White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health

The 1969 White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health was a historic first and resulted in landmark legislation. In his opening address on December 2, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon vowed "to put an end to hunger in America…for all time."[1] The three-day gathering came at the end of a decade of social, cultural, and political change which had resulted in a sudden awareness of the widespread malnutrition and hunger afflicting many poor in the United States. Eight-hundred academics and scientists, business and civic leaders, activists, and politicians developed more than 1,800 recommendations, which were reviewed by the 2,700 conference attendees and delivered in a full report to the President on December 24, 1969.[2] The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), National School Lunch Program (NSLP), and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) are among the 1,400 nutrition and food assistance programs and recommendations implemented or improved as a result of the White House Conference.[3] In May 2022, President Joe Biden announced a new White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health which was scheduled to convene on September 28, 2022, in Washington, D.C.

  1. ^ Special (December 3, 1969). "Text of President Nixon's Speech to the Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health". New York Times. p. 28.
  2. ^ White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, Health: Final Report. (1970). Washington, D.C.: The White House.
  3. ^ Sarson, Katrina (Director); Eileen Kennedy, D.Sc.; Irwin Rosenberg, M.D.; Marshall Matz (December 2, 2019). Hungry: How the 1969 White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health Changed the Course of US Food Policy. Boston, MA: Public Impact Initiative at Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.