In the 1940s, McDowell County, West Virginia, was rich in coal jobs. At its peak, nearly 100,000 people lived there, earning some of the nation’s highest hourly wages. But machines replaced miners, jobs dwindled, and the local economy collapsed. The poverty John F. Kennedy witnessed here in 1960 led him to launch the modern food stamp program. Today, there are fewer than a thousand coal jobs left and only about 17,000 people remain. #westvirginia #foodstamps #coalminer #jobs #johnfkennedy