*when president
kennedy was
assassinated, lyndon johnson became president.
he had been a congressman and senator from
*johnson was not a
traditional southern
democrat, however. he played a major
role in getting congress to pass the civil rights act of 1957.
*as president johnson
used his
connections in congress to pass the civil rights act of 1964 to outlaw
discrimination. not only did it help
african-americans and other ethnic minorities, but title vii prohibited
discrimination based on sex.
*johnson did not just
want to fight
discrimination, he also declared a war on poverty.
not only did he get kennedy’s proposed
middle-class tax cuts through congress, he created programmes to
improve
education and provide job training for many americans.
the volunteers in service to america (vista)
trained volunteers similar to the peace corps to work in poor rural and
urban
areas to provide educational and medical assistance.
*johnson’s war on
poverty created head
start, to help prepare young children for school.
*while johnson was
president, minimum
wage reached its highest purchasing power:
in 1968, the minimum wage of $1.60 an hour was equivalent to
earning
$9.92 per hour in 2009.
*in 1964, johnson ran
for election as
president in his own right against barry goldwater.
goldwater opposed johnson’s big
spending. he thought the federal
government should do as little as possible while people should take
responsibility for themselves. he would
have lowered taxes and cut welfare and other programmes.
despite wanting a fairly inactive government,
he did favour a very strong attitude against the
*johnson’s campaign
played up some of
goldwater’s extreme views, suggesting he would end civil rights
legislation and
perhaps even provoke a nuclear war.
goldwater lost in a landslide, but he carried five southern
states, the
first republican to win deep southern states on his own.
furthermore, his campaign was seen as the
birth of the modern conservative and libertarian movements (although
goldwater
eventually turned against religious conservatives because he felt that
legislating morality was too intrusive, too).
*with johnson elected
as president and
democrats in control of the house and senate, they planned to expand
the war on
poverty in order to create a great society, in which poverty and
discrimination
would end, and everyone would be taken care of.
*johnson believed
that better education
and health care were necessary to end poverty, so he created medicare
(government-sponsored health care for the elderly) and medicaid (health
care
for the poor and disabled). he also
increased funding for education.
*the great society
would protect the
environment. modern environmentalism
began after the 1962 publication of rachel carson’s silent
spring, describing the effect of chemical fertilisers and
pesticides on wildlife, particularly birds and insects.
this encouraged the creation of the water
quality act of 1965 and the clean water restoration act of 1966,
*in 1965, ralph nader
published unsafe at any speed, describing low
quality and poor safety in american automobiles, which helped lead to
the
national traffic and motor vehicle safety act of 1966, which
established safety
standards for automobiles.
*the immigration and
nationality act of
1965 allowed far more immigrants (particularly from
*in many ways,
johnson’s war on poverty
and great society were successful:
between 1960 and 1970, the percentage of americans living in
poverty
dropped from 22.2% to 12.6%.
*johnson and the
congress were not the
only reformers of the 1960s. the supreme
court, under earl warren, also changed society.
cases such as baker v. carr
(1962) and reynolds v. sims (1964)
required states to make sure that electoral districts were equal,
reducing the
voting power of rural areas, which had gotten more voting than their
population
should have.
*accused criminals
were given more
rights, too. gideon v.
wainwright (1963) and later cases said that the accused
had a right to a lawyer (even if the public had to provide one).
*in 1966, miranda
v. arizona decided that accused criminals had to be
informed of their rights under the v and vi amendments.
this was based on a confession of kidnapping
and assault by ernesto miranda. he was
convicted, but the conviction was overturned because he had not known
he had
the right to remain silent or the right to have an attorney present.
*earl warren’s court
also supported
separation of church and state. they
decided in engel v. vitale (1962)
that requiring students to pray in public schools violated the first
amendment. in 1963, abindton
v. schemmp decided that reading the bible in public
schools violated the first amendment as well.
*both these decisions
began to make
many americans fear that the government (or at least some politicians)
were
opposed to religion and were trying to destroy its role in public life. this was also part of the inspiration of the
modern conservative movement, which hoped to reverse this trend and
preserve
the christian elements of american culture.