SWBAT: Describe the impact of Lyndon B SWBAT: Describe the impact of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society on America Do Now: LBJ Video and Questions

The Great Society 1. Describe the area where Lyndon Johnson grew up. 2. Who did Johnson have a deep and genuine compassion for? Give an example of how he helped this group. 3. What were some of the programs Johnson was able to get approved after he was elected to Congress? 4. How did Johnson become President of the United States? 5. What was the goal of Johnson’s Great Society program and who did it benefit?

Lyndon B. Johnson – Democrat – 36th President of the United States (1963-1969) Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as President of the United States on November 22, 1963 aboard Air Force One after the assassination of JFK. •Johnson’s domestic policies were called the Great Society and his goals were to reduce poverty and racial injustice and promote a better quality of life in the United States. •Elected in 1964 with the largest popular vote in United States History.

Creation of New Cabinet Positions 1. Department of Housing and Urban Development - to increase homeownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination. 2. Department of Transportation - to develop and coordinate policies that will provide an efficient and economical national transportation system, with due regard for need, the environment, and the national defense.

“Daisy” Ad – Election of 1964 Watch the Campaign Ad “Daisy” for LBJ in 1964 and write your reaction to the commercial below:

Great Society Speech 1.What type of document is this and who is the audience? 2.What is the message of this document? 3.What sorts of government programs do you think President Johnson would support, based on this document?

The Great Society Major Great Society Programs War on Poverty: forty programs that were intended to eliminate poverty by improving living conditions and enabling people to lift themselves out of the cycle of poverty. Education: sixty separate bills that provided for new and better-equipped classrooms, minority scholarships, and low-interest student loans. Medicare & Medicaid: guaranteed health care to every American over sixty-five and to low-income families. The Environment: introduced measures to protect clean air and water. National Endowment for the Arts and the Humanities: government funding for artists, writers and performers. Head Start: program for four- and five-year-old children from low-income families.

Was the Great Society successful?   1) Who wrote this? 2) What is his perspective? 3) What do you predict the author will say? What is the author’s main argument? What are three pieces of evidence that the author uses to support his claims? PRO Great Society/ War on Poverty CON Which author do you find more convincing and why? How are some of these arguments being played out in today’s debates over economic recovery?

Was the Great Society successful?   1) Who wrote this? 2) What is his perspective? 3) What do you predict the author will say? What is the author’s main argument? What are three pieces of evidence that the author uses to support his claims? PRO Great Society/ War on Poverty  Joseph Califano, Jr., became a special assistant to President Johnson in July 1965, and served as President Johnson's senior domestic policy aide for the remainder of Johnson's term. The Great Society program has transformed American society for the better.   the portion of Americans living below the poverty line dropped from 22.2 percent to 12.6 percent nearly 60 percent of fulltime undergraduate students receive federal financial aid under Great Society programs. Since 1965, 79 million Americans have signed up for Medicare. CON  Thomas Sowell is a conservative economist, author, and social commentator. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.  Improvements in society were already taking place years before the Civil Rights Movement and the creation of the Great Society Programs.  brand-new government housing projects almost immediately became new centers of crime and quickly degenerated (declined) into new slums. The murder rate had also been going down, for decades, and in 1960 was just under half of what it had been in 1934. The poverty rate among black families fell from 87 percent in 1940 to 47 percent in 1960

Why did Johnson not run for re-election in 1968? LBJ Apply your knowledge - After watching the video – Answer the following question   Why did Johnson not run for re-election in 1968?