He also asked state and local governments to create work training programs. A national work-study program provided funding for , 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. Medicare helped to provide coverage for hospital and physician visits for the elderly; the Medicaid program helped to 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 , children aged from three to five received preschool education. 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 provided federal funds to cities so they could invest in urban development that met minimum housing standards.
Johnson also created additional support for the arts and humanities by signing the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act in Various environmental initiatives set water quality standards and vehicle emission standards. Laws were also passed to protect wildlife, rivers, historic landmarks, and to create scenic trails. As the conflict waged on, Johnson was forced to divert funds that were supposed to promote education and help underprivileged members of society to the Vietnam War.
While some Americans did not support Johnson's government-funded programs to reduce poverty, he is perhaps better known to many Americans as the president who forced America into an unwinnable war, resulted in over 58, American military fatalities, rather than a champion of initiatives to help increase education levels and reduce inequality among Americans. LBJ Presidential Library. Library of Congress. Fordham University. Johnson: The War on Poverty, March Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Department of Health and Human Services. Congressional Research Service. Accessed Aug. Department of Housing and Urban Development. National Endowment for the Humanities. Home Ownership. City of Chicago. Fish, John Hall. Protess, David L. All Rights Reserved. Portions are copyrighted by other institutions and individuals. Additional information on copyright and permissions. Model Cities Next. Model Cities. Job Corps continues to help 70, youths annually at Job Corps centers throughout the country.
Besides vocational training, many Job Corps also offer GED programs, as well as high school diplomas and programs to get students into college. The Great Society left an enduring legacy in its healthcare programs. The Social Security Act of authorized Medicare, which provided federal funding for the medical treatment of elderly and disabled Americans. The program made benefits available to all Americans over age 65, regardless of need, and linked payments to the existing private insurance system.
The Social Security Act also created Medicaid, a program funding health care for low-income Americans. In , all welfare recipients began receiving medical care through Medicaid. The Great Society also created programs to benefit the arts. The Great Society also first established public television. The Public Broadcasting Act of chartered the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as a private, non-profit corporation and provided federal aid.
This was a new way of looking at environmental protection at the time, as previous measures had been restricted to merely conserving untouched resources, rather than considering pollution of nature as a whole. The Great Society also included policies related to labor. Amendments made to the Davis-Bacon Act in extended the prevailing wage provisions to cover fringe benefits, and several increases were made to the federal minimum wage. The EOA fought rural poverty by providing low-interest loans to those wishing to improve their farms or start businesses.
EOA funds were also used to provide housing and education for migrant farm workers. Other legislation created jobs in Appalachia, one of the poorest regions in the United States, and brought programs to American Indian reservations. Since the launch of the Great Society and the War on Poverty, there has been a contentious debate over its impact.
Historians and economists try to assess the effects on poverty rates and the economy, with many competing analyses put forward. Others argue the policies had negative effects on the economy and led to more poverty in the long-term.
The War on Poverty coincided with a reduction in poverty rates. The United States government began keeping comprehensive records of the poverty rate in , and the poverty rate had been declining when the War on Poverty was launched in ; it fell from The poverty rate declined further after the implementation of the War on Poverty, hitting a low point of Poverty among Americans between ages has fallen only marginally since , from The most dramatic decrease in poverty was among Americans over 65, which fell from In , more than Even noting the decline in poverty rates, there is still disagreement about the effects of the War on Poverty and the Great Society.
Adherents of this school of thought recommend that the best way to fight poverty is not through government spending but through economic growth. This perception led to diminished support for many welfare programs, especially those targeted to specific groups and neighborhoods primarily African Americans, immigrants, and other people of color.
Responses to these criticisms pointed out that anti-poverty programs are necessary not for the well-being of the poor, but for the highest American principle of justice. In this argument, economic inequality leads to inequality of opportunity so severe that Americans cannot ignore it and still claim to be a free and equal society. The Great Society remains controversial, particularly among conservatives.
Many of its programs were dismantled by later Republican administrations. It was signed into law on April 11, , less than three months after it was introduced.
The Act also established Head Start, which had originally been started by the Office of Economic Opportunity as an eight-week summer program, as a permanent program.
The Higher Education Facilities Act of , which was signed into law by Johnson a month after he became president, authorized a dramatic increase in college aid within a five-year period and provided better college libraries, new graduate centers, several new technical institutes, classrooms for several hundred thousand students, and new community colleges each year.
The Act increased federal money given to universities, created scholarships and low-interest loans for students, and established a national Teacher Corps to provide teachers to poverty-stricken areas of the United States. The Act also began a transition from federally-funded institutional assistance to individual student aid.
The Higher Education Act of was reauthorized in , , , , , , , , and Congress is currently in the process of reauthorizing the Act, which was set to expire at the end of but was extended through Before each reauthorization, Congress amends additional programs, changes the language and policies of existing programs, or makes other changes.
Johnson, committed to preventing the expansion of communism, increased U. When Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the U. Presidency after the death of John F. Kennedy, he did not consider the turbulent situation in South Vietnam a priority. Progressive social reforms of the Great Society and War on Poverty were of greater concern to Johnson. He did believe, however, in the domino theory—if one country came under Communist rule, neighboring countries would soon follow.
In effect, Johnson escalated the war, following the controversial Gulf of Tonkin incident. At the time Johnson took office in , there were 16, American military advisors in South Vietnam, in the midst of the deteriorating political and military situation that existed in the region. The South Vietnamese war effort was hindered by widespread corruption in the government of Ngo Dinh Diem, the first president of South Vietnam in power since In , the newly elected Kennedy administration promised more aid to the war effort including money, weapons, supplies , but these were of little effect.
