Back to the front page
American History

How Food Stamps Really Started

The Great Depression - Dairy
Customers were buying groceries in 1939. Russell Lee/inyourstate.
Advertisement

10. Throughout The Rest Of The 1960s, The Food Stamp Program Continued To Grow

A supermarket clerk stamps used food stamps on December 4, 1988, in New York City. Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images/Time.

By April 1965, 561,261 people took part in the Food Stamp Program. This number continued to grow well into the 1970s. By March 1966, over one million people received food stamps. The following year this number increased to 2 million people. 

By February 1969, about 3 million people received food stamps. This number jumped up to 4 million within the year. By May 1970, 6 million people received food stamps. By February 1971, 10 million people got food stamps, and this number hit 15 million by October 1974. 

Written by
Advertisement

Keep reading