1960s Dbq Essay

Before a Joint Session of Congress, a new President Lyndon Johnson gave speech to Americans. “ All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today,” he said.In 1963, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy gave shock to the United States and the world. In November 22, 1963, Johnson was sworn in as President on the Air Force One. To succeed the legacy of Kennedy, Johnson practiced his new program, the Great Society, in 1964-65, in order to reduce poverty, and to provide safety and to promote a better quality of life in the U.S. However, while he was practicing many programs during the Great Society, many people thought the government was caring people too much, therefore it created “welfare state.” Because the government

When looking into the 1950’s and 1960’s, it is important to look at the many struggles going on back then in order to truly differentiate between the two decades. These two decades experienced many different challenges both socially and politically. In fact, many people have portrayed the 1950s as the decade of prosperity, conformity, and consensus. While others have portrayed the 1960s as a decade of turbulence, protest, and disillusionment. In order to truly differentiate between both the 1950s and 1960s, we must consider the war, civil rights, and social changes.

Following the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson would become the next brilliant leader to take over the White House. His ability to manipulate Congress helped him to pass a number of legislations to better address the issues of his day. Johnson’s legislations were named the “Great Society,” and it reflected inspirations of the New Deal program. Before the Great Society programs, there were various political, economic, and political problems. Although Johnson was unable to effectively navigate the Vietnam War, the Great Society programs had some success in addressing several issues of poverty and health though a serious of different acts such as the Medicare, Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

It was part of his vision for a “Great Society,” which he boldly defined as [a society where no child will go unfed, and no youngster will go unschooled.]” (Del Bosque, 2013). President Lyndon B Johnson with his creation of the Great Society program as well as the war against poverty was the continuation of the New Deal by President Roosevelt. Linda B Johnson’s whole goal was to elevate people out of poverty through programs like Medicaid.

President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society programs and policies were a success because it provided healthcare for the underprivileged, increased education and decreased racial injustice. The Great Society moved the nation towards decreased poverty and increased citizen well being, and although there have been policies that did not achieve positive long lasting influences, the overall impact of the Great Society was a triumph.

President Johnson sought to solve the problems of affording healthcare by not only creating his own health insurance, Medicare, but he also called attention to the needs and welfare of the people who did not have enough money to afford healthcare programs (trumanlibrary.org). Johnson recognized that a specific group of people, African Americans, suffered from a different sort of poverty than white people did. Although Ribicoff may not have been explicitly talking about poor blacks and their previously

President Lyndon Johnson had championed the liberal movements of the late twentieth century and continued the work of Franklin Roosevelt in an attempt to build a “great society”. He pushed through Congress countless pieces of legislation, more than the New Deal, designed to create equality in America including the Medicare and Medicaid Acts, the Elementary and Secondary School Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Davidson, et al 873). The American public seemed to accept Johnson’s programs as a drastic yet positive step for the nation. However, as time passed, many middle class Americans began to view Johnson’s steps as relaxed liberal policies that allowed lawbreakers and members of the lower class to live off of their hard work. The feeling that they were being taken advantage of led many Americans to question the effectiveness and legitimacy of Johnson’s “great society”. One of these middle class Americans wrote a letter to Nelson Rockefeller, the Republican governor of New York, stating that she was “discriminated against in favor of dope addicts and welfare cheats” (Document 3). The feelings in her letter exemplify the anger of the middle class when dealing with Johnson’s “great society” and more broadly, the failure of the liberal state to bring about real change or equality. Additionally, the programs that Johnson set in place, while they did lower the unemployment rate initially, eventually left

The program itself was proposed by the president, who is subject to the executive branch. Its aim is to ensure the protection of civil rights and social security. Although the program has been positive goals, it also represents a threat to our freedom. The demand for civil rights were fought for after the birth of our nation, it has always been a flip side of America. This problem is solved by the acts of the Civil Rights Act 1960 and the goals of the Great Society. Unfortunately, the Great Society wants the direct involvement of the state in the lives of its citizens and the authorities for the distribution of income through programs such as social security and medical care. These problems were not designed for the federal government, and not within the powers granted to them under the constitution. The judiciary should be declared unconstitutional Johnson intentions, but instead failed to maintain its function of "separation of powers". The task of providing care and assistance to the poor, should not be subject to the federal government, but the local authorities, it will be helpful to the integrity of the community, as well as greater involvement of people in their

