Johnson: An Overview

1
Johnson An Overview

• Kennedy chose Johnson as his Vice President in
  1960
• Made this decision despite objections made by his
  brother Robert Kennedy
• Many others saw this as a brilliant move because
  it gained the support of Southern Democrats

2
Johnson An Overview

• Excelled in political maneuvering
• He had the ability to decipher the existing
  balance of political forces and to develop issues
  that could propel him into leadership roles
• Was first a teacher, then an aide to a
  congressmen, then regional director in Texas of a
  major New Deal program, then he became a member
  of Congress

3
Johnson Overview Continued

• 1948 elected to the U.S. Senate
• 1953 Senate minority leader
• 1955 Democrats won control of Senate became
  Senate majority leader
• He had presidential ambitions but was not well
  known outside Texas and the Senate
• This became the reasoning behind accepting
  Kennedys invite as V.P. in 1960

4
The Johnson Administration

• Achieved legislative successes that were matched
  only by Franklin Roosevelt
• Extended federal programs into areas that had
  fallen outside the province of federal policy
• The uncompleted policies of Kennedy provided
  Johnson with an instant agenda, which
  facilitated his legislative tasks

5
Johnsons Character in Office

• Wished to be a reform-minded president
• Had an ability to appeal to both conservative and
  liberal audiences because of his support for both
  budget-cutting and social reform
• He introduced his legislation each year in a
  planned sequence, beginning with the easiest and
  ending with the most difficult

6
Johnson and Civil Rights

• Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a historic measure
  it marked for the first time since
  Reconstruction that the federal government
  assumed a major role in protecting the voting
  rights of African Americans in the South.
• Public accommodations and public transportation
  were desegregated by 1965
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was flawed in
  certain aspects, which were corrected by the
  Civil Rights Act of 1965
• The policies were very successful in terminating
  the last vestiges of overt discrimination in
  voter registration

7
The Supreme Court under Earl Warren between
1953-1969

• 1954 Brown v Board of Education - Reverend
  Oliver Brown brought suit against citys board of
  ed. because his child had to take a bus to the
  other side of town when a bus reserved for white
  children was much closer
• Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP argued that
  segregation had such harmful effects on people
  of color that the mere fact of segregation meant
  inferior education
• Kenneth Clark performed test to Af. Am.
  children to identify dolls In the North,
  children asked to identify a doll of color would
  cry and run out of the room. In the South, the
  children would point to the dark doll and reply
  Thats a nigger. Im a nigger. This confirmed
  their subordinate status according to Clark

8
Supreme Court under Warren Continued

• Warren ruled that in the field of public
  education, the doctrine of "separate but equal"
  set forth by Plessy v. Feruson in 1896 has no
  place. Separate educational facilities are
  inherently unequal. African Americans were being
  deprived of the equal protection of the laws
  guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.
• Other controversial rulings followed i.e. voting
  rights of minorities, rights of criminals, rights
  of persons with radical beliefs, protection to
  those on death row, power of the press,
  interracial sexual relations, etc. The effects of
  these and other rulings was enormous
• Supreme Court under Warren was an important part
  of the social reforms of the 1960s, its decisions
  had profound effects on the policies of
  institutions that, in turn, affected the lives of
  color and people in poverty.

9
Medicare and Medicaid

• Wilbur Mills, chairman of the House Ways and
  Means Committee, facilitated the passage of
  Medicare and Medicaid programs in 1965
• Prior to Medicare, some medical care was donated
  to impoverished elderly persons by doctors and
  hospitals with the passage of Medicare, such
  donations were reduced. Medicare increased the
  utilization of physicians and hospitals by poor
  people who had often refrained from seeking
  medical care except in emergencies
• Medicaid was a means tested program enacted in
  1965 to address the medical needs of welfare
  recipients, as well as medically indigent
  persons, who, though not destitute, could not pay
  their medical bills. Medicaid was a matching
  grant program in which federal authorities paid a
  substantial share of the medical services but
  ceded major administrative and policy roles to
  the states.

