Johnson and “The Great Society”
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Jared Clark and Zachary Gorski
Outline
I Pre Presidency
A. Senator and Vice President
II Domestic Policies
III Vietnam
Key Terms
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Lyndon B. Johnson
Civil Rights Act
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“The Great Society”
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The Big Four Legislative Achievements
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Vietnam War
Pre – Presidency
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Lyndon B. Johnson was born near Stonewall,
Texas, on August 27, 1908
June 28 1941 he was defeated in a senatorial race
December 9, 1941 Johnson serves on active duty in
the U.S. Navy
November 2, 1948 Jonson was elected as a Texas
senator after changing his platform to be more
conservative
Senator and Vice President
Johnson
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January 5, 1955 elected senate majority leader
July 14, 1960 Johnson Becomes JFK's running
mate
November 8, 1960 JFK was elected President and
Johnson his VP
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November 22 1963 John F. Kennedy was
assassinated
Later that day Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in to
the presidency aboard Air Force One
Domestic Policies
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After becoming President Johnson was notably
more liberal than in his days as a Texas Senator
July 2, 1964 Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of
1964
This outlawed racial discrimination in most public
places and gave the government greater power to
end segregation
Civil Rights Act (cont.)
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Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) created to end discrimination in who was
hired
Republicans added an equal rights for women
section to the bill hoping that would remove its
ability to pass, which backfired when it passed
anyways
War on Poverty
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Johnson began a $1 billion “War on Poverty”
which he added to one of Kennedy’s old tax bills
that had not yet passed
He gained support for this “war” from the statistic
that 20% of Americans were impoverished
Johnson deemed his domestic plans and reforms
“The Great Society”
1964 Election
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November 3, 1964 Johnson defeated Barry
Goldwater in the presidential election
Many voters were scared of Goldwater's “trigger
happy” foreign policy and seeming non-discretion
in nuclear weapons use
Johnson's Second Term
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In his second term Johnson had large Democratic
majorities in both houses of congress allowing him
to increase his war on poverty
He doubled funds to the Office of Economic
Opportunity and granted $1 billion to redeveloping
Appalachia
The Big Four Legislative
Achievements
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Johnson's Big Four Legislative Achievements
were aid to education, medicare and medicaid,
immigration reform, and a new voting rights bill
Aid to Education
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Johnson's plan gave educational aid “to students not
schools”
This allowed much needed funds to go to schools
with religious education without violating
separation of church and state
Medicare and Medicaid
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Medicare for elderly and Medicaid for the poor
allowed medical insurance to millions who could
not afford it
Immigration Reform
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Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolished
the national origin quota system, doubled number
of immigrants allowed to enter annually, limited the
number coming from the Western Hemisphere,
allowed admission of close relatives of those who
were already citizens, over 100,000 people utilized
this per year
Voting Rights
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The Voting Rights Act, August 6, 1965, suspended
literacy tests in counties where below 50% of the
eligible voters had cast ballots in 1964
It also began the process of ending Poll taxes
which where ultimately removed by the Supreme
Court in 1966
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On July 4, 1966 he signed the Freedom of
Information Act
Vietnam
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August 2 & 4, 1964 American destroyers were
allegedly fired upon by the North Vietnamese
details of these events remain uncertain
Johnson used this to order a “limited” retaliation
and he claimed he did not want a full scale war
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
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Congress then passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution,
which essentially removed their role in declaring
war and gave Johnson full power to utilize force in
Southeast Asia
Vietnam escalates
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by 1968 There were almost 500,000 American
troops in Vietnam
US focus began to shift to offensive tactics as
opposed to just defending the South
Operation Rolling Thunder: 1965-68 Johnson
ordered bombings of North Vietnam to stop
supplies and men from reaching resistance in the
South
Tet Offensive
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Despite problems Johnson feared his strength and
word would be doubted if he pulled out of Vietnam
On January 30, 1968 North Vietnamese and Viet
Cong Began Tet offensive
Over 100 cities and military bases in South
Vietnam were attacked, and the US embassy in
Saigon was briefly occupied
Tet Offensive (cont.)
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In the end the campaign was a military failure for
the North but had a dynamic impact on the
American home front as it showed that Johnson's
strategy of slowly escalating the war until the North
could not keep up would not work
The public demanded a swift end and protests
began gaining strong support
Many began criticizing that Johnson's war policies
were depleting funds available for popular “Great
Society” programs
The End Of Johnson
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American leaders requested a 200,000 troop
increase, causing many to doubt the strategy after
this seemingly unrealistic request
Johnson began to lose support, even among his own
party and support for having Eugene McCarthy as
the democratic nomination for president grew
Robert F. Kennedy (JFK's brother) announced
himself as a candidate as well. Both he and
McCarthy operated on antiwar platforms
The End of Johnson (cont.)
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March 31 1968 Johnson announced he would
not run for another term
October 31, 1968 Johnson ordered an end to
bombings of North Vietnam