Chapter 20

Section 3 The Great Society

Lyndon Baines Johnson• 4th generation Texan from the Texas Hill Country• Graduated Southwest Texas State Teachers College 1930 - taught English• 1937 - Democratic Congressman from Texas - A “New Dealer”• 1948 – became senator (by 87 votes) accused of stealing votes “Landslide Lyndon” - a derisive nickname• “The Johnson Treatment” = He was a master of party politics and behind-the-scenes maneuvering; He had great skill at give and take and getting what he wanted; 6’ 3’’ tall• 1955 - became the Senate Majority Leader• Civil Rights Act of 1957 - helped get it passed in Congress

“All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today.” - LBJ (addressing Congress after

JFK’s death)• Nov 27, 1963 - LBJ urged Congress

to move ahead on the civil rights bill and tax-cut bills that JFK had sent to Congress.

• Feb, 1964 - Congress passed $11 billion tax cut - which spurred economic growth and lowered the deficit by $2 billion by 1966

• July, 1964 - Civil Rights Act of 1964 - he finally persuaded Southern senators to stop blocking it

LBJ’s “Great Society”

Great Society - LBJ’s legislative programs that spent enormous amounts of money on social programs (Welfare, food stamps, etc) to create a higher standard of living

"And with your courage and with your compassion and your desire, we will build the Great Society. It is a Society where no child will go unfed, and no youngster will go unschooled." -May 1964

Civil Rights Act of 1964 (July 1964)

• Prohibited discrimination based on the following four areas:

• 1. Race• 2. Religion• 3. Nation origin• 4. Gender

Economic Opportunity Act

• 1 billion for youth programs, anti-poverty measures, small business loans, job training

• VISTA (like the domestic version of the Peace Corps), Job Corps, Project Head Start

• August 1964

Election of 1964DemocratsLyndon Baines Johnson (Texas)Hubert Humphrey (Minnesota)

WON BY LANDSLIDE61% of pop. Vote

Won majority in Congress - Important because for the first time, a Democratic president would not need the votes of conservative Southern Democrats in order to get laws passed

RepublicansBarry Goldwater (Arizona)Bill Miller (NY)

Against large federal programs - wanted to make Social Security voluntary

-wanted to abolish the TVA-suggested using nuclear weapons in Cuba and N. Vietnam

Building the Great Society• Between 1965-66, LBJ personally pushed through

Congress a flurry of bills. (By the time he is finished in office, Congress will have passed 206 of his measures!!)

• Somewhat similar to FDR’s 1st Hundred Days, he tried to capitalize on his new mandate.

Education –The “key which can unlock the door to the Great Society”

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965)What: $ 1 billion to help public and parochial schools purchase textbooks and new library materials.Why significant: 1st major federal aid package for education in US history

Medicare and Medicaid1st major change in Social Security (since its adoption in 1935)

Medicare = health insurance for over 65 +Medicaid = health insurance for welfare recipients

Housing and Urban Development(HUD)

• New federal agency• Oversees massive budget for low-rent public

housing and payments to moderate income people for better housing• Robert Weaver - first African-American cabinet member (He was Sec. of HUD)

HUD Housing Projects

Immigration Act of 1965 Replaced national origins system with an annual

quota History:Immigration Act of 1924National Origins Act of 1929 had strongly discriminated against people outside Western Europe NOW ALLOWED: 170,000 immigrants from Eastern Hemisphere (Asians)• 120,000 Western Hemisphere• No more than 20,000 from any one nation could enter the US in one year (but close relatives of American residents were exempt)

Silent Spring by, Rachel Carson• Called attention to the hidden danger of pesticides in the environment• Result:• Water Quality Act of 1965 - required states to

clean up rivers• Beginning of environmental movement

Unsafe at Any Speed by, Ralph Nader

• Sharply criticized the US automobile industry for ignoring safety concerns• Result: Congress established safety standards for cars and tires

The Reforms of the Warren Court Chief Justice Earl Warren

1. 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education – school desegregation2. Prayer banned in public schools3. State-required loyalty oaths - now unconstitutional

The Reforms of the Warren Court4. Free speech definition extended - to include wearing of anti-war arm bands by students

5. ReapportionmentBaker v Carr (1962) – “one person; one vote” The fed gov’t had right to tell states to reapportion their voting districtsReynolds v Sims (1964) - Congressional districts should be redrawn to be equal in population / state legislative

ReapportionmentWHAT The way in which states draw reelection districts based on the changing number on people in them

WHY To make sure the voting districts were of equal size (By 1960, 80% of Americans lived in cities and suburbs. Some rural districts had fewer than 200,000 people while urban districts had 600,000. THUS the rural district had more representation).

Warren Court DecisionsRights of the Accused

Mapp v Ohio (1961)

“Exclusionary rule” Evidence seized illegally could not be used in state courts

Gideon v Wainwright (1963)

Required criminal courts to provided free legal counsel to those who can’t afford it

Warren Court DecisionsRights of the Accused

Escobedo v Illinois (1964)The accused person has the right to have a lawyer present during questioning by police

Miranda Rights (1966)All suspects must be “readtheir rights” before questioning:1. Suspects have right to remain

silent2. Anything they say may be

used against them3. They have the right to a

lawyer before and during interrogation

Lyndon B. Johnson Extended the power and reach of the federal government in all three branches of government

The Great Society DerailedThe Vietnam War started to consume Johnson’s Great Society programs because the war1. Drew away funds2. Drew away attention