Interestingly, Nixon proposed a guaranteed income plan (abbreviated as "FAP" ... no comment) and it sailed through the house. Nixon became embroiled in scandal, however, and it died in the senate. A senator named Albert Gore was one prominent member who had a large hand in killing it. A NYtimes book review [google search to avoid paywall] from the 1970s goes into some details as to why it died. It also notes another form of guaranteed income we used to have, welfare, formerly "widow's pensions" which were designed as guaranteed income for single mothers.

It wasn't until women of color obtained legal rights to these benefits that they began to slowly be reduced in scope and otherwise have many strings attached ... until welfare as we know it was killed by Bill Clinton in the 1990s, prompting high level officials to resign in protest.

If you are interested in these sort of issues, and the effects that social and economic inequality can have, I cannot recommend a more interesting series of talks than those from Dr. Stephen Bezruchka. Here is a link to one; give it a few minutes and you'll likely be hooked. He addressed Nixon's FAP in the talk I linked (and one or two others from AR).

Show notes:

Racism Has Shaped U.S. Welfare Policy Since 1935

Alma Carten | August 22, 2016 | The Conversation

Study: Trump fans are much angrier about housing assistance when they see an image of a black man

German Lopez | September 8 2017 | Vox

Black Women: Supporting Their Families—With Few Resources

Gillian B White | June 12, 2017 | The Atlantic

How Racism Tears Apart Social Democracy

Sean McElwee | January 23, 2014 | Huffington Post

Lashing Out at ‘Identity Politics,’ Pundits Blame Trump on Those Most Vulnerable to Trump

Adam Johnson | November 20, 2016 | FAIR

Where's the empathy for black poverty and pain?

Tanzina Vega | May 5 2017 | CNN

U.S. Opens Spigot After Farmers Claim Discrimination

Sharon LaFraniere | April 25, 2013 | New York Times

Racism undermines support for government spending

Sean McElwee | February 16, 2016 | Al Jazeera

Welfare Racism: Playing the Race Card Against America's Poor

Noel A. Cazenave Kenneth J. Neubeck | Routledge