OVERVIEW The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in The main

Transcription

1 The Great Society

2 OVERVIEW The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in The main goal was the elimination of poverty and racial injustice. New major spending programs that addressed education, medical care, urban problems, and transportation were launched during this period. The Great Society in scope and sweep resembled the New Deal domestic agenda of Franklin D. Roosevelt The big question about the Great Society is whether it worked or just saddled the United States with enormous costs that it can no longer afford.

3 Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 January 22, 1973) was the 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969, assuming the office after assassination of President Kennedy. Johnson was a Democrat from Texas, who served as a United States Representative from 1937 to 1949 and as a United States Senator from 1949 to He spent six years as Senate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority Leader, and two as Senate Majority Whip. He designed the "Great Society" legislation upholding civil rights, public broadcasting, Medicare, Medicaid, aid to education, the arts, urban and rural development, public services, and his "War on Poverty". Johnson escalated American involvement in the Vietnam War. The number of American military personnel in Vietnam increased dramatically, from 16,000 advisors in non-combat roles in 1963, to 550,000 in early 1968, many in combat roles.

4 Economic background The Great Society initiatives came just as the United States' post-world War II prosperity was starting to fade President Kennedy proposed an across-the-board tax cut triggering "the greatest prosperity of the postwar years." GNP increased by 7% in 1964, 8% in 1965, and 9% in The unemployment rate fell below 5%, and by 1966 the number of families with incomes of $7,000 a year or more had reached 55%, compared with 22% in Federal revenues increased dramatically from $94 billion in 1961 to $150 billion in As the Baby Boom generation aged, two and a half times more Americans would enter the labor force between 1965 and 1980 than had between 1950 and 1965.

5 Race Relations Racial segregation persisted throughout the South. The Civil Rights Movement was gathering momentum, and in 1964 urban riots began within black neighborhoods in New York City and Los Angeles. By 1968, hundreds of cities had major riots that caused a severe conservative political backlash.

6 1965 legislative program and presidential task forces After the announcement of the Great Society, 14 separate task forces began studying nearly all major aspects of United States society under the guidance of presidential assistants. The average task force had nine members and generally was composed of governmental experts and academics. Most addressed domestic policy (agriculture, anti-recession policy, civil rights, education, efficiency and economy, health, income maintenance policy, intergovernmental fiscal cooperation, natural resources, pollution of the environment, preservation of natural beauty, transportation, and urban problems). The task-force approach, combined with Johnson's electoral victory in 1964 and his talents in obtaining congressional approval, were widely credited with the success of the legislation agenda in The task-force approach, however, also led to accusations of elitism and resulted in programs that had little public support.

7 1964 election and the Eighty-ninth Congress Johnson won reelection in a landslide. Democrats gained enough seats to control more than two-thirds of each chamber in the Eightyninth Congress. The political realignment allowed House leaders to alter rules that aided efforts to pass Great Society legislation. The new Congress enacted Medicare, federal aid to education, high-speed mass transit, rental supplements, truth in packaging, environmental safety legislation, new provisions for mental health facilities, a teachers corps, manpower training, Operation Headstart, aid to urban mass transit, and a demonstration cities program.

8 Civil rights The Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbade job discrimination and the segregation of public accommodations. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 assured minority registration and voting. The Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965 abolished the national-origin quotas in immigration law. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 banned housing discrimination and extended constitutional protections to Native Americans on reservations.

9 War on Poverty The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which created an Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to oversee a variety of community-based antipoverty programs. Central to its mission was the idea of "community action", the participation of the poor in framing and administering the programs designed to help them. Federal funds were provided for special education schemes in slum areas, including help in paying for books and transport, while financial aid was also provided for slum clearances and rebuilding city areas. The Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965 created jobs in one of the most impoverished regions of the country.

10 Anti-Poverty Programs The Job Corps, whose purpose was to help disadvantaged youth develop marketable skills The Neighborhood Youth Corps, established to give poor urban youths work experience and to encourage them to stay in school Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), a domestic version of the Peace Corps, which placed concerned citizens with community-based agencies to work towards empowerment of the poor The Model Cities Program for urban redevelopment Upward Bound, which assisted poor high school students entering college Legal services for the poor Food Stamp Act of 1964 (which expanded the federal food stamp program) The Community Action Program, which initiated local Community Action Agencies charged with helping the poor become self-sufficient Project Head Start, which offered preschool education for poor children Community health centers to expand access to health care Social Security was amended in 1965 and 1967, which significantly increased benefits, expanded coverage, and established new programs to combat poverty and raise living standards

11 Education The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 provided significant federal aid to public education, initially allotting more than $1 billion to help schools purchase materials and start special education programs to schools with a high concentration of low-income children. The Act also established Head Start an 8 week pre-school program for poor children. The Higher Education Facilities Act of 1963 provided better college libraries, ten to twenty new graduate centers, several new technical institutes, classrooms for several hundred thousand students, and twenty-five to thirty new community colleges a year. The Higher Education Act of 1965, which increased federal money given to universities, created scholarships and low-interest loans for students, and established a national Teacher Corps to provide teachers to poverty-stricken areas of the United States. The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 offered federal aid to local school districts in assisting them to address the needs of children with limited English-speaking ability.

12 Health & Welfare Medicare - The Social Security Act of 1965 authorized Medicare and provided federal funding for many of the medical costs of older Americans. Medicaid - welfare recipients of all ages received medical care through the Medicaid program The Tax Adjustment Act of 1966 included a provision for special payments under the social security program to certain uninsured individuals aged 72 and over. The Food Stamp Act of 1964 made the program permanent. The Child Nutrition Act, passed in 1966, made improvements to nutritional assistance to children such as in the introduction of the School Breakfast Program.

