Liberalism in the 1960s
I. The Culture of Post-World War II Prosperity
II. The Ideals and Agendas of Presidents Kennedy and
Johnson
III. The War on Poverty
I. The Culture of Post-World War II Prosperity
Gross domestic product (GDP) since 1790
“A rising tide lifts all the boats.”
- John F. Kennedy (in October, 1963)
After World
War II, the
Great
Depression
was
transformed
into the Great
Compression.
“The Treaty of Detroit” (1950): The United Auto Workers union gave up strikes
in exchange for health, unemployment, and pension benefits, plus more
vacation time and cost-of-living adjustments in wages.
United Auto Workers president Walter Reuther, in a meeting with
President Truman
Even Republicans (after
decades of anti-union
positions) felt compelled to
express their support for
organized labor.
Unions and the middle class since 1967
Source: Derek Thompson, “Are Unions Necessary?” The Atlantic Magazine,
June 11, 2012 http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/06/are-unionsnecessary/258356/
The U.S. also had the best-educated workforce in the world.
https://www.educationnext.org/the-human-capital-century/#fig3
1930s liberalism focused on standard-of-living issues.
“I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.”
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Second Inaugural Address (1935)
1960s liberalism added a focus on quality-of-life issues.
“We are in the midst
of the greatest
upward surge of
economic well-being
in the history of any
nation... We do not
intend to live in the
midst of abundance,
isolated from
neighbors and
nature, confined by
blighted cities and
bleak suburbs,
stunted by a poverty
of learning and an
emptiness of
leisure.”
Lyndon B. Johnson,
State of the Union
Address
(1965)
Photo: Admiral Wilson Blvd., Camden, New Jersey (1965)
II. The Ideals and Agendas of Presidents
Kennedy and Johnson
“But I tell you the New
Frontier is here, whether we
seek it or not. Beyond that
frontier are the uncharted
areas of science and space,
unsolved problems of peace
and war, unconquered pockets
of ignorance and prejudice,
unanswered questions of
poverty and surplus ... I believe
the times demand new
invention, innovation,
imagination, decision. I am
asking each of you to be
pioneers on that New Frontier.”
– JFK's nomination
acceptance speech (1960)
“If by a 'Liberal' they mean
someone who looks ahead and
not behind, someone who
welcomes new ideas without
rigid reactions, someone who
cares about the welfare of the
people — their health, their
housing, their schools, their jobs,
their civil rights, and their civil
liberties — someone who
believes we can break through
the stalemate and suspicions that
grip us in our policies abroad, if
that is what they mean by a
"Liberal," then I'm proud to say
I'm a 'Liberal.'"
– Campaign speech, 1960
Major domestic-policy achievements of the Kennedy Administration
Presidential Commission on the Status of Women
Equal Pay Act of 1963 (to reduce gender inequities)
Various new education programs
The Food Stamp program
Increased funding for NASA + promotion of a lunar landing
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)
Organized crime prosecutions
Support for the 24th Amendment (no poll taxes)
Lyndon Johnson finished
Kennedy's term, and in the
1964 campaign, he called his
agenda the Great Society.
“It is a Society where no child
will go unfed, and no youngster
will go unschooled. Where no
man who wants work will fail to
find it. Where no citizen will be
barred from any door because
of his birthplace or his color or
his church. Where peace and
security is common among
neighbors and possible among
nations.”
The presidential election of 1964
(Lyndon Johnson vs. Barry Goldwater)
“The Johnson Treatment”
With
Senator
Richard
Russell
With Senator
Theodore
F. Green
With Supreme Court
Justice Abe Fortas
Highlights of LBJ’s Great Society
Civil rights legislation
Auto safety legislation
Federal money for student loans
Clean air and water legislation
Highway beautification
Protection of endangered species
Public housing
Public television
Medicare and Medicaid
III. The War on Poverty
The Other America, by Michael Harrington (1962)
“That the poor are invisible is one
of the most important things about
them. They are not simply
neglected and forgotten as in the
old rhetoric of reform; what is much
worse, they are not seen.”
Harrington's book contained
highly-influential concepts.
“Being poor in this country is
not one aspect of a person's
life in this country. It is his
life. Taken as a whole, poverty
is a culture… These are people
who lack education and skill,
who have bad health, poor
housing, low levels of
aspiration and high levels of
mental distress… Each
disability is the more intense
because it exists within a web
of disabilities. And if one
problem is solved, and the
others are left constant, there
is little gain.”
In 1967, the nation was
shocked to discover
the pervasiveness of
hunger, after this
article was published
in Look magazine.
Earlier that year, the photographer for the article, Al Clayton,
presented his photos to a Senate Committee.
Programs of the War on Poverty
Head Start
The Job Corps
The College Work Study program
Food stamps
Community Health Centers
Legal Services
Adult literacy programs
VISTA (a domestic version of the Peace Corps)
Medicare and Medicaid
A 1960s promotional announcement for Medicare