10
Education

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
  provided federal assistance to public schools
  with relatively high concentrations of low-income
  children, and it allowed private schools to share
  books and other materials that had been purchased
  by public schools
• Johnson also developed a range of educational
  subsidies for low-income persons who sought
  junior college and college education
• Educational gains were made by African Americans
  in the 1960s at both secondary and college levels

11
War on Poverty, Welfare Reforms, and Food Stamps

• The War on Poverty was enacted after Kennedys
  death and consisted of a collection of
  job-training, youth employment, and medical
  services that various government departments had
  failed to enact during the Kennedy
  Administration
• To coordinate these programs, the Office of
  Economic Opportunity (OEO) was set up with
  Sargeant Shriver as its director
• Johnson and Shriver wanted OEO programs enacted
  as rapidly as possible because they felt that
  demonstrable results were needed if the programs
  were to appeal to a wide spectrum of legislators

12
W. On P., Wel. Ref. and F.S continued

• The speedy implementation of these programs led
  to widespread charges of corruption, patronage,
  and inefficiency
• OEO, was not a complete disaster though. Many of
  its programs were highly innovative and, though
  transferred from OEO to other agencies, continue
  to exist
• One such program that still exists is the Head
  Start Program some studies suggest that it has
  had long term beneficial effects on the
  educational performance of its enrollees
• The welfare Amendments of 1967 were a confusing
  mixture of incompatible policies which satisfied
  no one

13
W. On P., Wel. Ref. and F.S continued

• The Food Stamp Program was enacted in 1964
• Policy makers realized that the distribution of
  surplus food to the poor was a hassle which
  required them to travel to centralized storage
  sites
• Grocery stores across the nation began to accept
  Food Stamps as a form of payment
• Families on welfare were automatically eligible
  and poor families not on welfare could be
  certified by local welfare departments
• The Department of Agriculture paid the entire
  cost

14
W. On P., Wel. Ref. and F.S continued

• Amendments in 1968, 1971, 1973, and 1978 expanded
  fuding for the program, established national
  eligibility standards, made the program mandatory
  in all states, and developed methods to allow
  recipients to receive coupons without having to
  make any cash payments
• The Food Stamp program was a landmark
  achievement because it gave millions of
  impoverished families the resources to purchase
  food in quantities not possible wit welfare checks

15
Johnson Losing Support 1967-1968

• Managed to keep most of his political balance
  through 1966
• By early 1967, he was running out of options and
  began losing support across the political
  spectrum
• After Af. Am.s obtained civil rights legislation
  that decreased discrimination in the South, they
  sought reforms to address poverty, housing
  discrimination, education, and other problems in
  the North Northern whites were enraged that they
  were now the target of protest.

16
Johnson Losing Support 1967-1968

• Martin Luther King Jr. found it increasingly
  difficult to persuade a new breed of African
  American leaders that nonviolence represented an
  inviolable principle rather than a tactic
• Stokely Carmichael coined the term Black Power.
  Encouraged the trend among Af. Ams toward
  separatism, the development of Af. Am. Economic
  institutions, and violent protest.
• Much rioting occurred mainly in the North between
  1965 and 1968 in which 239 civil disturbances
  erupted, 8133 people were killed and 49,604
  people were arrested

17
Johnson Losing Support 1967-1968

• Johnsons popularity among liberals and social
  reformers began to diminish as well mainly due to
  the conflict in Vietnam
• Johnson has escalated the conflict in Vietnam
  from a few military advisors and spies in 1964 to
  more than 540,000 troops in 1968
• The war resulted in a large cost in lives and
  resources
• At the conclusion of U.S. involvement in 1973,
  more than 55,000 Americans had been killed and
  another 304,000 had been injured

18
Johnson Losing Support 1967-1968

• Americans spent more than 135 billion on the war
• Johnson felt that a Communist victory in South
  Vietnam would lead to a domino effect throughout
  Southeast Asia
• He underestimated the resolve of the North
  Vietnamese, who were deeply committed to a
  long-term conflict that they had already waged
  for decades

19
The War and Social Policy

• The war created an atmosphere that was not
  conducive to the continuation of social reform
• The war splintered the coalition that had
  supported civil rights and other reforms since
  many African Americans, liberals, young people,
  intellectuals, and clergy opposed it
• The war also led to reductions in levels of
  funding for social programs
• Most importantly, the war eroded Johnsons
  credibility because many Americans remembered
  that he had run in 1964 as a peace candidate
  against Barry Goldwater

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The end of Johnsons run in Office

• Many Americans began to distrust Johnson due to
  his lies over the real cost of the war and of
  overstating American military gains
• He lost political momentum when he committed the
  nation to war
• By spring of 1968, his ratings were so low in
  public opinion polls that many people began to
  wonder if he could win reelection
• After being humiliated by Eugene McCarthy, an
  unknown senator running on an antiwar platform,
  in New Hampshire, Johnson withdrew from the
  presidential race.