13 Arts and cultural institutions National endowments for arts and humanities The National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act created both the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities Public broadcasting - The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, enacted less than 10 months later, chartered the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as a private, non-profit corporation. It supports the Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio. Cultural centers - John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

14 Transportation The consolidation of transportation agencies into a cabinet-level position under the Department of Transportation The Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964, which provided $375 million for large-scale urban public or private rail projects in the form of matching funds to cities and states. The High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965, which resulted in the creation of high-speed rail between New York and Washington. The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 which regulates automobile safety

15 Consumer protection The Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 required packages to carry warning labels. The Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 set standards through creation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act requires products identify manufacturer, address, clearly mark quantity and servings. The Child Safety Act of 1966 prohibited any chemical so dangerous that no warning can make it safe. The Flammable Fabrics Act of 1967 set standards for children's sleepwear, but not baby blankets. The Wholesome Meat Act of 1967 required inspection of meat which must meet federal standards. The Truth-in-Lending Act of 1968 required lenders and credit providers to disclose the full cost of finance charges in both dollars and annual percentage rates, on installment loan and sales. The Wholesome Poultry Products Act of 1968 required inspection of poultry which must meet federal standards. The Land Sales Disclosure Act of 1968 provided safeguards against fraudulent practices in the sale of land. The Radiation Safety Act of 1968 provided standards and recalls for defective electronic products.

16 Environment Water Quality Act of 1965 Clean Air Act of 1963 Wilderness Act of 1964 Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 National Trails System Act of 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965 Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act of 1965 National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 Aircraft Noise Abatement Act of 1968 National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

17 Housing & Rural Communities The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 included important elements such as rent subsidies for low-income families, rehabilitation grants to enable low-income homeowners in urban renewal areas to improve their homes instead of relocating elsewhere, and improved and extended benefits for relocation payments. The Demonstration Cities Act of 1966 established a new program for comprehensive neighborhood renewal, with an emphasis on strategic investments in housing renovation, urban services, neighborhood facilities, and job creation activities. The 1964 Economic Opportunity Act offered special programs to combat rural poverty. The Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 authorized $3.3 billion for rural development projects.

18 Labor Amendments made to the 1931 Davis- Bacon Act in 1964 extended the prevailing wage provisions to cover fringe benefits The Service Contract Act of 1965 provided for minimum wages and fringe benefits as well as other conditions of work for contractors under certain types of service contracts. A comprehensive minimum rate hike was also signed into law that extended the coverage of the Fair Labor Standards Act to about 9.1 million additional workers.

19 Effectiveness War on Poverty The stated goal of the War on Poverty, as enunciated by Lyndon Johnson on January 8, 1964, was, not only to relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it. Measured against this objective, the War on Poverty has not just been a failure, it has been a catastrophe. It was supposed to help America s poor become selfsufficient, and it has made them dependent and dysfunctional.

20 Effectiveness - Education According to Gordon Wadsworth, author of The College Trap, if the cost of college tuition was $10,000 in 1986, it would now cost the same student over $21,500 if education had increased as much as the average inflation rate but instead education is $59,800 or over 2 ½ times the inflation rate.

21 Effectiveness - Medicare The quickly rising costs of Medicare are a burden on all Americans. The traditional program s fee-for-service payment system, in which doctors and hospitals receive a fixed payment for each procedure and service, encourages an increase in the volume of services requested, which encourages excessive spending. The system also does not ensure quality, which contributes to unnecessary costs and higher spending as well. Medicare is a huge entitlement program, and its reform must be undertaken carefully.

22 Effectiveness Arts & Cultural Institutions PBS and NPR have been accused of displaying both liberal bias and conservative bias. They have also been accused of bias related to specific topics. President Obama's bipartisan deficit budget commission recommended eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which was allocated $432 million from the government in fiscal year 2011 to distribute to public radio and television.

23 Effectiveness - Transportation When Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria first moved from India to the United States more than 30 years ago, he was impressed with how well the highways and airports hummed along in this country. Yet Nohria said in recent years he has visited other countries with better airport operations and much bigger, gleaming roadways, and he feels a growing concern that America s transportation and infrastructure systems are lacking attention and falling behind.

24 Effectiveness Consumer Protection The mission of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is a noble one: to protect the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products but recent cases of injuries, and even deaths, caused by faulty products have revealed a broken system that has left consumers outraged, wary, and scared. Perhaps most famously, the massive toy recalls over the past two years, including popular products like Barbie dolls and Polly Pockets, put millions of children at risk and prompted serious questions about the agency s oversight.

25 Effectiveness - Environment

26 Effectiveness Housing & Rural Communities

27 Effectiveness - Labor

28 Impact on US Government Budget The Great Society welfare state entitlement programs remain the largest drivers of red ink at both the federal and state level.

29 Contributing to Deficits and Debt Budget Deficits and Public Debt have increased as a result of Great Society Programs

30 Dependence on Government America is increasingly moving away from a nation of self-reliant individuals, where civil society flourishes, toward a nation of individuals less inclined to practicing self-reliance and personal responsibility. Government programs not only crowd out civil society, but too frequently trap individuals and families in long-term dependence, leaving them incapable of escaping their condition for generations to come. Rebuilding civil society can rescue these individuals from the government dependence trap.

31 The legacies of the Great Society The War on Poverty - Interpretations of the War on Poverty remain controversial. Alan Brinkley has suggested that "the gap between the expansive intentions of the War on Poverty and its relatively modest achievements fueled later conservative arguments that government is not an appropriate vehicle for solving social problems." African-American family structure - Thomas Sowell argues that the Great Society programs only contributed to the destruction of African American families, saying "the black family, which had survived centuries of slavery and discrimination, began rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized unwed pregnancy and changed welfare from an emergency rescue to a way of life."