1. The Great Society
Ch 17 sec 3

2. I. Johnson Becomes President
After Kennedy is assassinated, Lyndon Johnson became president. He was the Senate majority leader before becoming vice president.
He wanted to help the poor and needy in the country, and he also was an advocate for civil rights. He benefitted from the New Deal, and he was convinced it was the government’s job to help the less fortunate.

3. II. Enacting Kennedy’s Agenda
Johnson felt that it was his duty to carry on Kennedy’s plans. He kept his cabinet intact, and he put into motion the War on Poverty.
Congress passed the Economic Opportunity Act that created work training programs, volunteer programs to work in poor communities, increase education and fight rural poverty.

4. II. Enacting Kennedy’s Agenda
Johnson also pushed for tax cuts, and used his influence in the Senate to get the Tax Reduction Act passed.
The biggest law that was passed was the Civil Rights Act of Johnson felt that the law was a monument to Kennedy and his legacy.

5. III. The Great Society
Johnson was not content with following in Kennedy’s footsteps. He had his own plans for improving the country and establishing his own legacy. He called his plans the Great Society.
In the 1964 election Johnson ran against Barry Goldwater who was viewed as a little too radical for the country to accept. When he suggested using nuclear weapons to end the problem in Vietnam people were convinced he was.

6. III. The Great Society
He also attacked the Great Society, saying that too much government involvement was the same as communism.
Johnson easily won, and the Democrats held the majority in both houses of Congress after the election.

7. III. The Great Society
Programs for the Great Society covered a wide range of concerns. Public education gained more support, even college.
Medicaid and Medicare are created to provide healthcare, and many other programs that were designed to help raise the standard of living for everyone who needed help.

8. III. The Great Society
For the first two years after Johnson’s election Congress passed 181 of the 200 laws he requested. But the country started to think he was pushing too fast for change.
Congress agreed and the pace of laws started to slow down. Democrats also lost seats in both houses.

9. IV. Johnson’s Foreign Policy
The support for the Great Society also suffered because of the increased involvement in Vietnam.
Johnson had to choose between funding the war and pushing the Great Society. He chose the war to push communists out of Vietnam.

10. In your notebooks
Create a poster of the major Great Society programs listed on page Use pictures and captions to explain what each program accomplished.