On January 4, 1965, in his State of the Union address, President Lyndon Baines Johnson lays out for Congress a laundry list of legislation needed to achieve his plan for a Great Society. On the heels of John F. Kennedy’s tragic death, Americans had elected Johnson, his vice president, to the presidency by the largest popular vote in the nation’s history. Johnson used this mandate to push for improvements he believed would better Americans’ quality of life.
Following Johnson’s lead, Congress enacted sweeping legislation in the areas of civil rights, health care, education and the environment. The 1965 State of the Union address heralded the creation of Medicare/Medicaid, Head Start, the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the White House Conference on Natural Beauty. Johnson also signed the National Foundation of the Arts and Humanities Act, out of which emerged the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Through the Economic Opportunity Act, Johnson fought a War on Poverty by implementing improvements in early childhood education and fair employment policies. He was also a strong advocate for conservation, proposing the creation of a green legacy through preserving natural areas, open spaces and shorelines and building more urban parks. In addition, Johnson stepped up research and legislation regarding air- and water-pollution control measures.
Under Kennedy, then-Vice President Johnson led the government’s quest to develop American excellence in the sciences. As president, the ongoing technology race with the Soviet Union spurred Johnson to continue the vigorous national program of space exploration begun by Kennedy. During Johnson’s presidency, the National Air and Space Administration (NASA) achieved the extraordinary and unprecedented accomplishment of orbiting a man around the moon.
Though many of Johnson’s programs remain in place today, his legacy of a Great Society has been largely overshadowed by his decision to involve greater numbers of American soldiers in the controversial Vietnam War.
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When JFK was assassinated – I was 13. At that time, I thought that LBJ had something to do with it. And I still do.
LBJ crafted the ‘Great Society’ – should have been called ‘The Great Nigger Giveaway / Bribe” – so all niggers will vote Democrat forever. A unique way to buy the vote.
What I sometimes wonder nowadays:
Did LBJ really believe any of the shit he was selling back then, or even do it as a means to an end “… will vote democrap the next 200 years”,
or did he just do it
to set the USA on auto-destruct, as a payback towards the [already existing] deep state?
Any founded opinions, or a link to an article that tried to go down that thought path?
LBJ was a master at playing politics. He understood that he could “buy” the votes of blacks and claim to be helping them when, in fact he was condemning them to lifelong poverty and totally dependence on Uncle Sugar for their very livelihood.
Dutch – I always thought Lady Bird was the instigator of the Dallas hit. Her and her daddy were the power and money behind Lyndon. I will never forget the big smile on her face as LBJ was being sworn in that turned into an instant frown when LBJ said it was a sad day for all Americans.
The range and depth of the great society programs turned out to be a disaster for the US and minorities in particular. All the “give away monies” developed a reliance on government handouts and an entitlement baseline that is now in their minds their own forever. Other identity groups have adopted this same equation in a vain glorious attempt to solidify their futures as well.
When trying to pass the legislation Johnson had Sen. Richard Russell of Georgia at the White House for an arm twisting session…something he was really good at. One line that came out of that conversation was one for the ages, “If we pass this legislation we’ll have the ******* voting for us for the next 200 years…….
Tell that one to history.com
Not only the handouts to minorities, but he also fed massive handouts to MICC.
Just think of how much better a society we might have today without his “great society.”
Can you name a government program that made us better off?
Nope. Even the government’s support of slavery didn’t make us better off in the long run. They should have picked their own cotton.
And how quaint that the Catholic Church was all in support of it. Less money for them to spend. As if this trip a few years later was a “surprise visit”.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1968/january-19/lbj-turning-catholic.html
I like to refer to his program as the Not So Great Society. Dr. Walter Williams has some really good statistics on what this program did to the core black family as it transitioned too many of them from independent living to living on Uncle Sam’s plantation.
It was also the start of the massive spending effort by the central government, as LBJ spent as much of the Social Security Trust fund as he could get his hands on.
FYI, LBJ’s campaign slogan in ’64 was “All The Way With LBJ”.
There were postcards for sale in every drugstore in Jackson Mississippi showing a very pregnant black woman with the caption “I went all the way with LBJ”. I was 11 at the time.
History buffs should recall that the archdemon L.B. Johnson was the inheritor of the mantle of “Evilest ‘Merkin President of the 20th Century” from Woody Wilson then F.D. Roosevelt.
Johnson, with the assistance of Ted “Asmodeus” Kennedy and Emmanuel “Sabbatai Sevi” Cellar, set the USA on the final trajectory of crash and burn:
– Great Society (let’s reward Negroes and others for uncontrolled out-of-wedlock-breeding.)
– Removal of silver specie coinage from circulation.
– Viet Nam
– Voting Rights Act
– An Act to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act 1965 (The stake in the heart).
Those items in concert with some of the worst fucking politicians in the entire world it is no wonder we are so screwed.
Democrats ran a TV ad a zillion times of a little girl plucking white petals from a daisy flower until an atomic bomb filled the screen. The message was that Barry Goldwater was a warmonger and LBJ was the peace candidate. LBJ won 48 states. Four years later, LBJ told Americans he would not seek the office of POTUS for a second term; he knew the Republicans could beat him like a mutt even if they ran Micky Mouse.
LBJ realized that he would likely not get the dem nomination after anti-war Sen Gene McCarthy (MN) whuppped his ass in VT. VT at that time was a majority republican and moderate dem state, not the Ben & Jerry nuthouse it is today. IMO, he also knew that Bobby Kennedy would be handled by the Deep State and never gain acces to the White House.
I recall the following joke from the aftermath of the 1964 election. A disgruntled Goldwater supporter says:
“People told me that if I voted for Goldwater then we’d get a war in Vietnam and thousands of Americans would die”.
“I guess they were right. I voted for Goldwater and that’s exactly what happened”.
Certainly one of the most monstrous Presidents in US history. Incalculable damage, and the GOP never rescinded a single program, reg, or dollar for the Great Society.