21
The end of Johnsons run in Office

• In November, Richard Nixon would defeat Hubert
  Humphrey, the Democratic candidate, the Great
  Society came to an official close.
• Johnson left the presidency a tormented man
• His international policies led to uncertain
  outcomes and a lose of popularity
• Almost all of Johnsons Great Society reforms
  were enacted in 1964 and 1965, a period that
  seemed light years removed from the final years
  of his presidency

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Out-groups in the 1960s
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Out-groups consisted of

• Women
• Gay men and lesbians
• Latinos
• Native Americans
• Asian Americans
• African Americans segregated to urban ghettos

24
Women

• When WWII ended, 3.25 million women were
  forced/persuaded to leave their jobs
• Many women liked working, and having their own
  money so more went back out on the workforce
• By 1952, more were employed than in the height of
  the war
• Women were not made to feel good about working
  the mass media and theorists implied the working
  woman risked harming her children and/or
  destroying her femininity

25
Women cont.

• The Equal Rights Amendment became the central
  focus among female activists
• Some female leaders actually opposed the
  amendment! They felt that women needed special
  protections
• The Senate passed it, but the 1/3 majority needed
  did not
• Women were then limited to segregated jobs -
  clerical, sales, unskilled manufacturing,
  teaching, nursing, etc.

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Women cont.

• Women were perceived as fragile
• They were excluded from the workforce usually
  until their children were out of high school
• Kennedy at first was unresponsive, but then
  appointed Esther Peterson as director of the
  Womens Bureau in the Department of Labor
• Peterson campaigned for equal pay legislation
• 1963 - Congress passed the Equal Pay Act but left
  out domestic and farm working women

27
Women cont.Kennedy issued the 1961
Commission on the Status of Women

• Good
• Recommended AGAINST the equal rights amendment
  b/c women could sue on grounds of existing
  constitutional provisions of the equal protection
  clause of the 14th amendment
• Recommended broadening womens access in
  education

• Bad
• Didnt offer encouragement for womens entry to
  male-dominated fields
• Didnt attack gender role structure of society
• Didnt attack notion that women are primarily
  responsible for their children
• Didnt ask/seek changes in Social Security

28
Women cont.

• 1963, Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique
• Mystique that women achieve happiness by being a
  housewife and mother and if not happy by this,
  you should feel guilty and as if you failed
• Book ends with a plea for a new life plan for
  womenwomen should see through the feminine
  mystique and choose careers that challenge them

29
Women cont.

• 1964, Women finally included in major civil
  rights legislation through the passing on the ban
  of gender-based discrimination in Title VII of
  the Civil Rights Act
• 1965, Griswold vs. Connecticut decided the use of
  contraceptives considered a crime is illegal
• Ruling was an advancement but it left the ban on
  abortion and didnt mention there were no family
  planning clinics in many areas

30
Women cont.

• 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW)
  was to seek federal action on womens employment
  issues
• 1967, Women were included with programs that
  insured equal opportunity for all racessex was
  added anywhere that it said race, creed, color,
  or national origin
• Critics of feminist movement note that reforms
  didnt include poor women or African Americans
• Feminists made women who chose to be a housewife
  feel bad just as working women, some years back,
  felt bad for not emphasizing child rearing

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Gay Men and Lesbians

• Factors of discrimination
• Religion
• Psychiatric and medical thought
• Criminology

32
Gay Men and Lesbians cont.

• Senator Kenneth Wherry stated that homosexuals
  are a moral and security issue
• Because of this belief in the early 1950s, many
  homosexuals thought of themselves as diseased
• During WW2, the army screened gays from the
  service
• Witch-hunts against Communists often included
  homosexuals
• Job seekers were denied employment if thought to
  be gay
• Many were arrested when police raided gay bars,
  public restrooms, and even personal residences

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Gay Men and Lesbians cont.

