LBJ’s Great Society

1. LBJ’s Great Society US History Standards: SSUSH21 The student will explain economic growth and its impact on the United States, 1945-1970. b. Describe the impact television has had on American culture; include the presidential debates (Kennedy/Nixon,1960) and news coverage of the Civil Rights Movement. SSUSH22 The student will identify dimensions of the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1970. d. Describe the significance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail and his I have a dream speech. e. Describe the causes and consequences of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. SSUSH23 The student will describe and assess the impact of political developments between 1945 and 1970. b. Describe the political impact of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; include the impact on civil rights legislation. c. Explain Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society; include the establishment of Medicare. SSUSH24 The student will analyze the impact of social change movements and organizations of the 1960s. e. Explain Rachel Carson and Silent Spring, Earth Day, the creation of the EPA, and the modern environmentalist movement. f. Describe the rise of the conservative movement as seen in the presidential candidacy of Barry Goldwater (1964) and the election of Richard M. Nixon (1968).

2. Johnson Becomes President • After Kennedy’s assassination, Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president aboard Air Force One • He vowed to continue Kennedy’s policies and retained most of his team

3. Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 • To honor Kennedy’s memory, Johnson urged the quick passage of the civil rights bill • Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned racial discrimination in most private facilities open to the public (ex. Theatres, hospitals, restaurants) • Strengthened government’s power to end segregation in schools and other public places • Created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to eliminate discrimination in hiring, including gender and racial discrimination

4. Beginnings of the Great Society • Johnson pushed Kennedy’s stalled tax bill through Congress and added programs for a billion-dollar “War on Poverty” to address the 20% of Americans and 40% of African Americans who lived in poverty

5. Election of 1964 • Johnson (top right) was chosen by acclamation as the Democratic candidate for president in 1964 • The Republicans chose Conservative Barry Goldwater as their candidate • Goldwater’s beliefs: • Attacked federal income tax • Social Security system • TVA • Civil rights legislation • nuclear test-ban treaty • Great Society

6. Results of Election of 1964

7. Great Society Congress • Johnson’s huge victory and two-to-one Democratic majority in Congress created a flood of legislation creating all of the following: • Office of Economic Opportunity • Department of Transportation • Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – first black cabinet secretary, Robert C. Weaver • National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities • Creation of PBS and NPR

8. More Programs of the Great Society • Education Aid • Head Start – preschool for needy kids • Healthcare Reform • Medicare – healthcare for the elderly • Medicaid – healthcare for the poor • Immigration Reform • Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 – abolished the “national-origins” quota system in place since 1921 • Doubled the number of immigrants allowed to enter annually • set limits for the first time on the number of immigrants allowed to enter from the Western Hemisphere • Allowed for admissions of close relatives of US citizens • Act creates shift from European immigration to Latin American immigration

9. Impact of Great Society • Expensive • Poverty rate declined from 21% in 1962 to 11% in 1973 • Medicare reduced poverty among elderly • Infant mortality rates fell

10. Preventing the Black Vote • In the 1960s in Mississippi, only about 5% of eligible blacks were registered to vote • Tactics which prevented blacks from voting: • Poll tax • Literacy tests • Intimidation • State law in Mississippi required the names of blacks who registered to vote to be published in the newspaper for two weeks

11. 24th Amendment • Ratified in January 1964 • Abolished the poll tax

12. Freedom Summer • Blacks joined with white civil rights workers from the North in a massive voter registration drive during Freedom Summer of 1964 • June 1964 – one black and two white civil rights workers were found murdered • White juries refused to convict those responsible • Similar violence occurred during Martin Luther King, Jr.’s voter registration campaign in Selma, AL

13. Bloody Sunday

14. Reaction to the violence • Americans watched this violence on their televisions and were shocked by it • Johnson delivered an address on television, telling Americans to “overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice” • http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=lyndon+johnson+we+shall+overcome&FORM=VIRE5&adlt=strict#view=detail&mid=595A0E0866FAD7D7F722595A0E0866FAD7D7F722

15. Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Eliminated literacy tests • Gave federal examiners the right to register voters in the South

16. Nixon’s Environmental Reforms • Creation of Environmental Protection Agency (1970) • Creation of Occupational Health and Safety Administration (1970) • Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was published in 1962 • Discussed impact of pesticides on the environment • Start of modern environmental movement