This is a detailed summary all of LBJ created using the 'Oxford AQA History for A Level: The American Dream: Reality and Illusion ' by Sally Waller, 'Access to History: The American Dream: Reality and Illusion, for AQA, Second Edition' by Roger Turvey, as well as lesson notes from an Oxford-educa...
LBJ 1963-68
Impact of the Kennedy Legacy
- Many Kennedy White House insiders looked on LBJ as a usurper who could not be trusted with the
Kennedy legacy.
- LBJ exploited the nation’s desire to memorialise Kennedy to obtain anti-poverty legislation and the
1964 Civil Rights Act by introducing bills with emotive references to Kennedy.
- The national mourning for Kennedy translated into sympathy for Johnson and Kennedy’s party
which when combined with Republican candidate Barry Goldwater’s perceived Cold Warrior
extremism, contributed to the Democrat triumphs in the 1964 elections.
- LBJ cited his belief that he must continue Kennedy’s policies as a reason for his escalation of US
involvement in the Vietnam War.
- A 75% approval rating in the polls owed much to Kennedy’s death and the feeling that the US
should rally around his chosen successor.
Pursuit of the ‘Great Society’
In a May 1964 speech, LBJ proposed the Great Society which greatly increased the role and expenditure of
the federal government on areas, such as…
- Racial equality (see Civil Rights section)
- The war on poverty
- Persuaded Congress to pass an Economic Opportunity Act (EOA), which established an
Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to coordinate the war on poverty.
- 53 Job Corps centres providing job training were receiving thousands of applications
daily.
- 35,000 adults were learning to read and write and 90,000 adults were enrolled in
basic education programmes.
- 8,000 Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) were assisting minority groups, such
as needy children, Native Americans and migratory workers.
- Loans were being given for small businesses and rural development.
- As a result
- The minimum wage rose by 35%.
- The percentage of Americans in poverty fell by 6% from 1965 to the early
1970s.
- However, LBJ failed to eradicate poverty as one third of non-white
families still lived below the poverty line with infant mortality and
unemployment rates nearly twice those of white people.
- Federal expenditure on the poor rose by $7 billion from 1963 to 1966.
- However, conservatives attacked this level of federal expenditure as
unsustainable as it cost more to put a ghetto youth in the Job Corps
than in Harvard University.
- Poverty and health
- Congress established Medicare and Medicaid in the Social Security Act of 1965.
- Helped 19 million Americans in 1966 and was so popular within a decade that
no president has dared oppose it lest he alienate the ‘grey vote’.
- There are gaps in coverage, such as that of spectacles.
- Proved far more expensive than anticipated as the legislation allowed
hospitals and doctors to set the fees.
- Hence, Medicare proved eight times more expensive than estimated
and Medicaid increased federal and state expenditure on health care
for poorer citizens by more than $700 million from 1965 to 1966.
- Although one-fifth of the population benefited from them by 1976, the problem
of reasonably priced care for all Americans remained.
- Poverty and education
, - In 1964, 54 million Americans had never finished high school, 8 million had under 5
years of schooling, 100,000 high-school graduates with proven ability could not afford
to enter college, and schools were overcrowded, run down and short of good
teachers.
- LBJ persuaded Congress to double federal expenditure on education to $8 billion and
passed the 1965 Elementary and Secondary School Act (ESEA) and Higher
Education Act (HEA), which channelled the money towards the poorest states and
children. By the end of his presidency,...
- Over 13 million children had benefited from federal aid to education.
- A higher percentage achieved a high school diploma.
- There was no teacher shortage.
- New school buildings had been constructed.
- 50,000 students benefited from the Upward Bound programme which linked higher
education institutions to poor students with college potential.
- Poverty and urban problems (more on Housing of Civil Rights section)
- The 1965 Omnibus Act financed rent supplements and $8 billion of low- and
moderate-income housing.
- Congress passed the 1966 Demonstration Cities Act to designate ‘demonstration
cities’ in which the local community and all levels of government would work on
affordable housing and transport, recreational facilities and slum clearance.
- However, the programme was underfunded at $1.2 billion as New York City
alone needed $6 million and members of Congress demanded something for
their constituents. The six cities became 150 cities and the money was spread
too thinly to be effective.
- The war on poverty was inhibited by the Vietnam War which $120 billion of federal
expenditure went to compared to the $15.5 billion that was spent on the Great Society in
1965-73. The inflation and tax rises precipitated by the war made the Great Society
unpopular.
- Peace with other nations (see Foreign Policy section)
Economic developments
Gross national product saw a 39% percent growth following a 19% and 39% growth under Eisenhower and
Kennedy respectively, which led 96% of Americans in 1960-65 to believe their standard of living would
continue to improve. Unemployment rates were also at a 13-year low. However, federal overspending on
the Vietnam War led to inflationary pressures.
- 1964 - LBJ boasted about 43 months of unbroken business expansion , limited inflation, low
unemployment and pleasing GNP growth.
- 1965 - Although there were signs of the economy overheating, LBJ approved an interest rate rise
designed to cool the economy down and persuaded labour and industry to prevent inflation by
following wage and price guidelines.
- 1966 - Inflation was at its highest for 10 years as the pressure to raise prices and wages mounted
and many workers and employers agreed on inflationary rises.
- 1967 - There was a prospective budget deficit of over $10 billion that persuaded LBJ to seek the tax
increase his advisors urged. The GNP’s performance in the first quarter of 1967 was the worst since
the 1960 recession. Although GNP rose by 4.5% and unemployment fell by 3.8% during the summer
and autumn, a growing federal budget deficit and inflation continued. 60% of Americans saw the
high cost of living as their number one problem. The 1967 trade deficit of nearly $4 billion was 3
times that of 1966.
- 1968 - The federal budget deficit was an estimated $19.8 billion. By sending gold abroad to make up
the trade deficit, US gold reserves dropped to $12.4 billion, which was the lowest since 1937, and
the dollar was greatly weakened.
Foreign policy
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