Aim: Was Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society successful? Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential term:  November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969

The Century: America's Time – 37:40 Zapruder Film – GRAPHIC

Lincoln Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846 & as President in 1860 He was directly concerned with Civil Rights Lincoln was shot in the head in front of his wife on a Friday Lincoln shot in the Ford Theatre The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was known by three names of 15 letters Booth shot Lincoln in a theater and fled to a warehouse (barn) Booth was killed before being brought to trial There were theories that Booth was part of a greater conspiracy Lincoln's successor was Andrew Johnson, born in 1808 Kennedy Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946 & as President in 1960 He was directly concerned with Civil Rights Kennedy was shot in the head in front of his wife on a Friday Kennedy shot in a Lincoln (Ford) The assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was known by three names of 15 letters Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and fled to a theater Oswald was killed before being brought to trial There were theories that Oswald was part of a greater conspiracy Kennedy's successor was Lyndon Johnson, born in 1908

Americans were absolutely stunned this rapid succession of events VIDEO Americans were absolutely stunned this rapid succession of events

Conspiracy?? Decades of investigations, hearings, documents, records, books and interviews have failed to satisfy conspiracy theorists with a definitive answer to The Question: Did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone when he shot the President? 1. "LBJ had it done" 2. The "military industrial complex" did it The claim is that Kennedy was going to pull (American) troops out of Vietnam (and that) the military wanted to pour more people into Vietnam. 3. "The mob" did it 4. "Oswald acted alone as part of an unknown conspiracy" 5. "The CIA did it"

Some things you might not have known about the assassination of JFK… 1. Oswald wasn't arrested for JFK killing 3. TV networks suspended shows for four days CBS, NBC, and ABC -- interrupted their regular programming to cover the assassination for four straight days. The JFK assassination was the longest uninterrupted news event on television until the coverage of the September 11 attacks in 2001. Lee Harvey Oswald was actually arrested for fatally shooting a police officer, Dallas patrolman J.D. Tippitt, 45 minutes after killing Kennedy.  4. It led to the first and only time a woman swore in a U.S. president 2. Assassinating the president wasn't a federal crime in 1963 Killing or attempting to harm a president wasn't a federal offense until 1965, two years after Kennedy's death.

What was the purpose of LBJ’s speech? "Let Us Continue" LBJ helped push through the greatest array of liberal legislation in U.S. history, surpassing FDR’s New Deal

The Great Society Quote from Lyndon Johnson (1964) “The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents. It is a place where leisure is a welcome chance to build and reflect, not a feared cause of boredom and restlessness. It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demand of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community. It is a place where man can renew contact with nature. It is a place which honors creation for the sake and for what it adds to the understanding of the race.” Based on the quote, what were Johnson’s goals? How would he attempt to achieve them?

BUILDING THE GREAT SOCIETY May 1964: LBJ summed up his vision for America in a phrase: “The Great Society” By the time he left the White House in 1969, Congress had passed 206 of LBJ’s Great Society legislative initiatives LBJ’s presidency in known as the peak of modern liberalism

How did he get it ALL done? DON’T COPY What about his car? PRESIDENT JOHNSON “TREATS” SENATE MAJORITY LEADER RUSSELL IN ORDER TO SECURE VOTES TO PASS CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION Johnson lived to dominate, and he used crass behavior to bend people to his will. At 6-ft., 3-in. tall and 210 lbs., he liked to lean over people, spitting, swearing, belching, or laughing in their faces. Once, he even relieved himself on a Secret Serviceman who was shielding him from public view. When the man looked horrified, Johnson simply said, “That’s all right, son. It’s my prerogative.”

“We have lost the South for a generation” Johnson & Civil Rights Strong advocate of Civil Rights Civil Rights Act 1964 – banned discrimination in public accommodations, housing, and jobs; gave fed’s greater power to prosecute civil rights abuses Voting Rights Act 1965 – ended literacy tests and poll taxes for voting – fed’s could monitor voter registration. “We have lost the South for a generation” Immigration Act 1965 – ended national origins quotas established in 1924 doubled the number of immigrants allowed to enter annually Allowed close family members to be excluded from the count

LBJ’s War on Poverty DON’T COPY “There are tens of millions of Americans who are beyond the welfare state. Taken as a whole there is a culture of poverty…bad health, poor housing, low levels of aspiration, and high levels of mental distress. Twenty percent of a nation, some 32,000,000.” - Michael Harrington, author of the Culture of Poverty 1962 "Our aim is not only to relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it".

Johnson’s “Great Society” War on Poverty and Racial Injustice (MORAL not just political issues!) Economic Opportunities Act (1964) - $1billion aid to inner cities THE EOA legislation created: The Job Corps VISTA (Volunteers in service to America) Project Head Start for underprivileged preschoolers The Community Action Program which encouraged the poor to participate in public works program Project Head Start is still going strong today

LBJ & EDUCATION Johnson considered education “the key which can unlock the door to the Great Society” The Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided $1 billion to help public schools buy textbooks and library materials This act represented the first major federal aid package for education ever

LBJ & HEALTHCARE LBJ and Congress enhanced Social Security by establishing Medicare and Medicaid (1965) Medicare provided hospital insurance and low-cost medical care to the elderly Medicaid provided health benefits to the poor

The SUPREME COURT REFORMS SOCIETY, TOO Warren Court – Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren - expanded civil rights and rights of people accused of crimes In Mapp v. Ohio (1961) the Supreme Court ruled that illegally seized evidence could not be used in court In Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) the court ruled that a counsel must be provided in criminal cases to represent defendants who are unable to afford to pay their own attorneys. In Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) the court ruled that the accused has the right to have an attorney present when questioned by police In Miranda v. Arizona (1966) the court ruled that all suspects must be read their rights before questioning Warren RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT IS IN RED

IMPACT OF GREAT SOCIETY The Great Society and the Warren Court changed the United States No president in Post-WWII era extended the power and reach of the federal government more than LBJ!

Vietnam limited the impact of some Great Society programs. LOOKING TO TOMORROW: According to the cartoon, why did the Great Society programs fail? Vietnam limited the impact of some Great Society programs.