Lyndon Baines Johnson
LBJPresident: 1963-1968
Political Party: Democrat
Vice President: Hubert Humphrey
Civil Rights Vietnam War Great Society
Legacy inherited by LBJ
2 July 1964: Pres. Johnson signs Civil Rights Act of 1964
Voting: illegal to apply different standards to black and white applicants – literacy
Public accommodations: law forbade discrimination in most public restaurants, hotels, motels, lunch counters retail stores, theaters and sports arenas
Public Facilities: law forbade discrimination in government owned or operated parks, swimming pools, and libraries
Federally Assisted Programs: Government could withhold financial aid from state and local programs that involved discrimination
Employment: The law forbade discriminatory practices by employers, employment agencies and labor unions, the law created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Criminal to discriminate/affirmative Action
Civil Rights Act of 1964 Notes in Civil Rights timeline!
Legacy inherited by LBJ
2 June 1965: Voting Rights Act 1965 passed by Congress
In any state where less than half of the voting age population were registered to vote, all literacy requirements were suspended
Atty. General was empowered to send in Federal examiners to any state where voter discrimination occurred to register all would be voters
Atty. General empowered to file suits challenging constitutionality of the state poll taxes
Foreign PolicyVietnam Vietnam had been a French colony, and
controlled by Japanese Truman and Eisenhower sent aid after WWII 1954 Geneva accords split Vietnam into
North and South along the 17th parallel Ho Chi Minh, led independence movement Aided by South Vietnamese Viet Cong
Foreign PolicyGulf of Tonkin North Vietnamese torpedoed boats and
attacked an American Destroyer LBJ asked Congress for: “all necessary
measures to repel any armed attack against forces of the US and to prevent further aggression”
This gave LBJ broad military power
Foreign PolicyEscalation March 1965 LBJ began sending troops to
fight the Viet Cong & North Vietnamese. Tens of thousands more troops sent 61% of Americans supported this escalation.
Domestic PolicyWar on Poverty =
THE GREAT SOCIETY
War on Poverty Alleviate poverty Proposed legislation Economic Opportunity
Act 1 billion dollars for youth programs
Job Corps: Economic Opportunity Act VISTA Head Start Antipoverty measures CAP: Community Action
Programs
Domestic Policy
1964 Reelection landslide: 61% of popular vote and 90% of electoral vote against Barry Goldwater
Medicare: hospital insurance and low cost medical insurance for people over 65
Medicaid: extended health insurance to welfare recipients
Domestic PolicySimilarities to the New Deal Addressed economic and social ills,
protecting the environment and consumers!