TABLE OF CONTENTS 51 Great SocietyLBJ5/10

LBJ Did the “Great Society” programs fulfill their promises?

JOHNSON  If Kennedy was good looks and charm, Johnson was macho, ranching culture.  He was an experienced and capable politician and was able to carry on Kennedy’s program much better than Kennedy himself  Harrington’s influential study on poverty The Other America helped destroy the belief that all benefited from the postwar prosperity  Johnson declares a War on Poverty

WAR ON POVERTY  1964 Economic Opportunity Act funds several antipoverty programs run by the Office of Economic Opportunity  Job Corps offered work training  Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) was a domestic version of the Peace Corps  Tax-cut bill and civil rights legislation stalled in Congress under Kennedy, LBJ finally pushes through  Nation’s economy grew by more than 10% (and tax revenue actually increased)

GREAT SOCIETY  1964 election LBJ campaigns on a new version of the New Deal—a Great Society that “rest on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice.”— defeating Barry Goldwater  Education  Elementary and Secondary Education Act to aid public schools  Higher Education Act provided scholarships for needy students  Head Start provided preschool for low- income parents

GREAT SOCIETY  Housing  Omnibus Housing Act for low income housing run by Housing and Urban Development (HUD)  Medical (Social Security Amendments)  Medicaid—health care for the poor  Medicare—health care for the elderly

GREAT SOCIETY  Environment  Wilderness Preservation Act protects land from development  Water Quality Act for clean rivers and lakes  Clean Air Act created emission standards for cars  Air Quality Act set guidelines on air pollution  Public Broadcasting  Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides cultural and educational programming  PBS for television  NPR for radio