LYNDON JOHNSON AND THE GREAT SOCIETY
Lyndon Johnson, a Texan who was majority leader in the Senate before becoming Kennedy’s vice president, was a masterful politician . He had been schooled in Congress, where he developed an extraordinary abil- ity to get things done . He excelled at pleading, cajoling, or threatening as necessary to achieve his ends . His liberal idealism was probably deep- er than Kennedy’s . As president, he wanted to use his power aggressively to eliminate poverty and spread the benefits of prosperity to all .
Johnson took office determined to secure the passage of Kennedy’s legislative agenda . His immediate priorities were his predecessor’s bills to reduce taxes and guarantee civil rights . Using his skills of persuasion
and calling on the legislators’ respect for the slain president, Johnson suc- ceeded in gaining passage of both during his first year in office . The tax cuts stimulated the economy . The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most far-reaching such legislation since Reconstruction .
Johnson addressed other issues as well . By the spring of 1964, he had begun to use the name “Great Soci- ety” to describe his socio-economic program . That summer he secured passage of a federal jobs program for impoverished young people . It was the first step in what he called the “War on Poverty .” In the presiden- tial election that November, he won a landslide victory over conservative Republican Barry Goldwater . Signif- icantly, the 1964 election gave liberal Democrats firm control of Congress for the first time since 1938 . This would enable them to pass legisla- tion over the combined opposition of Republicans and conservative Southern Democrats .
The War on Poverty became the centerpiece of the administration’s Great Society program . The Office of Economic Opportunity, estab- lished in 1964, provided training for the poor and established vari- ous community-action agencies, guided by an ethic of “participatory democracy” that aimed to give the poor themselves a voice in housing, health, and education programs .
Medical care came next . Under Johnson’s leadership, Congress en- acted Medicare, a health insurance program for the elderly, and Med-