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LBJ. The Great Society & Foreign Policy. The Great Society. Problems addressed by programs: Poverty Healthcare Civil Rights Urban Development. Ability to get things done…. Picked up where Kennedy left off The “Johnson treatment” Consensus
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LBJ The Great Society & Foreign Policy
The Great Society • Problems addressed by programs: • Poverty • Healthcare • Civil Rights • Urban Development
Ability to get things done… • Picked up where Kennedy left off • The “Johnson treatment” • Consensus • Passed great deal of policies because of Democratic majority & Southern appeal
War on Poverty • Economic Opportunity Act • Youth programs • Anti-poverty measures • Small-business loans • Job training
Dept of Housing & Urban Development • 240,000 housing units • $2.9 billion for urban renewal • HUD Secretary • Robert C Weaver (1st African American cabinet member in U.S. History)
Education Programs • Elementary/ Secondary Education Act (1965) • Higher Education Act (student loans, college tuition waivers, etc.) • Head Start
Health & Welfare • Medicare • Health insurance for elderly (SS) • Medicaid • Health insurance for low income families
Immigration Act of 1965 • Discontinued national origins system from the 1920s • 1st come, 1st serve • More than doubled immigration (Asia & L.A.)
Civil Rights (very briefly) • Most successes attributed to LBJ’s administration • 24th Amendment (abolished Poll Tax) • Civil Rights Bill of 1964 • Forbade segregation (interstate commerce) • Title VII (no discrimination in workplace)
Civil Rights (very briefly) • Voting Rights Act of 1965 • 740,000 blacks registered to vote within 3 years • Affirmative Action • Civil Rights Act of 1968 • Most comprehensive Civil Rights legislation
LBJ FOREIGN POLICY
Vietnam • Vietnam overshadows all LBJ’s foreign policies • Cold War commitments become full blown war • Political criticism • Success/failure still debated
Legacy • Immediate effects of social programs small • Eventually a large impact • Still controversial!!!
Elections • Landslide win in 1964 • Does not even run in 1968 (because of Vietnam)