In the early 1960’s there were many changes and challenges for America. This time period was led by two completely different types of men. President Kennedy was a younger man from Massachusetts and was more about solving America’s problems foreignly. This was made clear in his New Frontier policy. Lyndon Johnson came from humble beings and was more of an in your face kind of president. Johnson focused on the war on poverty and did everything he could to limit that gap between the rich and poor. Johnson was also led America into a war in Vietnam and Vietnam was the major conflict of the early 1960’s.

President Johnsons “Great Society” Administration was supposed to focus on ways to help the poorest Americans receive their basic educational, social, and economic rights. Unfortunately, none of the programs setup really worked for the poor. These laws were established by the government to provided matching funds to be allocated to the states. Many states with the poorest citizens could not afford these programs so very little was contributed by the federal government. Johnson’s major goal was to improve higher education in America. He created a federal loan program so students could attended college. This did not benefit the poor students. Many had to leave school early and work to support their family. The more federal funds the poorest school

The Great Society was one of the greatest movements to ever happen within America. It’s programs provided assistance to disadvantaged Americans who struggled with racism, unemployment, and education. The movement was a huge motivation for President Johnson as it barred discrimination, provided jobs for those living in poverty, advocated education for all Americans, and created significant health programs for a more sanitary society. During Johnson’s term, Congress passed the Economic Opportunity Act, a program that was able to defeat “inadequate public services, illiteracy, and unemployment”. With the program, he was able to lower the poverty rate of America to approximately 10%. The Great Society program also allowed many “black Americans

Immediately following his inauguration, Johnson did everything he could to uphold his predecessor’s legacy by proposing an expanded civil rights bill and passing Kennedy’s income tax cut. These acts led to a slew of reforms enacted by Johnson, similar to the New Deal, known as the Great Society Programs. The Great Society was inherently inspired to combat poverty and civil rights. Moreover, the popularization of the civil rights movement, a Supreme court that sympathized with the black anti-segregation cause, and a more violent facet of race riots and Black Power led to a newfound counterculture. Thus, throughout the 1960s, the United states underwent a period of social unrest, due to the expansion of the civil rights movement, including radical Black Power and race riots, the emergence of the New Left, which stemmed from the counterculture, and a revived feminist

To avoid the controversy of church versus state, the Great Society programs would offer the aides directly to the students instead of the schools. Before 1965, the elderly and the poor had no or little access to health care because of lack of insurance. When Medicare and Medicaid became a reality in 1965, millions of elderly and poor citizen were able to enroll and access the care that used to be for the wealthy. The Great Society also achieved the Immigration reform in 1965 hence replacing the 1921 “national-origins” law. The new law would double the number of immigrants allowed to come in the US every year. Furthermore, the new law would unify families by allowing close relatives to come join their families. The last pillar of the big four was the Voting Right Act of 1965. With this law, the government had to deal and fight racial discrimination. With the Civil rights Act (1964), the President had the legal responsibility and the power to reinforce school-desegregation. Although the Voting Rights Act did not automatically put an end to racial discrimination, it did give blacks a sense of worthiness. With the rights to vote, not only Blacks people knew that they had the power and can bring changes to the American politics, but also the White politicians knew it as well. This was the reason

Back in the 1960s you were treated differently depending on what class you were in. The higher class had the most money and ran everything; also the rich or higher class had all the power. The middle class was like people that had what they needed, but they did not have a lot of money they just had a little bit more money than they needed to live. The lower class or the poor people have very low income jobs and most likely are working minimum wage jobs. Also, they have old dirty clothes and no power; also that they live in run down neighborhoods. To sum this up it was a lot of injustice between the different social classes and the more money you had the more power you

A cultural revolution all in its own, the 1960’s saw the rise and fall of many great civil rights leaders. John F. Kennedy, along with his brother, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., who were all paramount in the fight for civil rights, a