1960s Dbq Essay

During the 1960s our nation was going through many important and crucial events. From the Vietnam War to national politics, and even civil rights, our country was changing a lot. In particular, the year 1968, was when our country went through a major turning point, especially when you take in consideration the major events that involved the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement such as the “Tet Offense”, violent protests, and the Civil Rights Act being passed.

During Johnson’s presidency, the federal government significantly extended its domestic responsibilities in attempt to transform the nation to what Johnson called the “Great Society,” in which poverty and racial intolerance ceased to exist. A previously unsurpassed amount of legislation was passed during this time; numerous laws were passed to protect the environment, keep consumers safe, reduce unfairness in education, improve housing in urban areas, provide more assistance to the elderly with health care, and other policies to improve welfare. Johnson called for a “War on Poverty,” and directed more funds to help the poor; government spending towards the poor

When looking into the 1950’s and 1960’s, it is important to look at the many struggles going on back then in order to truly differentiate between the two decades. These two decades experienced many different challenges both socially and politically. In fact, many people have portrayed the 1950s as the decade of prosperity, conformity, and consensus. While others have portrayed the 1960s as a decade of turbulence, protest, and disillusionment. In order to truly differentiate between both the 1950s and 1960s, we must consider the war, civil rights, and social changes.

Following the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson would become the next brilliant leader to take over the White House. His ability to manipulate Congress helped him to pass a number of legislations to better address the issues of his day. Johnson’s legislations were named the “Great Society,” and it reflected inspirations of the New Deal program. Before the Great Society programs, there were various political, economic, and political problems. Although Johnson was unable to effectively navigate the Vietnam War, the Great Society programs had some success in addressing several issues of poverty and health though a serious of different acts such as the Medicare, Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society programs and policies were a success because it provided healthcare for the underprivileged, increased education and decreased racial injustice. The Great Society moved the nation towards decreased poverty and increased citizen well being, and although there have been policies that did not achieve positive long lasting influences, the overall impact of the Great Society was a triumph.

The program itself was proposed by the president, who is subject to the executive branch. Its aim is to ensure the protection of civil rights and social security. Although the program has been positive goals, it also represents a threat to our freedom. The demand for civil rights were fought for after the birth of our nation, it has always been a flip side of America. This problem is solved by the acts of the Civil Rights Act 1960 and the goals of the Great Society. Unfortunately, the Great Society wants the direct involvement of the state in the lives of its citizens and the authorities for the distribution of income through programs such as social security and medical care. These problems were not designed for the federal government, and not within the powers granted to them under the constitution. The judiciary should be declared unconstitutional Johnson intentions, but instead failed to maintain its function of "separation of powers". The task of providing care and assistance to the poor, should not be subject to the federal government, but the local authorities, it will be helpful to the integrity of the community, as well as greater involvement of people in their

When Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded the presidency after John F. Kennedy's assassination he spoke of his vision of a Great Society in America. This Great Society included "an end to poverty and racial injustice," and also was intended to turn America into a place where kids can enhance their mind, broaden their talents, and people could restore their connection with the environment. In order to reach his goal, LBJ enacted numerous proposals involving taxes, civil rights, poverty, and much more. For the most part Johnson did an excellent job on delivering his promises, but international affairs threatened the Great Society and although LBJ won the presidency in a landslide victory in 1964, by 1966 he and the Supreme Court began to face

President Lyndon Johnson had championed the liberal movements of the late twentieth century and continued the work of Franklin Roosevelt in an attempt to build a “great society”. He pushed through Congress countless pieces of legislation, more than the New Deal, designed to create equality in America including the Medicare and Medicaid Acts, the Elementary and Secondary School Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Davidson, et al 873). The American public seemed to accept Johnson’s programs as a drastic yet positive step for the nation. However, as time passed, many middle class Americans began to view Johnson’s steps as relaxed liberal policies that allowed lawbreakers and members of the lower class to live off of their hard work. The feeling that they were being taken advantage of led many Americans to question the effectiveness and legitimacy of Johnson’s “great society”. One of these middle class Americans wrote a letter to Nelson Rockefeller, the Republican governor of New York, stating that she was “discriminated against in favor of dope addicts and welfare cheats” (Document 3). The feelings in her letter exemplify the anger of the middle class when dealing with Johnson’s “great society” and more broadly, the failure of the liberal state to bring about real change or equality. Additionally, the programs that Johnson set in place, while they did lower the unemployment rate initially, eventually left

President Johnsons “Great Society” Administration was supposed to focus on ways to help the poorest Americans receive their basic educational, social, and economic rights. Unfortunately, none of the programs setup really worked for the poor. These laws were established by the government to provided matching funds to be allocated to the states. Many states with the poorest citizens could not afford these programs so very little was contributed by the federal government. Johnson’s major goal was to improve higher education in America. He created a federal loan program so students could attended college. This did not benefit the poor students. Many had to leave school early and work to support their family. The more federal funds the poorest school

In the early 1960’s there were many changes and challenges for America. This time period was led by two completely different types of men. President Kennedy was a younger man from Massachusetts and was more about solving America’s problems foreignly. This was made clear in his New Frontier policy. Lyndon Johnson came from humble beings and was more of an in your face kind of president. Johnson focused on the war on poverty and did everything he could to limit that gap between the rich and poor. Johnson was also led America into a war in Vietnam and Vietnam was the major conflict of the early 1960’s.

President Lyndon Johnson attempted to do many great things in his presidency, yet not until the past ten years has he truly been talked about, and is done so in comparison to President Barack Obama, who has actually pulled off more great things than Johnson did. Some of these great things Lyndon tried to accomplish are eradicating poverty, supporting the African American right to vote, and participating in the Vietnam War. He accomplished the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which attempted to end racial discrimination in voting, but his attempts to end poverty are done the easy way rather than the better way, and the Vietnam War was a war no one wanted to fight besides the Republicans at that time. Johnson 's administration ignored many other problems in the nation, such as equality in the workplace for women, and police brutality against African Americans, and once a greater problem came by, attempts to fix the previous problem were abandoned by the Johnson administration.

It was part of his vision for a “Great Society,” which he boldly defined as [a society where no child will go unfed, and no youngster will go unschooled.]” (Del Bosque, 2013). President Lyndon B Johnson with his creation of the Great Society program as well as the war against poverty was the continuation of the New Deal by President Roosevelt. Linda B Johnson’s whole goal was to elevate people out of poverty through programs like Medicaid.

The Great Society was one of the greatest movements to ever happen within America. It’s programs provided assistance to disadvantaged Americans who struggled with racism, unemployment, and education. The movement was a huge motivation for President Johnson as it barred discrimination, provided jobs for those living in poverty, advocated education for all Americans, and created significant health programs for a more sanitary society. During Johnson’s term, Congress passed the Economic Opportunity Act, a program that was able to defeat “inadequate public services, illiteracy, and unemployment”. With the program, he was able to lower the poverty rate of America to approximately 10%. The Great Society program also allowed many “black Americans

Back in the 1960s you were treated differently depending on what class you were in. The higher class had the most money and ran everything; also the rich or higher class had all the power. The middle class was like people that had what they needed, but they did not have a lot of money they just had a little bit more money than they needed to live. The lower class or the poor people have very low income jobs and most likely are working minimum wage jobs. Also, they have old dirty clothes and no power; also that they live in run down neighborhoods. To sum this up it was a lot of injustice between the different social classes and the more money you had the more power you

A cultural revolution all in its own, the 1960’s saw the rise and fall of many great civil rights leaders. John F. Kennedy, along with his brother, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., who were all paramount in the fight for civil rights, a