Johnson’s Great Society

‘Dream’ included:

• end of poverty
• racial equality
• educational reform
• end of urban decay
• renew sense of community
• environmentalism
• peace with other nations

Many Americans welcomed what Johnson was proposing

• optimism and positivity

He had a 75% approval ting in the polls

Persuaded congress to enact a large quantity of his reforming legislation

• impacted millions of lives

Insisted that by pushing the CRB through Congress, they would be honouring Kennedy’s legacy

CRA - 1964
VCA- 1965

The Open House Law - 1968

• supported integrated housing
• imprisoning the negros in the slums
  — immoral and exaggerated racial tensions
• Johnson received his worst hate mail over his plea for integrated housing
• congress repeatedly rejected his proposals + appeals for legislation

Fair Housing act - 1968

• prohibited discrimination in the sale/renting of housing
• was difficult to enforce

CRA
VCA

Executive Order of 1965

• required any institution to employ more non-whites
• used executive powers to help Black Americans

Increased spread of his affirmative action

• got liberal praise
• criticism from the conservatives
• opinions on it were varied

Helped improve the
Social
Political
Economic
Status of Black Americans: Civil Rights Legislation, Affirmative Action Policies and War on Poverty

Eradication of Poverty: a big part of ‘great society’

Jan 1964 - declared unconditional WAR on poverty in the USA

Congress passed the Economic Oppertunities Act 1964

• established an OEO
• February 1965
  — 44 states had anti-poverty programmes
  — 53 job corp centres
  — 25,000 families on welfare were receiving job training
  — 90,000 adults enrolled in basic education programmes
  — neighbourhood youth corps
  — 8,000 VISTA assisting needy children, native Americans and migrant workers
  — loans given to small businesses and rural development

HEADSTART
— enables poor preschool children to catch up with others before they formally start school
— nearly 1 million children enrolled

UPWARD BOUND
— linked higher education institutions to poorer students who had college potential
— 50,000 participants each year

EXTENTION OF FOOD STAMP PROGRAMME FROM KENNEDY
— Food Stamp Act 1964
— 35% rise in the minimum wage

BOASTED THAT % OF AMERICANS LIVING IN POVERTY WAS FALLING
— 17% in 1965 to 11% in 1972
— federal expenditure on the poor increased
$13 billion in 1963 to $20 billion in 1966

Critics:

• level of expenditure on poor was excessive
• it cost more to put a youth from the ghetto into the job corps than into Harvard

Liberals:

• war on poverty was underfunded

He failed to eradicate poverty like he promised to do so

• 1/3 of non-white families were still below the poverty line
• unemployment rates and infant mortality rates of non-whites were nearly twice than those of whites

Weaknesses in planning and implementation

“Nothing matters more to the future of our country than education”

• 54 million had never finished High School
• 8 million had under 5 years of schooling
• 100,000 high school graduates who had the ability, couldn’t afford college
• schools overcrowded and run down
• shortage of good teachers

Congress:

• education should be under local gov control
• presidents didnt obtain funds for it
• America spent 7x as much ‘on a youth gone bad’ than on one who had stayed in school
• Johnson persuaded them to double federal expenditure on education to $8 billion

ESEA - 1965

• Johnson: anti poverty programme
• 1985: national institute for education estimated that 1/2 ofthe ependiture had go=ne to children above the poverty line
• 6.7 million poor children benefitted
• assistance to those above the poverty line was needed
• ‘there was nothing wrong with helping ALL American children
• some argued that the president paid little attention to how legislation worked in practice

HEA - 1965

• aimed to help poorer students
• 11 million benefited
• $650 million provided
• 15% on 1950, 34% in 1970 and 52% in 1990

• millions of children benefited
• % with a high school diploma rose
• shortage of teachers ended
• new buildings constructed
• accessibility to a college education increased
• reforms finally led to a better society in the USA

• he envisaged an end to urban decay and urban housing problems
• inner cities characterised by
  — poverty
  — poor schools
  — housing
  — pollution
  — congestion
  New Goverment department (HUD) - 1965

6 cities would be designated/model cities:

• Chicago
• Washington DC
• Detroit
• Houston
• LA
• Philadelphia

Demonstrations Cities Act - 1965
Programme was underfunded - only $1.2 billion

“Central problem in American life” - Robert Kennedy

NYC - claimed they needed $6 billion
NY times claimed the model cities failed

6 cities \ 150 cities - money spent was spread too thinly to be effective

Ghetto housing

• Omnibus Housing Act - 1965
  — $8 billion of low/moderate income housing in ghettos
  — federal loans and powers of persuasion
• 1968 - end on discrimination in housing (hoped it would alleviate the overcrowding in the ghettos)

• 4/5 of Detroit ghetto rioters were arrested in 1967 had jobs paying over $150 weekly
• it was housing and alienation rather than poverty was the cause of discontent

Taxpayers :

• opposed integrated housing
• didnt want to fund large scale improvements
• ‘not in my back yard’ ideological thinking

1965
Lack of healthcare was a major cause for poverty in the elderly population

Democrats - large advocates of federal financial support for healthcare
Republicans saw this to be a form of communism (free healthcare)

Social security act of 1965

Medicare:

• federal funded health insurance for the over 65s
• regardless of income/existing medical conditions
• 1966 - 19 million Americans enrolled

Medicaid

• funeral financial assistance to states to help provide medical assistance to those who couldn’t afford it
• in one year, the amount spent by the federal government increased from $1.3 billion to over $2 billion

• produced a ‘healthcare revolution’
• lifted millions of the elderly out of poverty
• gaps in coverage
• both were more expensive than anticipated
• was still a problem for reasonably priced healthcare
• healthcare was still a problem for most Americans