Lyndon Baines Johnson LBJ President: Political Party: Democrat Vice President: Hubert Humphrey

Civil Rights Vietnam War Great Society

Legacy inherited by LBJ 2 July 1964: Pres. Johnson signs Civil Rights Act of 1964 Voting: illegal to apply different standards to black and white applicants – literacy Public accommodations: law forbade discrimination in most public restaurants, hotels, motels, lunch counters retail stores, theaters and sports arenas Public Facilities: law forbade discrimination in government owned or operated parks, swimming pools, and libraries Federally Assisted Programs: Government could withhold financial aid from state and local programs that involved discrimination Employment: The law forbade discriminatory practices by employers, employment agencies and labor unions, the law created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Criminal to discriminate/affirmative Action

Civil Rights Act of 1964 Notes in Civil Rights timeline!

Legacy inherited by LBJ 2 June 1965: Voting Rights Act 1965 passed by Congress In any state where less than half of the voting age population were registered to vote, all literacy requirements were suspended Atty. General was empowered to send in Federal examiners to any state where voter discrimination occurred to register all would be voters Atty. General empowered to file suits challenging constitutionality of the state poll taxes

Foreign Policy Vietnam Vietnam had been a French colony, and controlled by Japanese Truman and Eisenhower sent aid after WWII 1954 Geneva accords split Vietnam into North and South along the 17 th parallel Ho Chi Minh, led independence movement Aided by South Vietnamese Viet Cong

Foreign Policy Gulf of Tonkin North Vietnamese torpedoed boats and attacked an American Destroyer LBJ asked Congress for: “all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against forces of the US and to prevent further aggression” This gave LBJ broad military power

Foreign Policy Escalation March 1965 LBJ began sending troops to fight the Viet Cong & North Vietnamese. Tens of thousands more troops sent 61% of Americans supported this escalation.

Domestic Policy War on Poverty = THE GREAT SOCIETY War on Poverty  Alleviate poverty  Proposed legislation  Economic Opportunity Act 1 billion dollars for youth programs Job Corps: Economic Opportunity Act  VISTA  Head Start  Antipoverty measures  CAP: Community Action Programs

Domestic Policy 1964 Reelection landslide: 61% of popular vote and 90% of electoral vote against Barry Goldwater Medicare: hospital insurance and low cost medical insurance for people over 65 Medicaid: extended health insurance to welfare recipients

Domestic Policy Similarities to the New Deal Addressed economic and social ills, protecting the environment and consumers!