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LBJ: “Let us continue”

LBJ: “Let us continue”. Quickly pushed thru Congress 2 key “Kennedy” bills: $10B tax reduction – led to  consumer spending & job growth Civil Rights Act (1964) – declared segregation in public facilities illegal. Lyndon Johnson in Action. 1964: LBJ waged “war on poverty”

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LBJ: “Let us continue”

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  1. LBJ: “Let us continue” • Quickly pushed thru Congress 2 key “Kennedy” bills: • $10B tax reduction – led to  consumer spending & job growth • Civil Rights Act (1964) – declared segregation in public facilities illegal

  2. Lyndon Johnson in Action • 1964: LBJ waged “war on poverty” • Office of Econ Opportunity • Job Corps for HS dropouts • Head Start for preschoolers • Adult ed / technical training opportunities • 10,000,000 fewer in poverty by 1970 In 1964, the U.S. had 35 million poor people

  3. The Election of 1964 • 1964: LBJ ran against: • Cons Repub Barry Goldwater rejected LBJ’s liberal welfare programs & called for a stronger foreign policy stance • Segregationist George Wallace • LBJ won in a landslide & the Democrats took control of Congress for 1st time in 25 years

  4. The Great Society • “Great Society” domestic agenda: • Medicare & Medicaid extended health insurance to elderly & poor • $1 billion for schools • Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned literacy tests & provided federal registrars for polls

  5. The Triumph of Reform • By 1965, Congress passed 89 social agenda laws or reforms • Great Society most comprehensive agenda of social reform since FDR • But…Vietnam War pulled down his social agenda efforts

  6. Johnson Escalates the Vietnam War

  7. LBJ Escalates the Vietnam War “I am not going to lose Vietnam. I am not going to be the president who saw Southeast Asia go the way China went.” —LBJ • LBJ continued JFK’s strong foreign policy positions too: • CIA-sponsored coups in Brazil, Panama, & the Dominican Republic • Continued Eisenhower & JFK policies towards Vietnam • LBJ found himself under attack from Congress, the media, & universities

  8. LBJ Escalates the Vietnam War • 1964: • Bombed N Vietnam – revenge for attack on USS Maddox in Gulf of Tonkin • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave LBJ authority to: • Defend S Vietnam at any cost • Unlimited military intervention at LBJ’s discretion

  9. The Vietnam War

  10. Escalation • 1965 marked beginning of full-scaleUSinvolvement in Vietnam • LBJ said “without US action, defeat is inevitable” • Authorized bombing of NV/requested 50,000soldiers • Never explained how US would win Advisors wanted 100,000 troops in 1965 & 100,000 more in 1966; Estimations were 500 U.S. deaths per month

  11. Stalemate • 1968: 500,000 US troops in Vietnam • US bombings & “search & destroy” attacks ineffective • Soviet & Chinese weaponry freely flowed into N Vietnam • Reckless bombings killed thousands of innocent civilians • The bloody stalemate & media depictionofthewarledtoprotests

  12. Image of the “My Lai Massacre,” 1968

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