Ch+31+Lyndon+Johnson's+Great+Society

Lyndon Johnson  After the national trauma of the Kennedy assassination, American citizens felt comfortable in the hands of the new 36th president, Lyndon Johnson. Johnson came from “hill country” Texas, and had incredible motivation and ambition. Many were surprised that Johnson agreed to be on the Kennedy ticket after losing the nomination of the Democratic Party. Johnson was immediately put into the White House after the Kennedy incident, and Johnson acted quickly on his new legislative program that would prove to be the most effective since Franklin Roosevelt. Johnson took a number of the new frontier proposals under Kennedy and added them into his own reform movement known as the “Great Society.” Congress was also primarily democratic during his stay in office, which gave him the necessary support needed in order to insure the fulfillment of his goals.

For the first time since the 1930s, Johnson created a strong new list of new social welfare programs. The two most effective of these programs were Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare, which gave federal aid to the medical expenses of the elderly, was passed in 1965. Many did not like the guidelines to this new program, and believed that not just the elderly should receive help, but that people of all ages who needed the money should. Therefore Johnson passed the Medicaid program in 1966, which extended the welfare recipients to citizens of all ages. In addition to these programs in the fight of the “War on Poverty,” Johnson also created the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), and the Community Action Program. The OEO invented programs that would support education, employment, housing, and health-care. The Community Action Program was an effort to include poor communities in the creation of programs that were designed to help them. These programs along with the Department of Housing and Urban Development which was responsible for urban community development, and Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, were monumental in the reduction of poverty, but did not completely eliminate it like intended. The Johnson administration also passed the Immigration Act of 1965, restricting the immigration of peoples from certain areas, and completely changing the build of the American population. The Great Society was successful in creating the first frame for the modern social welfare system, but because of a big increase of federal spending and the failures in many of the reforms, it was not completely successful across the board.

Johnson also supported the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. In 1965 Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act, which gave all black citizens the right to vote. Johnson also supported the idea of affirmative action, which was a policy to compensate for past injustices to minorities. In the Vietnam War, Johnson changed American policy from giving aid to South Vietnam, to American intervention in the war. Early on in his presidency, Johnson took action in Vietnam on the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. At this time, Americans were unsure whether these attacks were reported correctly, but still gave their support in the Vietnam War. American involvement in the war continue to grow over the next few years, The Americans fought what was known as a “Battle of Attrition,” which was the idea that if we could inflict so many causalities and damage to the enemy, then they would eventually back down. This proved to be unsuccessful however, because North Vietnam was willing to put more soldiers into the war then the US had expected. In 1968, the Tet Offensive was the greatest event in destroying the support of the Vietnam War. Violent reports on television of the bombings in Saigon. This would bring down the popular support of Johnson during the end of his presidency to around 35 percent, which was the lowest of any president since Truman. The Vietnam War continued after Johnson’s presidency, but the actions during his presidency changed the American support and view of the war altogether.

Sources: [] A Survey, "American History" Alan Brinkley