Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the first, and only, White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health. Republican President Richard M. Nixon called for the conference saying, “The moment is at hand to put an end to hunger in America itself. For all time.”

Although President Nixon’s ambitious goal of ending hunger was not realized with that conference, significant strides were made to alleviate hunger and improve nutrition in the United States.

Now, nearly four decades later, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) has introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives calling for a new White House Conference on Food and Nutrition. Open Arms has joined with the Association of Nutrition Services Agencies (ANSA) and sister organizations throughout the country in supporting this bipartisan call for a new conference. A White House Conference will bring attention to the estimated 35 million Americans who face a constant struggle against hunger, including over 12 million children and 5 million seniors, the disabled, and the critically ill. Some of these are the clients Open Arms serves every day.

The 1969 meeting had an impact on the interconnected issues of food, nutrition, and health. Convening another conference in Washington D.C would have similar benefits.

For three days, beginning on December 2, 1969, eight task forces and 26 panels presented background information and recommendations to the 2,200 participants of the conference. Some of the recommendations from the meeting included: creating programs to address the problems of specific groups such as pregnant women, the sick, and the aged; introducing a free school lunch program for needy children; improving mass feeding programs such as those run by schools, hospitals, and the Veterans Administration; and facilitating the distribution of quality food at low prices in poor urban and rural areas.

Remarks made by President Nixon at the opening of the conference still resonate today. “A child ill-fed is dulled in curiosity, lower in stamina, distracted from learning. A worker ill-fed is less productive, more often absent from work. The mounting cost of medical care for diet-related illnesses, remedial education required to overcome diet-related slowness in school, institutionalization, and loss of full productive potential–all of these place a heavy economic burden on a society as a whole.”

Open Arms urges Minnesota’s entire Congressional delegation to join Rep. McGovern and support his call for a White House Conference on Food and Nutrition. 

Azza Zarrough, an intern with the Dietetic Internship for Graduate Students at the University of Minnesota, conducted research 
for this article.