2.  With the Great Depression came the ability to make major reforms to how the US operated  There was a shift away from Laissez Faire to more of a government run system  The New Deal intended to create a system that would help those less fortunate or those who could not take care of themselves  By the 1960s there were some that decided that more needed to be done  President Kennedy tried to create his New Frontier but it did not receive enough support in Congress

3.  President Johnson decided to create a program he called the Great Society  this program would work to create the perfect society in the US where ALL Americans would benefit  one of the centerpieces of the Great Society was LBJ’s War on Poverty (he believed that the government could create a system where no Americans would be impoverished)  Economic Opportunity Act 1964  Tried to raise up the poor by creating programs whose goal was to “bring Americans closer, away from the outskirts of hope.”

4.  A focal point of the Great Society was to create programs that helped create jobs and get the jobs to people who needed them  Several agencies were created that focused on creating jobs (focus on inner city jobs)  Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)  $1 billion of funding to public schools  This helped create programs to improve our education system to better prepare Americans for jobs (programs aimed at poor)  Job Corps  Neighborhood Youth Corps  Work Study

5.  Great Society wanted to help people with health insurance  Social Security Act of 1965  Added taxes to Social Security to pay for Medicare and Medicaid  Medicare  health insurance for the elderly  Medicaid  health insurance for the poor

6.  Several programs were created to help spread culture  National Endowment for the Arts *Agency that offers funding and support to projects that exhibit artistic excellence  Public Broadcasting *helped create PBS and NPR  funding for Transportation *Helped create a cabinet level position for the Department of Transportation *$375 Million to public and private rail in urban areas

7.  There are many who have problems with the Great Society  this was a major increase in the size and presence of the government  this cost a tremendous amount of money (the actual costs were much higher than estimated costs)  it has created a sense of dependency on government which prevents people from doing things for themselves