstration Cities; how Robert Weaver was named secretary of HUD and the first African-American cabinet member; HUD administration and staffing over the years; "buying votes" to get the 1965 rent supplements program passed in Congress; the West Virginia task force; John Kenneth Galbraith's efforts to bring food to the poor in West Virginia; the problem of OEO potentially taking over issues for which other departments had been responsible; why a new agency was created for the War on Poverty; the accelerated public works program; criticism of Community Action Programs; opposition to public housing bills; Semer's work in the Senate; George Aiken's views on Model Cities funding as governor of Vermont; getting enough support to pass Model Cities legislation.