The Great Society

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The Great Society
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• Angela Brown
• Chapter 19 Section 2

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Learning Targets

• Describe Johnsons path to the White House.
• List some of the programs and effects of
  Johnsons Great Society.
• Identify some of the landmark cases handed down
  by the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl
  Warren.

3
LBJs Path to the White House

• House of Representatives in 1937 New Deal
  Democrat from Texas
• 1948 Senate by 87 votes
• Johnson became famous for ability to work within
  the political system to accomplish his goals.

4
Johnson

• Bid for democratic nomination failed in 1960
• Agreed to vice-presidential position but soon
  frustrated by powerlessness of office missed
  Congress

5
Building the Great Society

• Swift passage of Kennedys Civil Rights and tax
  bills followed the assassination.
• Johnson branched out he sought laws to aid
  public education, provide medical care for
  elderly and eliminate poverty.
• 1964 called goals the Great Society

6
The Election of 1964

• Landslide victory for Johnson over Barry
  Goldwater.
• (486 to 52 electoral votes 61 of popular
  vote)
• Democrats established a majority in both houses.

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Barry Goldwater

• Goldwaters conservative views seemed radical to
  Americans.
• He opposed Civil Rights legislation and believed
  military commanders should be allowed to use
  nuclear bombs as they saw fit in battle.

9
The Tax Cut

• Believed a budget deficit could be used to help
  the economy
• Johnson agreed to cut government spending to get
  tax cut through Congress.
• GNP rose 7.1 in 1964 8.1 in 1865 9.5 in
  1966 the deficit shrank
• The revival of prosperity generated new tax
  revenues unemployment fell, and inflation
  remained in check

10
The War on Poverty

• The Economic Opportunity Act of 1954 was created
  to combat illiteracy, unemployment, and
  inadequate public services - 950 million.
• Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) sent
  volunteers to help in poor communities.

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Aid to Education

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided
  aid to states based on of children from
  low-income homes.
• (1.3 billion to both public and private schools)
• 1965 Head Start Program was created to prepare
  economically disadvantaged preschoolers for
  school.
• Today serves 11 million children under age five.

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Medicare and Medicaid

• Medicare provided hospital and low-cost medical
  insurance for most American age 65 and older.
• Medicaid provided low-cost health insurance for
  poor Americans of any age.
• Most important Social Welfare legislation since
  the passage of Social Security Act in 1935
• Demonstrated government commitment to provide
  help to those Americans who needed it.

14
Immigration Reform

• Immigration Act of 1965 eliminated quotas for
  individual countries and replaced them with more
  flexible limits
• 170,000 from Eastern Hemisphere
• 120,000 from Western Hemisphere

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• Family members of U.S. citizens exempt from
  quotas, as were political refugees.
• 20,000 maximum from any one country
• 1960s 350,000 immigrants per year 1970s
  400,000

16
Earl Warren

• Law degree University of California at Berkley
• District attorney, attorney General of
  California, Governor, Republican
  Vice-Presidential candidate in 1948
• Appointed Chief Justice of U.S. by President
  Eisenhower in 1953 served until retirement in
  1969

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Earl Warren
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• Overturned many old laws to establish new legal
  precedents
• (Brown v Board of Education, Connecticut law
  against birth control, prayer in public schools
  unconstitutional)

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Criminal Procedure

• Concerned to safeguard constitutional rights of
  individuals against power of state
• 1961 Mapp v Ohio evidence seized illegally
  could not be used in a trial
• 1963 Gideon v. Wainwright suspects in criminal
  cases who could not afford attorney were given
  free legal aid

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• 1964 Escobedo v Ilinois accused must be given
  access to an attorney while being questioned
• 1966 Miranda v Arizona suspect must be warned
  of rights before being questioned Miranda Rule

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Congressional Reapportionment

• Apportionment distribution of a legislative
  bodys seats among electoral districts
• Most state governments had not redistributed
  districts to reflect population shifts.
• Rural citizens were over-represented and urban
  citizens were under-represented.
• 1962 Baker v Carr declared congressional
  districts had to be apportioned one person, one
  vote.

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Reapportionment
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• Today each of the 435 seats in the House
  represents an average of 665,000 persons
• 1964 Reynolds v Sims not based on one person,
  one vote violated equal protection clause of the
  14th Amendment
• Many decisions were controversial.
• People believed court had gone to far and hoped
  for more conservative judges.

25
Effects of the Great Society

• At first very popular New Programs raised
  expectations
• Disillusionment followed when not all demands
  could be met.
• Complained too many tax dollars spent on poor
• Too much authority in hands of federal government

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• Number of people living in poverty cut in half
  during the 1960s and 1970s.
• Some complained not enough money spent by
  government.

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Exit Slip

• A major part of Johnsons Great Society was.
• Several of the decisions of the Supreme Court
  under Chief Justice Earl Warren focused on
• Critics of the Great Society complained that it