Johnson's Great Society. The two main social reforms that The Great Society tackled were racial injustice and poverty.
Kanal Patel
IB History 11
May 13, 2012
Johnson’s “Great Society”
To a great extent the Great Society was successful in its set goals. The two main social reforms that The Great Society tackled were racial injustice and poverty. Along with those main focuses, Johnson also tackled education, medical care, urban problems, transportation and the arts. In many respects Johnson continued the legacy of the New Deal and the New Frontier. He believed a greater quality of life was necessary for all American citizens. He strived to achieve this through the policies of “The Great Society.”
“The Great Society” was introduced after the post WWII prosperity began to decline. To recover the declining economic growth and employment, tax cuts were put into order. The tax cuts caused an increase in spending and revenue, which helped illustrate the gap between the wealthy and the poor. It did not make “the poor…victims of the welfare state,” (document D) but actually helped them. The war on poverty was the most controversial part of the “Great Society.” In Johnson’s first months of presidency, his focus was on eliminating hunger and deprivation of American life. The centerpiece of the war on poverty was the Office of Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. It created the Office of Economic Opportunity to oversee a wide range of anti-poverty programs such as Community Action program, healthcare, housing and unemployment relief, head start programs. Johnson and his advisors agreed that the best way to undertake the issue was not raise pay but to provide education, job training and community development.
