So this means that the government giving people money makes them not poor
anymore? Please explain this some.

The Johnson-era "War on Poverty" was much different than a simple expansion of
welfare. It involved job-training programs, which included teaching people
skills involved in holding a job, as well as tackling the so-called "culture of
poverty". There were plenty of imperfections in the whole scheme, and it was
seriously underfunded thanks to the other war going on at the time, Viet Nam.
But if you look at the stats, for all its failings, the LBJ War on Poverty
really made a dent in the problem, raising millions of people from destitution
into at least a stable working-class life.
Millions? Yes. Here are some numbers (culled from the Statistical Abstract,
1980, which I happen to have handy): In 1960 there were 39.9 million people
living below the poverty level, or 22.2% of the population. In 1965, the first
year the Great Society programs were implemented, the number was 33.2 million,
or 17.3%. By 1969. the first year of the Nixon administration, it was down to
24.1 million, or 12.1%. It hovered around that figure through the Nixon, Ford
and Carter administrations, reaching its low point in 1973, where 23 million
were considered poor (11.1%).

It was a shock to me to realize that at the end of the Eisenhower
administration, 22.2% of the nation was living in poverty. The War on Poverty,
in no small measure, reduced that by half, taking ten million people off the
poverty rolls while the population increased. And that's no small
accomplishment.

Peace,
Paul