Johnson as President Flashcards
1
Q
What was Johnson’s personality like?
A
- ambitious: capable of enormous compassion and also great cruelty
- had 2 children with wife Claudia (Lady Bird Johnson)
- entered politics age 22 in 1930, winning a seat in the House of Representatives
- served in the navy during the war
- elected to congress in 1937
- intimidating: the ‘Johnson treatment’ (powers of persuasion)
2
Q
What were Johnson’s policies like?
A
- mostly domestic
- ‘Great Society’ programme an extension of Kennedy’s ‘New Frontier’
- problems exposed by Michael Harrington’s ‘The Other America’ were his principal focus
- programme name adapted from political journalist Walter Lippman’s book ‘The Good Society’
- in 1964 State of Union address announced the ‘unconditional war on poverty’
- received 75% rating in opinion polls
3
Q
What Great Society programmes were passed in 1964?
A
- more passed than in the ‘New Deal’
- Economic Opportunity Act: created the Office of Economic Opportunity to administer the ‘war on poverty’
- Urban Mass Transportation Act: provided federal money for public transport
- Omnibus Housing Act: provided federal funds for public housing and rent subsidies for poorer families - gave $8bil to moderate and low income housing
- Civil Rights Act
- Wilderness Protection Act: promised that 9mil acres of government land would be protected from development
4
Q
What Great Society programmes were passed in 1965?
A
- Medical Care Act: created Medicaid and Medicare to help the poor and the elderly respectively with the cost of treatment
- Elementary and Secondary Education Act: granted federal aid to poorer children
- Voting Rights Act
- Air and Water Quality Act: set tougher limits on polluters and gave states responsibility to enforce quality controls
- Minimum Wage Act: raised the min. wage and extended the groups it is applied to (raised by 35 cents)
- Higher Education Act: federal funding for post high school education
5
Q
What Great Society programmes were passed in 1966?
A
- Redevelopment Act: focused on 150 ‘model cities’ where integrated programmes of social care, training and housing would be trialled
- Highway Safety Act: set new federal standards for vehicle and road safety
6
Q
Who criticised the ‘Great Society’ and why?
A
- economist Milton Friedman accused Johnson of damaging the economy with interventionist approach
- economist Thomas Sowell accused Johnson of destroying the African American family through liberal welfare and civil rights legislation
7
Q
What successes did the Great Society have?
A
- by 1976, Medicare and Medicaid were providing 20% of the population with health care
- the Head Start programme provided free nursery schooling for 1million pupils
- 1959: 40million poor families, 1968: 25million poor families
- overall federal expenditure on the poor rose from $13bil in 1963 to $20bil in 1966
8
Q
What failures did the Great Society have?
A
- Medicare and Medicaid were more expensive than anticipated and there were gaps in its coverage - $1.3bil spent in 1965, $98bil spent in 1990
- fears of the central government becoming too powerful and over centralised
- although Johnson worked hard and paid attention to detail, he underestimated the impact of social tensions
9
Q
What was the result of the war on poverty?
A
- 44 states had anti-poverty programmes
- 53 job corps centres received thousands of applications
- members of 25,000 families on welfare benefits receiving work training
- Neighbourhood Youth Corps in 49 cities gave young people jobs/training
- percentage of Americans in poverty fell from 17% in 1965 to 11% in the 70s
10
Q
What were the results of Johnson’s education programmes?
A
- $8billion given to the 1965 Elementary Education Act and the Higher Education Act
- by the end of the presidency, over 13million children benefitted from federal aid to education
- percentage of those with a high school diploma rose
- shortage of teachers ended
- accessibility of college education increased
- by 1970, 25% of college students received some financial aid from the Higher Education Act
11
Q
What were the results of Johnson’s medical programmes?
A
- by 1976, Medicare and Medicaid were providing 20% of the population with health care
- in 1966, 19million Americans benefitted from it
- however, far more expensive than anticipated and there were gaps in coverage
- 1/5 benefitted but the cost remained high for other Americans
12
Q
What was the impact of Vietnam on the Great Society?
A
- Sargent Shriver was director of the OEO with an initial budget of $1bil - he later said that the war killed the war on poverty, taking up Johnson’s budget and time
- between 1965 and 1973, $15.5bil was spent on Great Society programmes, while $120bil was spent on the war - also precipitated tax inflation
- King said in 1966 that the government was spending $500,000 to kill one Vietcong soldier, when only $35 were being made available for each poor American
13
Q
What were Johnson’s economic policies in 1965?
A
- signs that the booming economy was overheating
- in August, tried to persuade labour and industry to prevent inflation by following wage and price guidelines
- he persuaded steel workers and bosses to cooperate and in December approved an interest rate rise designed to cool the economy down
14
Q
What were Johnson’s economic policies in 1966?
A
- Johnson pointed out that in the past 5 years after-tax wages had risen by 35%, corporate earnings had risen by over 65%, farm income had risen by nearly 40%, unemployment was at a 13 year low and growth was at 9%
- assured Americans that the nation could afford the Great Society and the Vietnam war, hoping funding would come from a growing economy rather than tax rises
- the pressure to raise prices and wages mounted
- unemployment began to rise, reaching 3.8% at the start of 1967
15
Q
What were Johnson’s economic policies in 1967?
A
- Johnson’s advisers had been pressing him to call for a tax increase: prospective budget deficit of over $10bil finally persuaded him in Jan 1967
- admitted that interest rates were rising, capital investment was slowing down and the GNP’s performance in the first quarter of 1967 was the worst since the 1960 recession
- in October, 60% of Americans saw the high cost of living as their number one problem (only 5% saw it as being Vietnam)
