2 Protest and Reaction, 1963-72

JFK assassinated - 1963 LBJ elected president - 1964 President Johnson introduces his Great Society - May 1964 What would LBJ's Great Society be characterised by? - end of poverty racial equality educational reform modern housing end of urban decay renewed sense of community environmentalism peace with other nations What was LBJ's approval rating? - 75% Demonstration Cities Act - 1966 to make 6 major cities into 'model' cities What did LBJ's Executive Order of 1965 require? - Any institution receiving federal funding to employ more non-whites, accelerating spread of affirmative action When was the Economic Opportunity Act (EOA) and what did it establish? - 1964 Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to co-ordinate the war on Poverty What progress did LBJ inform Congress of in February 1965 in regards to the 1964 EOA? (7 points) - - 44 states had antipoverty programmes (6 more soon) - 53 Job Corps centres providing job training received 1000s of applications daily - Members of 25,000 families on welfare were receiving work training - 35,000 adults were learning to read & write - 90,000 adults were enrolled in basic education programmes - 8,000 Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) were assisting groups e.g. needy children, Native Americans & migratory workers - Over 4 million were receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits What was Head Start? - Enabled poor pre-school kids to catch up w others before starting school; nearly 1 million disadvantaged kids enrolled during LBJ's presidency What was Upward Bound? - Linked higher-education institutions to poorer students w college potential Around 50,000 disadvantaged students participated each year during LBJ's presidency Food Stamp Act - (1964) extension of JFK's food-stamp programme What was the % rise in minimum wage under LBJ's Great Society? - 35% What was the % of Americans in poverty 1965 vs 1972? - (1965) 17% (1972) 11% What was the federal expenditure on the poor in 1963 vs 1966? - (1963) $13 billion (1966) $20 billion Criticisms of the War on Poverty? - Level of federal expenditure on poor was excessive - cost more to put a ghetto youth into Job Corps than Harvard 1/3 of non-white families still lived below the poverty line Unemployment & infant mortality rates nearly 2x that of whites Politically unrealistic policies & weaknesses in planning Problems in education LBJ highlighted in 1964? - 54 million Americans had never finished high school 8 million had under 5 years of schooling 100,000 high school graduates w proven ability couldn't afford to go to college schools= overcrowded & run down shortage of good teachers