LBJ's Great Society
LBJ's Great Society
Kennedy's Assassination
November 22, 1963
President Kennedy traveled to Dallas Texas to campaign for re-election. A parade had been scheduled, a shot rang out. Kennedy was prounounced dead at 1:00pm
Lee Harvey Oswald, the known assassin was captured. Then Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner came through the crowd, shooting and killing Oswald.
President Kennedy traveled to Dallas Texas to campaign for re-election. A parade had been scheduled, a shot rang out. Kennedy was prounounced dead at 1:00pm
Lee Harvey Oswald, the known assassin was captured. Then Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner came through the crowd, shooting and killing Oswald.
Lyndon B Johnson's Rise to Power
Lyndon Baines Johnson moved quickly to establish himself in the office of the Presidency. Despite his conservative voting record in the Senate, Johnson soon reacquainted himself with his liberal roots. LBJ sponsored the largest reform agenda since Roosevelt's New Deal.
The aftershock of Kennedy's assassination provided a climate for Johnson to complete the unfinished work of JFK's New Frontier. He had eleven months before the election of 1964 to prove to American voters that he deserved a chance to be President in his own right.
The aftershock of Kennedy's assassination provided a climate for Johnson to complete the unfinished work of JFK's New Frontier. He had eleven months before the election of 1964 to prove to American voters that he deserved a chance to be President in his own right.
"Great Society"
- Civil Rights Bill: banned discrimination based on race or gender in employment, and ended segregation in all public facilities
- Built on JFK’s Peace Corps by creating a massive system of volunteer work in the US, especially in schools
- Declared a “war on poverty”
- Challenged Americans to create a “great society”
- Voting Rights Act: banned literacy tests and other ways of illegally stopping voting
- Invention of medicare: government-subsidized health insurance for the elderly (building on social security)
- National Endowment for the Arts: put public money into artists and galleries (culture)
- Immigration Act: ended discriminatory immigration quotas
- He was remembered as a great president, until the end (Vietnam)