• Gay men and lesbians tried to form organizations
  but many were too afraid to go public with their
  sexuality because of what may happen to them
• The Civil Service Commission in NYC relaxed
  restrictions on hiring gays
• Courts in a few states legitimized the right of
  gays to assemble in bars and some even declared
  that sexual preference is not immoral
• The National Institution of Mental Health in 1967
  urged tolerance of gays but did not mention that
  their sexual orientation is normal
• Stonewall Inn
• 1973 The American Psychiatric Association
  decided and declared that homosexuals would no
  longer be regarded as mentally ill

34
Latinos

• 1950s, There was a huge influx of Puerto Ricans
  to east coast cities (NYC)
• Beginning of 60s, still lived in rural areas
• They came to the U.S. for economic reasons and
  had every intention to return home once it
  improved
• Most stayed along with the Cubans who arrived
  around the same time Fidel Castro took power
• Cesar Chavez developed United Farm Workers
  Organizing Committee to empower Mexican
  agricultural laborers
• 1966, Chavez organized a march on Sacramento then
  boycotted crops like grapes and lettuce

35
Latinos cont.

• Latinos were active in
• Voter registration
• Pressure on EEOC to investigate job
  discrimination
• Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
• They didnt have one specific cause to fight for
  because overall things were bad for them and very
  difficult to get out of poverty

36
Native Americans

• 19th century placed on reservations and evicted
  from ancestral lands
• The reservations were too small to hunt and
  survive on so they needed govt assistance
• The govt wanted to socialize them to American
  ways
• In 1934, The Indian Reorganization Act promoted
  the establishment of tribal organization
• In the 40s and 50s, termination acts ended
  federal responsibility
• In the 60s and 70s, The War on Poverty
  emphasized support for the culture of tribal
  functions

37
Native Americans cont.

• Some Great society programs channeled funds to
  reservations for housing, education, and economic
  development
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs stopped forcing
  American culture on them and became an advocate
  for Native Americans (go figure!)
• Johnson and Nixon opposed the termination policy
  and favored continuation of technical and
  economic asst. to tribes
• Many Natives demanded compensation for lands
  that were taken away illegally
• Many ended up moving to urban areas that were
  deteriorated and in poverty
• By 1970, the population went from being about 17
  million (in the 17th century) to about 827,000

38
Asian Americans

• Made significant gains in Hawaii and California
  regarding their civil rights post WWII and in the
  50s
• 1948, The Supreme Court ruled that laws which
  prohibited people of different races from having
  sexual contact was unconstitutional
• 1956, Japanese Americans placed an initiative to
  overturn alien land laws and they won!
• Immigration Act of 1965 abolished the quota
  system and allowed 170,000 immigrants from
  Eastern hemisphere and 120,000 from the Western
  hemisphere

39
African Americans in Urban Ghettos

• By the end of the 60s, African Americans were
  more segregated in urban areas
• Immigrants such as the Irish, Italian, and Jewish
  had upward mobility because of industrialization
  in the U.S. at that time
• African Americans were less prepared to use
  education as a tool for mobility than were the
  immigrants
• Inner-city schools lacked sufficient staff who
  could relate and the rooms were overcrowded
• Those who couldnt get out of the urban areas
  lacked role models and a strong community to
  guide them

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Social Work in the 1960s

• Emerged from the Great Depression with a
  determination to upgrade the profession by making
  a mandatory bachelors degree for admission to
  graduate programs
• The graduate program was made to last 2 yrs.
• Goal To give standards and tests to be sure that
  qualified and trained people are in the field
• Some wondered is it was too elitist but advocates
  said its necessary to improve standards and
  competence levels

41
Social Work cont.

• National Association of Social Workers (NASW),
  est. 1955, required new members to have 2 yrs. of
  completed graduate study
• 1969 NASW gave regular membership to people
  with a bachelors degree from undergraduate study
• Very controversial within the profession
• Some said it would help NASW politically by
  enlarging membership
• Others said it lowers standards and decreases
  prestige of the profession

42
The Evolution of the Reluctant Welfare State

• Johnson was sympathetic for those in need but
  didnt want to expand income maintenance, public
  works, unemployment, or Soc. Sec.
• The Great Society Era was not known for increased
  social spending
• Economic circumstances of the poor and African
  Americans Improved but mainly because the economy
  improved, not the aid
• Civil Rights and womens rights movement, people
  with disabilities, homosexuals, and other
  activists kept pressure on legislation to
  maintain the pace of reform
• Riots were a constant reminder that there were
  large numbers of people not helped by the civil
  rights legislation
• The Great Society occurred at a time and in a
  nation that was reluctant to embrace an emerging
  welfare state
• Will the programs last?

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