The Great Society APUSH - Spiconardi

The Johnson Treatment

The Other America by Michael Harrington Origins Silent Springs by Rachel Carson The Other America by Michael Harrington Book that detailed the impact economic growth had on the environment Exposed the effects of the pesticide DDT Deadly for birds Could cause cancer Declared that one-third of the nation was poorly paid, educated, and poorly housed While top and middle converged, the bottom was lagging far behind

The Great Society At a commencement address at the University of Michigan, LBJ introduced the Great Society The Great Society  New Deal style programs and reforms designed to transform America by battling poverty and inequality Unlike the New Deal, the Great Society was a response to prosperity, not depression The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice

The War on Poverty LBJ believed poverty was a social problem, not an economic problem Instead of focusing on job creation and guaranteed income, the Great Society focused on education, health and job training Equip the poor with skills and rebuild their spirit and motivation

The Legislation of the Great Society See chart

Assessing the Great Society

Assessing the Great Society

Assessing the Great Society Why the rise in poverty? Eric Foner: By the 1990s, the historic gap between whites and blacks in education, income, and access to skilled employment narrowed considerably. But with de- industrialization and urban decay affecting numerous families and most suburbs still being off limits to non-white people, the median wealth of white households remained ten times greater than that of African Americans, and nearly a quarter of all black children lived in poverty.

Assessing the Great Society Why the rise in poverty? Paul Ryan: I don’t need to tell any of you, but we could use some more opportunity in our country. Forty-seven million Americans live in poverty today. That’s 15 percent of our population—the highest in a generation. Millions of Americans struggle to make ends meet. We can do better. Some say the problem is income inequality. The more the rich make, the less there is for the rest of us—and the harder it is to get ahead. It’s a compelling argument; the only problem is, it’s not true. There’s plenty of evidence that income inequality has little to do with upward mobility… [the]government is deepening the divide. Over the past 50 years, it has built up a hodgepodge of programs in a furious attempt to replace these missing links. But because these programs are so disorganized and dysfunctional, they pull families closer to government and away from society. Source: "The War on Poverty: 50 Years Later"