In his State of the Union message in 1964, President Lyndon B.
Johnson (1908–1973; served 1963–69) announced the Great Society he
envisioned for the United States. Johnson’s Great Society encompassed
civil rights for minorities, an end to poverty, improved educational opportunities for all, improved health care for the poor and the aged, an
improved quality of life in the cities, protection for the consumer, conservation, and environmental regulation.
The Great Society had its roots in two prior
presidential administrations. President Franklin
D. Roosevelt (1882–1945; served 1933–45),
promising a “New Deal” to all Americans when
he was elected, passed a long list of employment,
income-assistance, and labor legislation to help
those in need. The New Deal came at a time of
widespread poverty during the Great
Depression (1929–41; a time of worldwide economic downturn). After World War II
(1939–45), the United States experienced astounding economic growth. President John F.
Kennedy (1917–1963; served 1961–63) believed this national wealth could be used to help
those who had not yet shared in the good economic times. Like Roosevelt, Kennedy proposed
employment, education, and health care legislation to help Americans in need.
When Kennedy was assassinated in 1963,
Johnson assumed the presidency. He immediately began to push to make many of Kennedy’s
proposals into law. A masterful politician, Johnson relied heavily on his political skills as he faced strong opposition
in Congress.
Building a dream
During the summer of 1964, Johnson challenged Congress to pass the
Economic Opportunity Act, the foundation for what came to be known
as the War on Poverty. The Economic Opportunity Act set up a new
agency, the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), to administer programs to help the poor, including Project Head Start for preschool children, a jobs corps for youths, job training for adults, a work-study
program for needy college students, grants for farmers and rural businesses, loans to individuals and businesses willing to hire the unemployed, a domestic volunteer service program similar to the Peace Corps
called Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), and a communityaction program dealing with juvenile delinquency. Johnson also proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which combated racial discrimination. Johnson told Congress that enacting these bills would be a fitting
tribute to Kennedy.
Johnson’s initiatives seemed to be popular with voters. He won the
1964 election in a landslide. With widespread support, he quickly proposed a wide range of programs for mass transportation, food stamps,
immigration, and legal services for the poor. Bills aiding elementary, secondary, and higher education were also passed. Medicaid and Medicare
were established to assist the poor and elderly, respectively, with medical
treatment. Other initiatives created the Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD), which aimed at improving housing conditions, particularly in crowded cities; the National Endowment for the
Humanities; and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Obstacles
These Great Society programs cost billions of dollars but Johnson presented them as a way to expand the U.S. economy using education, job
training, and income assistance. Had the prosperous and peaceful times
of his early years in office continued, he would have had a chance to
prove his point. But a daunting problem lay halfway around the world
in Vietnam. By 1965, U.S. intervention in the Vietnam War (1954–75)
claimed an increasing amount of Johnson’s attention. The money that
was to be used to fund his projects was needed for the war effort as U.S. troops and supplies poured into the region. Johnson was pressured to
raise taxes to cover the soaring costs of the war and his Great Society
measures. Though his heart was in the Great Society, he believed the
country was committed to Vietnam, and by 1968 his top economic and
political priority was the increasingly unpopular war. Opposed from all
sides for the war and the tax hikes, Johnson decided not to seek reelection in 1968.
Dismantling the Great Society
Twelve years after the 1968 election, Ronald Reagan (1911–2004;
served 1981–89) was elected president. Reagan claimed the burden of
Great Society initiatives on taxpayers had become too great while poverty
had only grown worse. From the 1980s on, cuts in Great Society programs reduced many of them to the levels they were at before Johnson’s
presidency. Republicans particularly criticized federal spending on programs such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children, more commonly called welfare, which had been greatly expanded under the Great
Society. Critics have charged that these initiatives resulted in high taxes
and “big government,” and that they actually hurt the very people they
were designed to help.
Nonetheless, Great Society programs from Medicare to public television have remained popular into the twenty-first century, playing a
crucial part in many Americans’ lives. Johnson’s dream of ending poverty
and racism in the United States brought about some powerful changes,
but his Great Society was never completed.