Lyndon B. Johnson Facts & Worksheets

• In March 1964, Johnson initiated his War on Poverty by introducing the following:
  • The Community Action programme that would enable local communities to deal with poverty
  • The recruitment and training of American volunteers to serve in poverty-stricken communities
  • Employers were given loans and guarantees if they offered jobs to the unemployed.
  • Farmers were given funds to buy land and establish agricultural co-ops.
  • Unemployed parents were supported as they entered the workforce.

The Great Society

• In 1964, health safety nets for America’s most vulnerable, the poor and the elderly, were provided. Medicare-covered physician and hospital costs for the qualified elderly, while Medicaid provided government cash assistance to the qualified poor. 
• By 1965, federal funding for education was appropriated through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It specifically provided funds for school districts and covered preschool programmes, school libraries, textbooks and special education services.
• From 1964 to 1965, President Johnson launched a set of domestic policies that aimed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice in the United States. He coined it the ‘Great Society’. To ensure success among young Americans, Project Head Start was launched by President Johnson to be led by politician and activist Sargent Shriver. 
• Along with a team of child development experts, the project launched an eight-week summer for 500,000 children aged three to five. In addition, President Johnson also signed the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, which funded and supported artists, libraries, public archives and galleries.

Initiatives included in the Great Society

Health:

• The Social Security Act authorised Medicare in 1965, providing federal funding to cover the medical costs of many older Americans.
• In 1966, the Medicaid programme was created for people of all ages.

Education:

• The Higher Education Act of 1965 provided increased federal aid to universities, established a Teacher Corps and produced scholarships.

Housing:

• The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 provided rehabilitation grants and rent subsidies to low-income households.
• In 1966, the Demonstration Cities Act was created to renovate neighbourhoods.

Welfare:

• In 1967, Social Security Amendments were passed that guaranteed better coverage and ampleness of social security benefits.
• The Food Stamp Act of 1964 made the Food Stamp Program permanent. 

Environment:

• Johnson’s administration enacted multiple laws aimed at conserving resources, including the Clean Air Act of 1963, the Water Quality Act of 1965, the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965, the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. 

Johnson’s role in passing Civil Rights legislation

• On 3 April 1963, Martin Luther King Jr, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement, together with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led a campaign against racial discrimination in Birmingham, Alabama. Known as the Birmingham campaign, it was a nonviolent protest with tactics developed with the help of Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker.
• African-American students also participated in the campaign wherein they occupied public spaces, engaged in sit-ins and violated racially unjust laws. The Birmingham campaign drew much controversy as the Birmingham Police Department, led by Eugene’ Bull’ Connor, responded with force using high-pressure water jets and police dogs. It lasted until 10 May 1963, and King, along with other African Americans, was arrested. 

Civil Rights Act 1964

• While many Americans were grieving the death of JFK, Johnson took the opportunity to push through some of Kennedy’s agenda, including tax cuts and the Civil Rights Act. He had been a supporter of civil rights since the mid-1950s, being one of only a few Southern politicians who supported the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Brown case of 1954, which ruled segregated schools unconstitutional. He thought racism was ‘un-American’ and damaged the country’s image abroad. He also wanted to pay tribute to JFK after his assassination by getting the Civil Rights Bill signed into law.
• Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in front of television cameras in July 1964. The law banned discrimination in education, public places and work, made the Jim Crow laws illegal and set up an Equal Opportunities Commission to investigate discrimination. 
• Following the Civil War, constitutional amendments were passed that abolished slavery, gave formerly enslaved people citizenship and granted the right to vote to all men, regardless of race. Despite these amendments, African Americans continued to experience discrimination and segregation in many forms. 
• The Civil Rights Act was signed on 3 July 1964. It ended racial segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination based on religion, sex, colour, and race. 
• Under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, African Americans as a minority would not be segregated and discriminated against in any public places, including parks, theatres, restaurants, courthouses and others. 
• They would also not be denied any services based on their colour. Moreover, the act also amassed sufficient funds for anti-discriminatory programmes, especially in assisting school desegregation. 

Voting Rights Act 1965

• On 7 March 1965, peaceful participants in a Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights were attacked by Alabama troopers with whips, tear gas and nightsticks. The march was a series of three protests along the 54-mile (87km) highway from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, the state capital. 
• The march was a nonviolent protest regarding African-American citizens’ constitutional right to vote in Alabama and other Southern states. These states had maintained a series of laws, such as the literacy test, which repressed African-American suffrage. 
• Various groups, such as the Dallas County Voters League (DCVL), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), organised and participated in the march. Even US President Lyndon B. Johnson strategised with King to monitor the event and plan a bill about the issue. 
• What was not anticipated was an attack by state troopers on 7 March 1965 with whips, tear gas and nightsticks. The assault came to be known as Bloody Sunday. One of the organisers, Amelia Boynton, was beaten unconscious, and journalists published the offence. Another victim of the violence was a Unitarian Universalist minister from Boston, James Reeb. He was murdered at the second march on 9 March.
• The violence that erupted at the march brought public outrage. On 15 March 1965, Johnson held a televised joint session of Congress asking for the passage of a voting rights bill, known as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which would benefit African Americans. At the third march, on 21 March, Alabama Governor George Wallace refused to protect the peaceful marchers. Johnson retaliated by protecting them with 1,900 members of the Alabama National Guard under the federal command, federal marshals and several FBI agents. On 24 March, the protesters reached Montgomery.
• The route they took has been designated as a US National Historic Trail known as the ‘Selma To Montgomery Voting Rights Trail’. On 6 August 1965, the Voting Rights Act became law.

LIFE AFTER PRESIDENCY

• Following his departure from the office in January 1969, President Johnson returned to his residence in Stonewall, Texas, escorted by Harry J. Middleton, a former adviser and speechwriter. Johnson grudgingly supported Democratic nominee George McGovern, a senator from South Dakota, during the 1972 presidential election.
• McGovern had consistently opposed Johnson’s foreign and defence policies. Johnson experienced an episode of angina in March 1970 and was transported to Brooke Army General Hospital in San Antonio. Johnson experienced a myocardial infarction in April 1972. 
• His cardiac condition deteriorated dramatically, prompting a recommendation for surgery. Johnson experienced his ultimate cardiac arrest in his bedroom on 22 January 1973.
• The medical professionals made an effort to revive Johnson, and subsequently, he was transported via flight to San Antonio International Airport, with the intended destination being Brooke Army Medical Centre. Nevertheless, upon his arrival at the airport at 4:33 pm, cardiologist and Army colonel George McGranahan declared him deceased. Johnson’s age was 64.