The Great Society was an ambitious series of policy initiatives, legislation and programs spearheaded by President Lyndon B. Johnson with the main goals of ending poverty, reducing crime, abolishing inequality and improving the environment.
- In May 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson laid out his agenda for a “Great Society” during a speech at the University of Michigan. With his eye on re-election that year, Johnson set in motion his Great Society, the largest social reform plan in modern history.
The assassination of Kennedy left American citizens reeling.
They felt empathy, even sympathy for Johnson as he became president under such difficult circumstances. Johnson took advantage of this support to push through key elements of Kennedy’s legislative agenda—in particular, civil rights legislation and tax cuts. (e.g. the Civil Rights Acts 1964, 5)
War On Poverty
In March 1964, Johnson introduced the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Economic Opportunity Act during a special message to Congress.
He’d hoped to help the underprivileged break the poverty cycle by helping them develop job skills, further their education and find work.
- To do this, he created a Job Corps for 100,000 disadvantaged men.
- Half would work on conservation projects and the other half would receive education and skills training in special job training centres.
- In addition, Johnson tasked state and local governments with creating work training programs for up to 200,000 men and women.
- A national work study program was also established to offer 140,000 Americans the chance to go to college who could otherwise not afford it.
Other initiatives the so-called War on Poverty offered were:
- A Community Action program for people to tackle poverty within their own communities.
- The ability for the government to recruit and train skilled American volunteers to serve poverty-stricken communities.
- Loans and guarantees for employers who offered jobs to the unemployed.
- Funds for farmers to purchase land and establish agricultural co-ops.
- Help for unemployed parents preparing to enter the workforce.
Medicare and Medicaid
By the time Johnson took office, mainly two groups of Americans were uninsured:
the elderly and the poor.
- Despite Kennedy championing health care for the needy during his 1960 Presidential campaign and beyond, and public support for the cause, many Republicans and some southern Democrats in Congress shot down early Medicareand Medicaid legislation.
- After Johnson became President and Democrats took control of Congress in 1964, Medicare and Medicaid became law.
- Medicare covered hospital and physician costs for the elderly who qualified; Medicaid covered healthcare costs for people getting cash assistance from the government.
Both programs served as safety nets for America’s most vulnerable.
Head Start and Education Reform
To empower parents and make sure every child had a shot of success in life no matter their social or economic circumstances, Johnson, politician and activist Sargent Shriver, and a team of child development experts launched Project Head Start.
- The Head Start program started as an eight-week summer camp run by the Office of Economic Opportunity for 500,000 children ages three to five.
- Since the program’s inception, it has served over 32 million vulnerable children in America.
Education reform was also a key part of the Great Society.
In 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed. It guaranteed federal funding for education in school districts whose student majority was low-income.
It also:
- Funded preschool programs.
- Supported school libraries.
- Purchased school textbooks.
- Provided special education services.
Urban Renewal
The mass exodus to suburbia after World War II left many major cities in poor condition. Affordable, dependable housing was hard to find, especially for the poor.
- The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 provided federal funds to cities for urban renewal and development. For cities to receive the funds, they had to establish minimum housing standards.
The Great Society Backlash and Vietnam
Not every American citizen or politician was satisfied with the results of Johnson’s Great Society agenda. And some resented what they saw as government handouts and felt the government should butt out of Americans’ lives altogether.
- In 1968, President Richard M. Nixonset out to undo or revamp much of the Great Society’s legislation.
- He and other Republicans still wanted to help the poor and the needy, but wanted to cut the red tape and reduce costs.
- Nixon wasn’t completely successful, however, and the political infighting for social reform has been raging ever since.
Despite Johnson’s Great Society having a lasting impact on almost all future political and social agendas, his success was overshadowed by the Vietnam War. He was forced to divert funds from the War on Poverty to the War in Vietnam.
And despite the enormous amount of legislation passed by his administration, Johnson is seldom remembered as a champion of the underprivileged and at-risk.
Instead, he’s known as the president that killed thousands of kids in Vietnam.
Twenty-one years later, in a scorching address delivered in 1983, President Ronald Reagan denounced the Great Society as a bundle of expensive and failed initiatives that contributed to, rather than alleviated, suffering.
Johnson’s legacy reinforced the what Reagan called the “central political error of our time”: the flawed notion that “government and bureaucracy” were the “primary vehicle for social change.”