Lyndon Johnson, and the Unraveling of America, 1963-1967 - PowerPoint Presentation

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Lyndon Johnson, and the Unraveling of America, 1963-1967

Chapter 8:Slide2

Nov. 22, 1963, with Jacklyn KennedySlide3
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Lyndon B. Johnson

36th Pres. Of U.S.- Nov. 22, 1963- Jan. 20, 1969

Born 1908, Rural Poverty of TexasPoverty and experience made him feel inferior to more educated politicians, felt they wouldn’t accept him “Landslide Lyndon”Used Physical presence to negotiate “The Johnson Treatment”Officer in U.S. Navy during WW2

The 2nd most powerful politician in U.S. during 1950sSenator from 1948 to 1961, TexasSworn in after Kennedy Assassination- One of the most colorful, controversial, and Complicated of presidents

Pushed Anti-poverty, Anti-discrimination legislation, funding for Space Program, expansion of Medicare and Medicaid Expanded American involvement in Vietnam Slide5

“The Johnson Treatment”

From NY Times Article:

He was sometimes inordinately loyal to his friends, and he was a forgiving man, a kind man. He was also often a cruel man, capable of great rages and monumental castigations of anyone who dared cross him. His vanity was legend, his compassion for a friend in trouble limitless. He was incredibly thin-skinned when criticized by the press, yet he held few grudges long. And he could shrug off attacks with the homily, "My Daddy told me that if you don't want to get shot at, stay off the firing line."

Democratic

Senator Hubert Humphrey

Being with him was a “hypnotic experience. I came out of that

session covered with blood, sweat, tears, spit- and sperm.”

From Seattle

Times Article:

He felt the pinch of rural poverty as he grew up,

working his way through Southwest Texas State

Teachers College he learned compassion for the poverty of others when he taught students of Mexican descent.

The Textbook-

American Paradox

“He moved in close, his face a scant

millimeter from his target, his eyes widening and narrowing, his eyebrows rising and falling

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Quotes about Johnson:

“He was a man who slept little and worked himself and those around him like Texas field hands. He was constantly on the telephone, ordering, wheedling, threatening, wheeling and dealing, striving always to keep astride of every matter that affected the interests of the United States--and Lyndon Johnson.”

“He was a zestful man who brought to the Presidency a genuine love of politics, of the infighting and conniving and the sense of public interest that are all part of that most exacting and most vexing game.”Slide7

The Great society

Johnson was last of “Vital Center” LiberalsBelieved in economic growth, that social and economic conflict in America had faded

The power of the federal government could improve the lives of all citizens without imposing sacrifice or hardship Overall, Johnson raised expectations that would ultimately be left unfulfilled. Increasing ideological tension in America Slide8

The Great Society (Cont.)

1964- Johnson sought to rescue two stalled agendas of the Fair Deal: - Medical insurance for the elderly

- Education funding for the young“No Longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine”Johnson’s coalition held majority in congressIn first 6 months of 1965- 84 of 87 bills Johnson proposed became law- concerning issues on poverty, education, medical costs, immigration, and civil rights

Johnson also made environmental protection-clean air, clean water a central piece of the “Great Society”Slide9
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The “War on Poverty” and the “Great Society”

1964- Kennedy Tax Package- reduces income tax

Tax Cut= Economic BoomFood Stamps / Housing program State of Union Address- Jan 1964 “Unconditional War on Poverty”Summer 1964- Economic Opportunity Act: - $1 Bill. For antipoverty programs

- Head Start Preschool - Job Corps - Service to America - Office of Economic Opportunity

- Community Action Programs Succeeded in reducing poverty 20% in 1963 to 13% in 1968From 40% in 1960 to 20% in 1968- African Americans living below poverty lineSlide11

“The Great Society,” Johnson and King

Johnson was a dedicated civil rights

supporter Civil Rights Act of 1964- the most far-reaching piece of legislation since reconstruction - Federal gov’t was empowered to fight

for school desegregation - Federal funds can be cut off wherever racial discrimination was practicedSlide12

Mississippi Burning

1964- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organize voter registration drivesMississippi Summer Project, an effort that would bring hundreds of college-age volunteers to "the most totalitarian state in the country

Freedom Summer- Murders of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew GoodmanBombings and burnings of 35 houses, churches, and other buildingsSlide13

Selma and Voting

Rights

1965 march on Selma, Alabama to highlight disparities in voting rolls

15,100 of 29,500 citizens were black but made up 1% of voter roll

Standoff between state troopers and protest marchers at Edmund Pettis Bridge

Police brutality of event galvanized Civil Rights movement and need for Voter Rights Legislation

Voting Rights Act of 1965- authorized federal examiners to register voters and ban literacy tests at polls

Legislation had unintended effect of undermining Democratic Party support in the South