America’s parents today live under the shadow of two days in 1971. On December 9 of that year, President Richard Nixon vetoed a piece of legislation known as the Comprehensive Child Development Act. The bill, passed through Congress with bipartisan support, would have begun funding a locally run network of high-quality child care programs. Writing with language that could likely be penned today, the Washington Post editorial board opined that, “As every working mother knows, unless she is lucky enough to have a trusted relative down the street, it is almost impossible to find a good child care setup in most communities at any price,” and the legislation “just might provide a vehicle for a new national effort to make childhood livable.”
