Lyndon B. Johnson's New Deal

During Johnson’s presidency, the federal government significantly extended its domestic responsibilities in attempt to transform the nation to what Johnson called the “Great Society,” in which poverty and racial intolerance ceased to exist. A previously unsurpassed amount of legislation was passed during this time; numerous laws were passed to protect the environment, keep consumers safe, reduce unfairness in education, improve housing in urban areas, provide more assistance to the elderly with health care, and other policies to improve welfare. Johnson called for a “War on Poverty,” and directed more funds to help the poor; government spending towards the poor

Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ), was one of the most memorable as well as divided politicians in US history. With a humble past of teaching at segregated schools for 3 years, he had all the heart of someone to end slavery. But upon becoming a Senator, this seemed to change. During his Senate years, time and time again showed his dislike for Civil Rights. When President, he was a whirlwind of a worker to push this bill through. What changed, what didn’t, along with what drove him to do this.

The first source Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society by John A. Andrew III will be used to analyze the extent of Johnson’s actions during the Civil Right Movement. The origin of this source is valuable because Andrew wrote this novel in 1998, the Johnson’s presidency occurred in the 60’s. Second hand sources provide the clarity that comes with hindsight. Also, since the distance from the civil rights movement and this Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society is thirty five years apart thus, the civil rights movement can be more objectively written and referenced. Andrew was a history professor at Franklin and Marshall College. In the acknowledgments Andrew says his interest in “Johnson has grown steadily, both from teaching these years and finding a dearth of good classroom materials and from my own research into the period.” This indicates Andrew’s vast

President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society was a set of social, political, and domestic programs put in place between 1964 and 1965, in response to the country’s quickly fading post-war prosperity. It strived to reduce social inequalities (especially racial discrimination) and boost the formerly thriving economy. The Great Society encompassed virtually all social policy sections, like civil rights, poverty and housing, education, health, welfare, arts and culture, transportation, environment, rural development, and labor. With such an ambitiously large program to follow, Johnson’s Great Society was bound to have a few flaws, and its success wasn’t guaranteed. It did, however, lead to several major social changes that revolutionized the United

During the 1960’s the unemployment, and poverty rate in America increased to a new high. Not only were Americans starving for jobs and finances, but, minorities were not being given equal rights by the government. The government saw what was going on, and in order to appease potential voters for the election, president Lynden B. Johnson created, “The Great Society”, an ordinance created by the government to solve the problems of financial discomfort that had plagued America in to open new opportunities for Americans of different ethnic groups. However, the Great Society was not a hit with many conservatives, and did not fully protect people from the harsh effects of poverty, and hardships. Even though the Great Society started great concepts to create equal opportunity in reducing the amount of impoverished people in the United States, the Great Society failed because of its lack of federal involvement in programs that were created

The “Daisy” ad was a political ad that aired during the 1964 presidential race between Lyndon B. Johnson and Barry Goldwater. The “Daisy” ad was produced by Johnson’s campaign and showed a young girl in a field with a daisy and then a nuclear explosion. After airing only once, it was pulled off the air due to it being viewed as very controversial. This ad was the first that played on fear and never even mentioned Goldwater’s name. Although it was pulled off the air the ad experienced ad amplification as news stations produced multiple stories on it causing it to play repeatedly when they showed

During the nation’s time of grief, Johnson’s civil rights bill passed—a bill quite similar to that of Kennedy, but more powerful; this act outlawed all public racial discrimination, such as within jobs, schools, and the general community. Also passed in 1964 was Johnson’s Economic Opportunity Act. Johnson intended to “give almost half a million underprivileged young Americans the opportunity to develop skills, continue education, and find useful work” in addition to the opportunity to “carry out their plans” and “break through particular barriers which bar their escape from poverty” (Document B). Johnson clearly paid substantial attention to the needs of US citizens, as seen through his consideration for poverty. He focused on providing for and protecting vulnerable and impoverished groups of people and was wary of the country’s health care and its “mounting costs” (Document

The New Deal policies were created by Franklin D. Roosevelt and his people who are known as the “New Dealers”. They were created in hopes that they would bring relief, recovery, and reform to America and help bring America out of the depression. This flawed plan that many historians believe was largely a success brought America another rescission and caused the unemployment rate to rise. To believe that the New Deal was largely a success is to overlook its many failures and negative impact on America. From the failure of the NRA to the hostile reactions of many critics to the fact that unemployment rose, and the discrimination towards women and blacks it is clear that this New Deal was far from a success and was indeed very flawed.

