Banfield worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Farm Security Administration, traveled in the West, and observed the effects of government projects. Although he initially supported President
Franklin Roosevelt and the
New Deal, Banfield gradually became skeptical of government attempts to construct housing, support the arts, etc. Well before
Lyndon Johnson's
Great Society programs, Banfield had decided that government aid to the poor would make the givers of aid feel virtuous but would not improve the lives of the receivers of aid. He argued that "the real reason for the passage" of the legislation establishing the
National Endowment for the Arts "was, and is, to benefit... the culture industry of
New York City." Banfield's views were controversial, and
The Unheavenly City sparked much debate. According to MacInnes, Banfield: :made a simple and well-documented case that the problems played out in ghetto neighborhoods were a consequence of concentrated lower-class populations. Race was not the critical issue, he said. The black poor, Banfield suggested, were no different from other (white) lower-class Americans: they had no fondness for work, no strong family ties, an easy acceptance of criminal behavior, no brief for schooling, and no future perspective. Banfield argued that even well-pruned government programs could not undo the harm caused by class differences. His Harvard colleagues described him as "an individual with a strong and distinctive character that impressed itself on all who met him" and as a man who enjoyed " the delights of humor, long meals, and friendly company." Banfield had "a reputation as a brilliant maverick", and his "books and articles had a sharp contrarian edge. He was a critic of almost every mainstream
liberal idea in domestic policy, especially the use of
federal aid to help relieve
urban poverty." Banfield taught many conservative scholars, including
James Q. Wilson and
Martha Derthick. He also taught
Christopher DeMuth and
Bruce Kovner, leading figures at the conservative
think-tank,
American Enterprise Institute. He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1961. ==Published works==