Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society reforms aimed to address economic and racial injustice in mid-1960s America, building on his predecessor’s programs. Johnson’s legislative successes included health care, urban housing, education, and environmental reforms. Although overshadowed by the Vietnam War, many of the programs still exist today.
The Great Society was the name US President Lyndon B. Johnson gave to the series of reforms he enacted in the mid-1960s. Building on the programs of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, Johnson aimed to remedy both economic and racial injustice in America. Spurred by a landslide victory in the 1964 presidential election and aided by his prowess as a legislator, Johnson was able to enact a massive set of programs and laws that included reforms in health care, transportation, urban housing, education and in the environment. Although the Great Society’s success was quickly overshadowed by the escalation of the Vietnam War, many of the programs he created still exist today.
Johnson served as Kennedy’s vice president when the latter introduced his New Frontier initiatives. When Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Johnson ascended to the presidency and took up many of these same causes when he sought re-election in 1964. Promising that these anticipated reforms could lead to a Great Society, Johnson, a Democrat, was elected in a landslide The candidate Republican Barry Goldwater.
Using his negotiating skills that he honed over his many years in Congress, Johnson began pushing for many of the programs Kennedy had wanted. Even before the 1964 election, Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill, a sweeping piece of legislation that improved minority rights. Johnson then took over Kennedy’s economic agenda, pushing through tax cuts and creating programs to improve conditions for the urban poor.
Once in office, Johnson continued to implement new elements of the Great Society. His health care initiatives included the Medicare and Medicaid programs designed to improve the medical treatment of the elderly and the poor. Johnson tackled education by providing assistance to public and secondary schools, created the Department of Housing and Urban Development to stimulate inner city growth, promoted environmental legislation, and addressed transportation issues by signing legislation to improve automotive safety standards.
By mid-decade, many of Johnson’s legislative successes began to wane in the face of the Vietnam War, which eventually began to dominate his presidential agenda. Critics of the Great Society took issue with what they perceived as the ineffectiveness of some of the programs, especially those designed to help the poor, even as poverty levels fell sharply during Johnson’s presidency. Many of the programs that were part of the Great Society are still in effect today, including Medicaid and Medicare, although Johnson’s last legacy as president remains the country’s involvement in Vietnam.
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