Doubt arose among Washington D. To help contain the post-coup chaos, Kennedy increased the number of U. The South Vietnamese government was run by a twelve-member military revolutionary council, headed by General Duong Van Minh. There was chronic instability in the ARVN, as several coups—not all successful—occurred within a short period of time. Johnson was assuming the presidency at a tenuous time of military setbacks and political instability in South Vietnam.
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident proved an escalating factor of the war and justification of continued American presence in Vietnam. During this incident, the destroyer U. Maddox engaged three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats in a sea battle, resulting in several North Vietnamese casualties.
On August 2, , the U. Maddox, conducting an intelligence mission along the coast of North Vietnam, allegedly fired upon and damaged several torpedo boats; the boats had been stalking the Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. Two days later, in the same area, the Maddox along with the U.
Turner Joy each reported they had been attacked by North Vietnamese ships. The second attack prompted retaliatory air strikes. In response, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave the president broad powers to conduct military operations in Southeast Asia without declaring war, and thus without seeking congressional approval. While the Johnson administration claimed Vietnamese boats had fired first, subsequent investigations suggest that the battle was initiated by the Maddox.
Some historians believe that Johnson knowingly used the Gulf of Tonkin incident to gain the support of the American people to enter into the Vietnam War. Under President Johnson, the number of American troops in Vietnam rose from 16, in , to more than , by The U. The period after is thus referred to as the Americanization of the war, with the United States taking on the primary responsibilities of fighting the North Vietnamese.
President Johnson had already appointed General William C. Westmoreland expanded American troop strength in South Vietnam. Thieu and Ky were elected and remained in office for the duration of the war. In the presidential election of , Thieu ran for the presidency unopposed. In February of , a U. These guerrilla attacks prompted the administration to order retaliatory air strikes against North Vietnam.
Operation Rolling Thunder was the code name given to a sustained strategic bombing campaign, inaugurated on March 2, , targeted against the North by aircraft of the U. Air Force and Navy. Its original purpose was to bolster the morale in South Vietnam and to serve as a signaling device to Hanoi.
Rolling Thunder gradually escalated in intensity, with aircraft striking only carefully selected targets. After more than a million sorties were flown and three-quarters of a million tons of bombs were dropped, Rolling Thunder ended on November 11, For U.
The Americans learned that PAVN which was basically a light infantry force was not a rag-tag band of guerrillas, but was instead a highly disciplined, proficient, and well-motivated force. Guerrilla warfare tactics made it difficult for the U. Desertion rates increased, and morale plummeted. In and , U. Walt Rostow shows President Lyndon B.
Johnson had held the office for nearly one year following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. In his campaign, Johnson spoke eloquently about two favorable social programs, known as the Great Society and the War on Poverty. Republican candidate Senator Barry Goldwater could not secure the complete support of own party due to his unpopular conservative political platform.
The election campaigns proceeded against the backdrop of the tragic death of President Kennedy, assassinated on November 22, , in Dallas, Texas. The loss of the charismatic Kennedy was notably shocking and upsetting to his supporters, while opposition candidates faced the awkward position of running against the policies of a slain president.
So as not to appear disrespectful, Republican leaders called for a political moratorium during the subsequent period of mourning.
As such, little campaigning took place by either major party until January of , when primary season officially began. At the start of the election, the Republican Party was deeply divided between its conservative and moderate-liberal factions. Conservatives favored a small, low-tax federal government that supported individual rights and business interests, while opposing social welfare programs.
Conservatives likened eastern moderates to liberal Democrats, both in their philosophy and their approach to government. Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York. He was the front-runner to receive the Republican nomination in the election of , until his divorce and remarriage alienated social conservatives. Although Goldwater successfully rallied conservatives, he was unable to broaden his support base for the general election.
Shortly before the Republican Convention, his vote against the Civil Rights Act of which Johnson championed and signed into law alienated most moderate Republicans. Goldwater argued it was a matter for individual states rather than federal legislation. Ironically, Johnson then the Senate Majority Leader had strongly opposed both the and bills, and had helped to weaken them. It was an early instance at psychologically powerful negative campaigning.
In the end, Goldwater won only his native state of Arizona and five Deep South states that had been increasingly alienated by Democratic civil rights policies. Despite such a devastating loss, this was the best showing in the South for a GOP candidate since the post-civil war reconstruction era. Some political pundits and historians believe Goldwater laid the foundation for the conservative revolution to follow. The Civil Rights Act of and the Voting Rights Act of were landmark pieces of legislation that addressed major forms of discrimination.
The Civil Rights Act of , enacted on July 2, , was a landmark piece of legislation. The most far-reaching civil rights act yet passed by Congress, it banned discrimination in public accommodations, sought to aid schools in efforts to desegregate, and prohibited federal funding of programs that permitted racial segregation.
Congress asserted its authority to legislate about civil rights under three parts of the United States Constitution: its power to regulate interstate commerce under Article One section eight , its duty to guarantee all citizens equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment , and its duty to protect voting rights under the Fifteenth Amendment.
The Act was initiated by President John F. Kennedy and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, marking perhaps the most important domestic achievement of his Great Society program. The bill would soon be followed by the equally momentous Voting Rights Act, which effectively ended the disenfranchisement of blacks in the South.
President John F. Kennedy called for a Civil Rights Act in his speech about civil rights on June 11, Attorney General to launch lawsuits against state governments that operated segregated school systems. However, it did not include a number of provisions deemed essential by civil rights leaders, including protection against police brutality, ending discrimination in private employment, or granting the Justice Department power to initiate desegregation or initiate job discrimination lawsuits.
In late November of , the assassination of John F. Kennedy changed the political situation.
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