Chapter 26 Section 2The “Great Society”

Lyndon Johnson’s Rise to the Presidency

Member of the House of representatives-1937

Won a Senate seat in 1948

Senate Majority Leader- 1955

Kennedy’s Vice President in 1961

President 1963

Great Society

Johnson’s legislative agenda

Wanted to provide government assistance to the poor, improve the economy, improve the education system, and improve the environment

Head Start

Great Society program

Preschool program for children from low-income families that also provides health care, nutrition services, and social services.

Elementary and Secondary Education Act

Great Society program

Significantly increased federal funding for public schools

Volunteers in Service to America

VISTA

Great Society Program

Sent volunteers to help people in poor communities

Medicare

Great Society Program

Provides hospital and low cost medical insurance to most Americans age 65 and older.

Medicaid

Great Society Program

Provides low-cost health insurance coverage to poor Americans of any ago who cannot afford their own private health insurance

Immigration Act of 1965

Replaced quota system with a limit of 20,000 immigrants per year from any one country outside the Western Hemisphere. The act set overall limits

of 170,000 immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 from the Western Hemisphere.

Under President Johnson, how did the role of the federal government

change

Government become more activist

The primary focus of Johnson’s Great Society program was to vastly increase the federal government’s role in tackling social problems

He desired to demonstrate the government’s commitment to provide help to needy Americans

Warren Court

The Supreme Court of the Kennedy-Johnson years under Chief Justice Earl Warren

Overturned many old laws and rulings and established new legal precedents

Roth v. United States

The Supreme Court made the first attempt to define obscenity

Ruled that obscene materials were “utterly without redeeming social importance.”

Griswold v. Connecticut

1965

The court struck down a Connecticut law that prohibited the use of birth control

Engel v. Vitale

1962

The Court ruled that religious prayer in public schools was unconstitutional according to the 1st Amendment principle of separation of church and state.

Mapp v. Ohio

1961

Established the exclusionary rule, which states that evidence seized illegally cannot be used in a trial.

Gideon v. Wainwright

1963

Stated that suspects in criminal cases who could not afford a lawyer had the right to free legal aid.

Escobedo v. Illinois

1964

Ruled that accused individuals had to be given access to an attorney while being questioned.

Miranda RuleMiranda v. Arizona

1966

Stated that suspects must be warned of his or her rights before being questioned

Right to remain silent, anything they say can and will be used against them in court, right to an attorney, if they cannot afford one, one will be provided for them

Apportionment

The distribution of seats in a legislature among electoral districts Over the years, many

Americans had moved from rural to urban districts, but most state governments had not reapportioned their electoral districts to reflect that fact.

Baker v. Carr

1962

Declared that state legislative districts had to be divided on the basis of “one man, one vote.” Each person’s vote should

carry the same weight, regardless of where in the state the person lived Prevented the party I

power from drawing district lines in unfair ways to give itself more potential votes

Reynolds v. Sims

1964

The Court held that state legislative districts not based on the “one man, one vote” formula violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment

Why might some oppose some of the rulings of the Warren Court?

Many people believed the court was too liberal

Too much federal intervention into state matters

Protects the rights of accused criminals more than the rights of the victims

Effects of the Great Society