Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society Document Analysis

Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society

Document Analysis • Using the provided sources, complete the following for each (on your own paper, divide the front side in half): Great Society Speech Source: What type of document is this and who is the audience? Close reading: What is the message of this document? Context: What sorts of government programs do you think President Johnson would support, based on this document? Great Society Programs Which of these programs have you heard of? (list them and describe in what context) Which programs do you think have been successful? How would you measure whether these programs were successful? How is the Great Society like the New Deal? How is it different?

The Great Society – PRO and CON • Use the PRO and CON essays excerpts regarding the Great Society to complete the Graphic Organizer on the back of your handout. • Then on the back side of your separate piece of paper, respond to the following using the evidence you’ve gathered: 1. Was the Great Society a success or failure? 2. How are some of these arguments being played out in today’s debates over economic recovery? • Think back to our discussion on Thursday about the events in Baltimore. What other current events are relevant to this discussion?

The Election of 1964 Electoral Vote Johnson: 406 Goldwater: 52 Mandate the authority to act that an elected official receives from the voters who elected him or her.

The Great Society What was the Great Society? Johnson’s programs aimed at eliminating poverty and racial injustice – a rebirth of JFK’s “New Frontier”. Proposed major reforms in civil rights, welfare, education, health, arts & culture, and transportation. (War on Poverty) Johnson believed that the best way to deal with poverty was not simply to raise the incomes of the poor but to help them better themselves through education, job training, and community development. Between 1964 and 1966, LBJ spent $3 billion on antipoverty programs

The Great Society- Civil Rights Program or Law Tax-cut bill of 1964 Objectives or Results • Economic growth • An increase in consumer spending, business investment, and tax revenue • A reduction in the federal deficit Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, and gender • Granted the federal government new enforcement powers Voting Rights Act of • banned literacy tests 1965 Civil Rights Act of 1968 • banned housing discrimination, provided constitutional protections to Native Americans

The Great Society- Education Program or Law Head Start Upward Bound Elementary and Secondary Education Act Higher Education Act of 1965 Bilingual Education Act of 1968 Objectives or Results Head Start: offered pre-school for children of the poor Upward Bound: program which helps poor teens go to college • Provided federal aid to help public and parochial schools to purchase textbooks and new library materials and to offer special education classes : increased federal money to universities, provided money for scholarships for poor students • provided federal money for establishment of ESL programs

The Great Society- Economic Opportunities Job Corps • helped disadvantaged youth gain marketable job skills Economic Opportunity • Funded youth programs, antipoverty measures, small business Act of 1964 loans, and job training Created the Job Corps, the VISTA volunteer program, Project Head Start, and the Community Action Program VISTA • Volunteers In Service To America (VISTA): domestic version of the Peace Corps Neighborhood Youth • : provided job experience to poor urban teens while encouraging Corp them to graduate high school

The Great Society- Health Program or Law Medicare Medicaid Food Stamps Objectives or Results • Provided hospital and low-cost medical insurance to most Americans age 65 or older • Extended health insurance to welfare recipients • provided assistance to low-income families by subsidizing food expenses

The Great Society- Civil Rights Program or Law Immigration Act of 1965 Objectives or Results • Replaced the national origins system with a new immigration quota system that allowed more non-European immigrants to settle in the U. S.

Arts & Culture • National Endowment for the Arts: provided federal funds for arts education • National Endowment for the Humanities: provided federal funds for humanities (English, History) education • Public Broadcasting Service (PBS): provides noncommercial educational television programming • National Public Radio (NPR): provides noncommercial educational radio programming

Transportation • National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 • Highway Safety Act of 1966 • Both set new federal guidelines for safety in automobile design and road design and construction • Largely the result of increased public awareness of traffic safety due to Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed which exposed car makers’ reluctance to improve safety due to increased costs

Supreme Court Changes Society • The Court Cases • Brown v. Board of Education • Baker v. Carr • Mapp v. Ohio • Gideon v. Wainwright • Escobedo v. Illinois • Miranda v. Arizona

Supreme Court Changes Society Directions: In your group, you will be assigned a a Supreme Court case from the Warren Court. You may use the Supreme Court Landmark Case. Using the book and the Internet, research the case and discuss and answer the following with your group before creating a(n) informational poster to present to the class: 1. Identify the case by its Court citation (Name v. Name; citation number, and date) 2. Summarize the basic facts that originally caused the case to come to court. 3. Summarize the position of the petitioner and respondent. 4. Summarize the constitutional question being asked. 5. Summarize the Court’s decision and which citizens’ rights were affected 6. Do you agree/disagree with the Court’s decision in the case you presented? Why or why not? Then develop an information poster that summarizes the main points of the case, the results/outcome, and shows illustrations for further explanation to present to the class.

The Supreme Court Changes Society Court Cases Results Brown v. Board of • Ruled that school segregation is unconstitutional Education Baker v. Carr • Established the principle of “one person, one vote” • Federal courts had the right to tell states to created districts with more equal representation Mapp v. Ohio • Ruled that evidence obtained illegally could not be used in state courts – the “exclusionary rule” Gideon v. • Required criminal courts to provide legal counsel to those who could Wainwright not afford it Escobedo v. • Ruled that an accused person has the right to have a lawyer present Illinois during questioning Miranda v. • Ruled that all suspects must be “read their rights” before questioning Arizona (established the Miranda rights) What group seems to benefit from these changes? What groups might oppose these rulings?