Johnson's domestic agenda
Johnson urged Congress to pass the civil rights and tax-cut bills that Kennedy had sent to Capitol Hill. In February 1964 Congress passed a tax reduction of over $10 billion into law. As the Democrats had hoped, the tax cut spurred economic growth. People spent more, which meant profits for businesses, which increased tax revenues and lowered the federal budget deficit from $6 billion in 1964 to $4 billion in 1966. Then in July, Johnson pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through Congress, persuading Southern senators to stop blocking its passage. It prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, and sex and granted the federal government new powers to enforce its provisions.
the war on poverty
Following these successes, LBJ pressed on with his own agenda- to alleviate poverty. Early in 1964, he had declared "unconditional was on poverty in America" and proposed sweeping legislation designed to help Americans "on the outskirts of hope." In August 1964, Congress enacted the Economic Opportunity Act, approving nearly $1 billion youth programs, antipoverty measures, small-business loans, and job training.
The EOA legislation created:
-The Job Corps Youth Training Program
-VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America)
-Project Head Start, an education program for underprivileged preschoolers
-Community Action Program, which encouraged poor people to participate in public-works programs
The EOA legislation created:
-The Job Corps Youth Training Program
-VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America)
-Project Head Start, an education program for underprivileged preschoolers
-Community Action Program, which encouraged poor people to participate in public-works programs
the great society program
The Great Society program became Johnson's agenda for Congress in January 1965: aid to education, attack on disease, Medicare, urban renewal, beautification, conservation, development of depressed regions, a wide-scale fight against poverty, control and prevention of crime and delinquency, removal of obstacles to the right to vote. Congress, at times augmenting or amending, rapidly enacted Johnson's recommendations. Millions of elderly people found succor through the 1965 Medicare amendment to the Social Security Act. Under Johnson, the country made spectacular explorations of space in a program he had championed since its start. When three astronauts successfully orbited the moon in December 1968, Johnson congratulated them: "You've taken ... all of us, all over the world, into a new era. . . ."
Health care/housing
LBJ and Congress changed Social Security by establishing Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare provided hospital insurance and low-cost medical insurance for almost every American age 65 or older. Medicaid extended health insurance to welfare recipients. Congress also made several important decisions that shifted the nation's political power from rural to urban areas. These decisions included: appropriating money to build some 240,000 units of low-rent public housing; establishing the Department of Housing and Urban Development; and appointing Robert Weaver, the first African-American cabinet member in American History, as Secretary of HUD.
Immigration/the environment
The Great Society also brought profound changes to the nation's immigration laws. The Immigration Act of 1924 and the National Origins Act of 1924 had established immigration quotas that discriminated strongly against people from outside Western Europe.The Act sent a quota of about 150,000 people annually. It discriminated against southern and eastern Europeans and barred Asians completely. The Immigration Act of 1956 opened the door for many non-European immigrants to settle in the United States by ending quotas based on nationality.
In 1962, Silent Spring, a book by Rachel Carson, had been exposed a hidden danger: the effects of pesticides on the environment. Carson's book and the public's outcry resulted in the Water Quality Act of 1965, which required states to clean up rivers. Johnson also ordered the government to search out the worst chemical polluters.
-Marissa K
In 1962, Silent Spring, a book by Rachel Carson, had been exposed a hidden danger: the effects of pesticides on the environment. Carson's book and the public's outcry resulted in the Water Quality Act of 1965, which required states to clean up rivers. Johnson also ordered the government to search out the worst chemical polluters.
-Marissa K