The Great Society
Lyndon Johnson’s Vision for
A Better America
Background on the Great Society
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The Great Society Program had its roots in the New Deal
(the original Society Security bill in 1935 had provisions for
a national medical plan; in his “Fair Deal” platform in 1948,
President Truman proposed a variation of “medicare.”
Lyndon Johnson’s ideas had their roots in the Great
Depression of the 1930s, and especially in the 1930s
study of economic conditions in the South.
The Great Society proposals would be implemented
during the turbulent era of 1965-1974, an era where power
in America was altered by generational changes, race
issues, gender issues, and major social upheavals – as a
result the program was part of a controversial time.
Controversial Social Issues
The 1960s and 1970s were a
time when Americans were
divided over many issues:
race, taxes, foreign policy, and
social questions. One of the
most divisive issues was
school prayer. In Engle vs.
Vitale, the US Supreme ruled
against school prayer in any
public, tax-supported school.
The issue has remained
divisive since.
Generation Politics
With the Cold War it was inevitable that
generation differences would enter.
The Students for Democratic Society
(SDS) was founded in 1962. In the SDS
“Port Huron Statement,” the young
authors proclaimed their issues,
criticizing the older generation for
tolerating racial and sexual intolerance,
for supporting “brush fire wars” around
the world, for permitting pollutions and
a nuclear standoff that might “destroy
the planet.”
Drugs
The increased use of marijuana
and other narcotics as leisure
drugs among the middle class
was also a divisive issue. In
1965, possession of one joint of
pot could result in a 10-15 year
jail sentence in over half of the
50 states. The invention of
LSD, and its widespread use in
arts, entertainment, and
eventually suburbia, led the
Federal government to create
the DEA.
Gender Wars?
Betty Friedan's The
Feminine Mystique,
published in 1963,
expressed the
frustrations of
American women over
the 1950s images of
female domesticity.
With others, she
inspired a women's
liberation movement.
Whose Bodies?
Perhaps no issue of this era has
generated more division than Roe v.
Wade, a Supreme Court decision in
1973 that made abortions legal in all
states.
From 1973 on, anti-abortion groups
have tended to support the more
conservative tenets of the Republican
Party, the membership in which began
to grow rapidly in the 1970s.
Economic challenges
By 1965, America was facing
serious challenges in steel,
automobile, and electronic
production from other
countries. Japan and
Germany were among those
who had cut production
costs with the use of
Unimate robotic arms (an
American development).
Greater Militancy in civil rights
In 1966, 6 young men in
California formed the Black
Panther Party for SelfDefense. Dissatisfied with the
gradual strategy gaining of
civil rights through nonviolence, the Panthers called
for black neighborhoods to
arm against “government
suppression.” Johnson found
the Panther’s revolutionary
rhetoric dangerous and
ordered FBI surveillance.
New Civil Rights Leaders
Johnson’s “new new deal”
programs for fighting poverty did
not impress a younger, more vocal
group of civil rights leaders.
Malcolm X, leader of a Nation of
Islam splinter group, was
challenging the King-era
leadership, and gaining many
followers. Long before Malcolm's
murder (by rivals in the movement),
the FBI was using wire-taps to gain
information on the Nation of Islam.
Racial Tensions
The civil rights movement had created tensions in American
cities. Clashes between police and citizens in black
neighborhoods, like Watts (above, in 1965) and Detroit (in
1967), led to violence and social divisions.
Johnson’s Idea of a “Great Society”
In 1964, LBJ won the
presidency in his
own right. Choosing
Minnesota Senator
Hubert Humphrey as
his running mate, he
devised a program
of economic reform
that would build
what he called a
"Great Society."
Elements of the Great Society
•Carry out the unfinished goals of the New Deal –
universal health care, civil rights protections, etc.
•Enhance American culture through Federal aid to
the arts, sciences, and humanities.
•Show the world that the “American Way” was
superior to the ideas of “world socialism” being
offered by the “Soviet Bloc” of nations.
Key Actions of the Program
War on Poverty
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In his first State of the Union address, on January 8,
1964, President Johnson announced that his
administration "today, here and now, declares
unconditional war on poverty in America, and I urge
this Congress and all Americans to join with me in
that effort.“
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His program called for a systematic effort in
"chronically distressed areas" of the country, a youth
employment ("job corps") plan, expansion of the food
stamp and unemployment relief systems, and special
aid to schools, libraries, hospitals, and nursing
homes.
