The Real Story of the Welfare Queen

In the late 1970s, Ronald Reagan told the story of a woman in Chicago who became known as the welfare queen, the embodiment of the problems with the welfare state. Like most myths, there’s some grain of truth embedded in this narrative: there was a woman in Chicago who was indicted on welfare fraud,  but her other crimes were far more grave. Brooke speaks with Josh Levin, executive editor of Slate, about his investigation of Linda Taylor, America’s original welfare queen.

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