Lyndon Johnson was persuaded that liberal patriotism and the force of the government could change society. His confidence developed out of his energetic encounters with destitution levels in Texas, his political apprenticeship amid the New Deal, and his longing to go even further than Roosevelt’s legacy. When he became president in November 1963, after John F. Kennedy’s demise, Johnson acquired the early initiatives to deal with destitution that the Kennedy organization had been considering for some time now. With high energy and extensiveness, Johnson announced a war on poverty in 64 and pressed enactment through Congress to build up the Office of Economic Opportunity. In his speech, LBJ traces his vision and objectives for “The Great Society”,

In December 1963, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the 35th U.S. president, Lyndon Johnson displayed the leadership that this country needed during such a tumultuous time. The “greatest outpouring of legislation” was passed during his time as president than any other previous time period in American History (LBJ Library and Museum 8). Johnson advocated for the most “effective, efficient foreign aid program ever” (State of the Union Address 1964 2). It took away the “discrimination” of blacks in all public places and “discrimination” in all of the programs that received financial aid from the government (Civil Rights Act 1). The economy was declining. The racial tension was at its peak. Most importantly, however, the future of the country was in severe doubt, and it needed someone to build it back up to prominence. This bill was a very important first

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

This investigation will analyze until what extent was Lyndon Johnson the Great Society a success or a failure. The Great Society was a set of domestic programs created by democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and 1965, the intention of The Great Society programs was to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. After John F. Kennedy's assassination, Johnson was left with the duty to finish Kennedy's job on creating a new frontier for americans. Issues addressed in The Great Society program were education, poverty, urban planning, medical care and transportation. Many of The Great Society proposals were similar to John F. Kennedy's “New Frontier” and were aimed to complete Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal agenda.

From 1964 to 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson urged Congress to sanction a progression of social and monetary changes intended to advance what he called the Great Society; The Great Society was a push to end racial separation, increase educational opportunities, end hunger and destitution, and make medicinal services accessible to everybody. (Schaller 1061) The Great Society was Johnson 's vision of America, a democracy system with freedom and equity for all; he believed wholeheartedly in this vision. He trusted that this policy was to raise the under privileged and the discriminated against to new levels of equity. The day before Thanksgiving in 1963, he expressed his unsettling feelings about America’s racial injustice and declared an unconditional war on poverty. (Schaller 1061) Johnson put forth every effort to enact the Civil Rights law Kennedy had introduced the summer prior to his death; he urged Congress to pass the law. In

President Franklin Roosevelt had a personal connection to Georgia due to his house in Warm Springs that he visited to treat his polio. Because of this, many of the New Deal programs that he made were based on experience with the issues of the Georgia community. The New Deal was a series of programs put into effect by the president, Franklin Roosevelt that helped the citizens of Georgia during the Great Depression by helping farmers, providing people with jobs, and improving infrastructure. Agriculturally, the supply of cash crops like cotton was limited by paying farmers to produce less and therefore raised the prices of agricultural products. Economically, multiple programs were put into place that provided jobs to put money gradually back

Back in 1929, the great depression had started, that when the stock market went downhill. The Unemployment levels went sky high. People all across the country were facing economic difficulties. The new deal was President Franklin Roosevelt's dreamed to rescue the United States from the Great Depression. The new deal was to lower unemployment and provide an improvement to the economy. The New Deal programs gave jobs to unemployed people. When Roosevelt's was in office he created programs like Civilian Conservation Corps, and Works Progress Administration to provide more jobs. It was an important date in history because it left thousands of people unemployed and