War on Poverty:
President Johnson and Mrs. Johnson in Kentucky
1965: Title XVIII and XIX of the Social
Security Act
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Medicare (Title XVIII) established to
provide health insurance coverage to
persons over age 65
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Medicaid (Title XIX) established to
provide health insurance coverage to
low income women and children (also,
aged, blind and disabled)
1965:
Title V Amended, P.L. 89-97
The 1965 amendments (P.L. Law 89-97) amended Title
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V of the Social Security Act by providing
comprehensive health care for children and youth.
 A primary directive was to make these services
accessible, available and appropriate to the
identified low-income neighborhoods
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The intent was to provide comprehensive health
care to children and youth including health
supervision, screening, medical care, nutrition, and
social services.
1966: Highway Safety Act and the National Traffic
and Motor Vehicle Safety Act
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Authorized the federal government to set and regulate
standards for motor vehicles and highways
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Vehicles were built with new safety features,
including head rests, energy-absorbing steering
wheels, shatter-resistant windshields, and safety belts
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By 1970, motor-vehicle-related death rates were
decreasing
1968: School Lunch and Child
Nutrition Act Expanded
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In 1968, Congress expanded the School Lunch and
Child Nutrition Act.
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A program was created to provide food for school-age
children during the summer.
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Additionally, a year-round program was initiated to
provide food to low-income children, as well as
children in day-care centers and Head Start programs.
MEDICARE
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Medicare is a government service that helps provide
health care for senior citizens and disabled U.S.
citizens.
Medicare part A: helps with hospital costs
Medicare part B: requires a monthly fee and helps
pay for medical costs
Medicare part D: pays for prescription drugs
Medicare covers most hospital and medical costs for people
age 65 and older, and also disabled Social Security recipients.
Once a person Qualifies for Medicare, they have four
different plans to choose from.
Original Medicare Plan
This plan covers many health care services. A person
can go to any doctor or hospital that accepts Medicare
and are taking new Medicare patients. This plan is
managed by the Federal government. With this plan a
person also pays a deductible and a copayment/coinsurance.
If a person has a health insurance policy, that
coverage plan might cover the deductibles,
coinsurance, and other costs.
Medicare Prescription Drug Plans
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These plans add prescription drug coverage to the
Original Medicare plan. This plan is offered by
insurance companies and other private companies
approved by Medicare.
With a Prescription drug plan a person will pay less
for their prescriptions. A person will get a
membership card which they use when they go to
the pharmacy.
A person will have to pay the co-payment,
coinsurance, and/or deductible if there is any.
Applying for Medicare
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To receive any Medicare benefits, you must
apply at a local Social Security office. You will
not receive benefits unless you apply for
them. If you do not enroll within one year of
reaching age 65, the premium will be
increased by 10 percent and you may only
sign up during the first quarter of each
subsequent year.
Medicare Part A: Hospital Insurance
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Medicare Part A helps pay for covered
services received in a hospital or skilled
nursing facility following a hospital stay, or
from a home health agency or hospice
program. There is no monthly premium for
Part A. It helps pay for a skilled nursing
facility stay to a maximum of 100 days in
each benefit period. For days 21 through 100,
it pays for all covered service except $95 a
day (1997). You are responsible for all
charges beginning with the 101st day.
Medicare Part B:
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Medicare Part B pays for many medical services
and supplies but most importantly it provides
coverage for your doctor’s bills. The full range of
benefits includes:
Physician’s services
Outpatient hospital services
X-rays and laboratory tests
Certain ambulance services
Durable medical equipment
Services of certain specially qualified practitioners
who are not physicians
Expanding Voting Rights
In August 1965, Johnson
signed the Voting Rights Act,
a measure he had pushed
through Congress. The act
outlawed literacy tests as a
way of limiting the right to
vote. It also provided Federal
resources to investigate
actions to prevent people
from voting
Money for Culture
Johnson also supported bills to
establish the National
Endowment for Humanities and
the National Endowment for the
Arts. Both the NEA and the NEH,
created in 1965, would be the
focus of controversy for the
Federal money given to support
projects that some found
offensive.
Impact of the Great Society
•Most of the Great Society programs remain intact in
some way. Funding for each program, however, has
varied according to holds power in the Federal
government and in each of the state governments.
•Because the Great Society was part of a controversial
era, the programs have always been part of the ongoing
debates over “American values.”
•Great society programs vastly enlarged the social work
profession – with Medicare issues, social workers
entered into more hospitals, with “mainstreaming,” more
went into schools, etc.
•With the key factor of government funding for so many
programs, bureaucracy has grown within the profession.