johnson 1963-1969 Flashcards
domestic policy
declared war on poverty
landslide victory over barry goldwater gave him mandate to pursue ‘the great society’
1964 - economic opportunity act - created office of economic opportunity which was to administer the ‘war on poverty’
1964 -housing act - funds for public housing and subsidies for poorer families
civil rights act
1964 - wilderness protection act - 9 million acres of government land would be protected
1965- medical care act - creates the medicaid and medicare programmes to help poor and elderly - by 1976 was providing 20% of the population with healthcare
1965 - elementary and secondary education act - federal aid to poorer children
1965 - voting rights act
1965 - air and water quality act- tougher limits on pollluters
1965 minmum wage act - raised minimum wage and extended who it applied to
1965 higher education act- federal funding for post high school education
in total there was more welfare legislation passed than in roosevelts new deal
1959 40 million poor but by 1968 25 million
15.5 billion spent on great society but 120 billion on Vietnam
inflation stayed relatively low at just under 2% but late 1965 began to pick up slightly.
GDP grew by 9 million
unemployment 1.4% however rose to 3.8% by start of 1967
national debt was down to around 40% from 60% that kennedy inherited
however inflation was at 4.7% and rising
lots of money spent on Vietnam.
civil rights
freedom summer 1964 - in missipi only 6.2% were on the voting rolls.
over a thousand students joined to protest and register black voters. 41 freedom schools taught literacy
after week of campaign 3 civil rights workers found dead - outraged SNCC who felt they were offered no protection.
17,000 black residents attempted to register to vote but only 1600 approved.
during campaign 1062 arrests, 37 churches bombed and 80 workers reported being beaten.
Selma - failure of CR act to address voting rights led to this - half of selmas 30,000 population was black but only 23 were registered to vote.
King led march to county court - many were beaten and even had live snakes thrown at them. Black man was shot trying to protect his mother. 3000 arrested inc king.
king planned march from selma to Montgomery but was attacked by state troopers using clubs and tear gas - this Bloody Sunday bought mass attention so congres passed voting righst act 1965
CR act 1964 - despite 68% of the public supporting the bill it was subject to a 54 day filibustering attempt by the dixiecrat inc Johnsons former mentor Richard Russell. however was signed into law july 1964.
voting rights act 1965 - abolished literacy tests and poll taxes and established federal registrars
by end of 1966, only 4 of the southern states had less than half of their african Americans registered to vote even Mississippi had 59% registered. over next decade the number of elected black officials increased 12 fold.
LBJs 3rd CR act 1968 outlawed racial discrimination in the sale or rental of houses.
1966 chicago -king went but was failure. had 700,000 black however the lack of political support meant campaign saw sucession of failures.- king moved into ghetto which landlord refurbished to avoid media attention, 1966 rally only 30,000 supporters instead of the hoped 100,000, kings meetings with politicians were unproductive. march saw violent white opposition and king was hit with a rock and made decision to leave
during the 4 summers between 65-68 ghettos erupted in orgys of violence. beginning in watts LA 1965 where 34 deaths, 3500 arrests and 40 mill of damage set the tone. there were disturbances in over 200 cities, 250 deaths and 60,000 arrests
kerner wrote kerner commission 1968
foreign policy
vietnam
1964 johnson asked for resolution to address the Tonkin incident where 2 US ships the maddox and the turner joy had been attacked - resolution passed by unamious vote.
johnson approved NSAM 273 - ‘assist the people and government of south vietnam’
approved NSAM 288 in late march 1964 which called for greater use of US force. - this inc air strikes against vietnam
febuary 1965 lbj authorised operation rolling thunder - a bombing campaign against NV
3 April - sent 2 additional marine battalions and one marine air squadron and an increase of 20,000 men whilst also approving active ‘search and destroy’ missions.
within a year of his election there were 175,000 troops in vietnam and by end of his presidency there were 548,000 troops.
escalation was politically popular - westmorelands speech that armies ‘achilles heels’ was its determination to fight was interrupted 19x by applause.
by end of lbjs presidency 30,000 americans had died in Vietnam.
his approval ratings dropped from 70% to below 40% in 1967
1968 tet offensive - US embassy fell for 6hrs and was captured.
anti war activists - ‘hey hey Lbj how many kids did you kill today’
Khe Sanh Base - lay close to border with north - 75 day siege began - johnson approved the dropping 80,000 tons of bombs.
westmorland outraged by idea of surrendering base however he was replaced and lbj closed base. north revelled in a propaganda victory - 3 quaters of hanoi radio broadcasts for a week were devoted to their victory.
during election campaign LBJ halted bombing in order to salvage some legacy of peace
US and britains special relationship affected by war and france charles de gualle gave speech to 100,000 denouncing US policy in vietnam.
war exposed weakness of SEATO and the international isolation of the US
Social divisions
kennedys death left sense of dissatisfaction causing emergence of a counter culture. JFK election stimulated youth interest in politics however just 12% of students indentified themselves as the new left in 1970.
first half of 1968 there were 221 major demonstrations at unis such as yale and Harvard with slogans like ‘dont trust anyone over 30’.
causes inc war, CR, environmnet (opposition to pesticides begun with rachael carsons 1962 book silent spring)
students felt they were being forced to be in a ‘rat race’ and work for ‘the man’
james dean film ‘rebel without a cause’ portrayed the alienation and conflict between young people and their parents.
young people found jobs and enabled them to buy music lik ethe beatles, bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones.
1967 summer of love in san fran
windstock music festival 1969
alfred kindly reports on sexual behaviour suggested america was not as conservative as people percieved. play boys circulation was 7 million in early 1970s.
feminism also grew - Betty freidans feminine mystique first paperback run sold 1.4 million.
1966 national organisation for women (NOW) founded by 28 women and over next 5 years it won back 30 million in pay for women from companies who had ignored the 1963 equal pay act.
September 1968 ‘radical women’ picketed the miss america pagent in alantic city - they crowned a sheep as miss america.
myth of bra burning developed - burnt dish cloths playbiy bras act
Valerie solanos founded the society for cutting up men (scum) and attempted to assassinate the artist andy Warhol.
WITCH came together for protests eg - ‘hex’ of chase Manhattan bank and hosting an ‘un-wedding’ at a bridal fair.
demands prompted johnson to sign executive order 11375 in 1968 which added sex to the CR act list.
black people turned away from peace - carmiachel elected as leader of SNCC in 1966 and radicilised the group, core followed.
1966 meridith march - carmiahcels chant ‘black power’ taken up more than kings ‘freedom now’
black power did have some positives eg james brown song ‘say it loud im black and proud’
miltant side was seen with ‘black panthers’ founded by Huey newton and Bobby scale.
- invaded the california state assmenly chamber armed with guns to protest the 1967 mulford act.
there global fist salute was taken up by sprinters tommy smith and john carlos.
anti war movements - 12 may men publically burnt draft cards
1965 norman morrison burnt himself to death in front of robert mcnamaras office
1966 muhammed ali refused the draft.
draft figures through the roof - 5000 a month in 1965 to 50,000 in 1967
in berkely protestors used smoke bombs against police and smoked there own joints
october 1967 largest rally yet saw 70,000 protestors in battles with the police - 625 arrests
1968 24% of people had colour tbs - real time footage of events.
