Historians and political scientists have most often linked the Great Society to the New Deal; there is no doubt that LBJ was committed to expanding the Rooseveltian reform structure, a phenomenon that he saw as organic rather than static. As he remarked in a March 1937 radio address: “If the administration program [the New Deal] were a temporary thing the situation would be different. But it is not for a day or for a year, but for an age. It must be worked out through time, and long after Roosevelt leaves the White House, it will still be developing, expanding. . . . The man who goes to Congress this year, or next year, must be prepared to meet this condition. He must be capable of growing and progressing with it.” In truth, the Great Society marked the culmination of the effort by liberals to use the concept of positive rights (the right to a decent education, a good job, adequate health care) as opposed to negative rights (freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the right to vote) to achieve social and economic justice. But, ardent New Dealer though Johnson may have been, he realized that the 1960s were dramatically different from the 1930s. If the New Deal was about security and disengagement from the labor force through such devices as retirement pensions, unemployment compensation, and pensions for the worthy poor, the Great Society, in contrast, was about opportunity and labor force participation. The New Deal supported hard-pressed Americans at a time of economic catastrophe; the Great Society invested in people at the margins of the labor force at a time of economic opportunity. The New Deal was pessimistic, the Great Society optimistic. FDR wanted in the end to create a larger pie, but above all he wanted to ensure that the pieces of whatever pie that existed were more equitably distributed. Assured of an ever-growing pastry by postwar prosperity in general and by the Kennedy tax cut specifically, Johnson was more about political and educational empowerment of the poor and disadvantaged so that they could better compete. He did not on the whole support government-driven redistribution of wealth. He exhibited strong opposition to both guaranteed income measures and public works, favoring instead programs of social rehabilitation and affirmative action.
 An “us against them” motif ran through each of the three great reform movements that preceded the Great Society. The Populists railed against bankers, middle men, and railroad magnates. The Progressives decried the threat posed to middle-class society by robber baron capitalists and ignorant, rootless immigrants. In his 1936 acceptance speech, FDR denounced “economic royalists” who were laboring to replace American democracy with an American plutocracy. Lyndon Johnson was determined to rule through consensus, to avoid pitting one group against another. Not only was this a personal inclination, but the stratagems developed for dealing with the civil rights crisis seemed to demand it, and the prevailing prosperity promised to permit it. LBJ made the enemy—the “them”—abstract. Poverty, ignorance, ill health were not the fault of a class or group—they were boils on the body politic. These things were not the result of evil intent or greed on the part of groups or individuals, but seemingly free radicals that everyone hoped to see eliminated from the environment. The Great Society’s most glaring departure from Populism, Progressivism, and New Deal liberalism was its frontal assault on Jim Crow laws in the South. Despite their idealism, the reformers that preceded Johnson proved unwilling or unable to confront the issue of full citizenship and equality of opportunity for African Americans. In many respects, the interests of black Americans had been sacrificed in the drive by Populists, Progressives, and New Dealers to secure economic and social justice for male-dominated, white, working-class families. Even before he became president, LBJ decided that civil rights for black Americans was an issue that could not wait. If the United States was to retain its fundamental characteristics—individual freedom and democracy coupled with equality under the law and equal opportunity—the nation would have to turn its back on racism in both the public and private spheres. The Great Society would do what previous reform regimes had not dared attempt and in so doing move the nation forward in its ongoing effort to resolve the greatest American dilemma of them all. Adapted excerpt from Prisoners of Hope: Lyndon B. Johnson, the Great Society, and the Limits of Liberalism by Randall B. Woods. Copyright © 2016. Available from Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, a division of PBG Publishing, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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The Great Society was a set of domestic policy initiatives, programs, and legislation introduced in the 1960s in the U.S. These Great Society programs were intended to reduce poverty levels, reduce racial injustice, reduce crime, and improve the environment. Great Society policies were launched by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson between 1964 and 1965. Johnson first laid out his plan for what he coined a "Great Society" during a speech at the University of Michigan. Johnson vowed that this collection of programs would lead to "an end to poverty and racial injustice." Although Johnson's policies and programs targeted education, workforce training, healthcare, and food security, and voting and civil rights, they were centrist in their approach.
The initiatives that comprised the Great Society have been compared, in their scope and their intent, to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs, enacted in the U.S. between 1933 and 1939. The Great Society is considered one of the most extensive social reform plans in modern history. In addition, Johnson's efforts helped establish greater civil and voting rights, greater environmental protections, and increased aid to public schools. Great Society policies also focused on urban renewal. Following World War II, many major cities were in poor condition, and affordable housing was hard to find, particularly for the disadvantaged and underprivileged. The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 provided federal funds to cities to invest in urban development that met minimum housing standards. The Act provided better access to home mortgages and a rent-subsidy program. Johnson's Great Society policies birthed Medicare, Medicaid, the Older Americans Act, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. All of which remain government programs in 2021. In addition, Johnson's policies helped create the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts to support and fund cultural institutions necessary for a healthy society. These programs fund and support libraries, public television and radio, museums, and archives.
The Great Society programs and policies inspire, educate, and lift Americans out of poverty decades after they were put into place. In March 1964, Johnson introduced the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Economic Opportunity Act to Congress. Johnson wanted to address the underprivileged members of the U.S. by creating a Job Corps. He also asked state and local governments to develop work training programs. A national work-study program provided funding for 140,000 Americans to attend college. Other initiatives included community action programs, government-sponsored programs that trained volunteers to serve poor communities, loans to employers to hire the unemployed, funding for agricultural co-ops, and help for parents re-entering the workforce. When Johnson took office, many of the elderly and underprivileged members of the U.S. lacked any health insurance. When Johnson became the President, the Medicare and Medicaid programs became part of U.S. law. Medicare helped to provide coverage for hospital and physician visits for the elderly; the Medicaid program helped cover healthcare costs for those suffering from poverty and receiving assistance from the government. Project Head Start began as an eight-week summer camp. It was operated by the Office of Economic Opportunity, and 500,000 children aged from three to five received preschool education.
In 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed, which guaranteed federal funding for education in school districts where the majority of students were living in low-income households. Johnson also created additional support for the arts and humanities by signing the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act in 1965. Various environmental initiatives set water quality standards and vehicle emission standards. Laws were also passed to protect wildlife, rivers, historic landmarks and create scenic trails.
Project Head Start, which began under President Johnson, supports children's growth in a positive learning environment through various services from early development educational development to overall family health. Today Head Start programs reach over a million children every year in the United States. Johnson's government-funded programs aimed to reduce poverty and improve society, and his initiatives increased education levels and reduced inequality among Americans. Unfortunately, some of Johnson's efforts were overshadowed by the Vietnam War. As the conflict waged on, Johnson was forced to divert funds to promote education and help underprivileged members of society to the war that claimed over 58,000 American lives. America's involvement in Vietnam tarnished Johnson's reputation despite his efforts to improve life for millions of Americans.
The definition of Great Society harkens to a group of government policy initiatives created in the 1960s by Lyndon B. JOhnson that were designed to improve the lives of Americans.
Project Head Start, the National Endowment for the Arts, Medicare, and Medicaid, are all programs that were part of the Great Society initiatives.
Before his untimely death, President John Kennedy asked Congress in 1963 for a comprehensive civil rights bill. When Lyndon B. Johnson became the president after Kennedy's death, he urged Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act as part of his (and the late Kennedy) vision for a "Great Society." |
Why do some argue the great society has been great for america?
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