The Great Society Analysis

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WHAT WAS GREAT ABOUT THE GREAT SOCIETY ? Inspired by Harrington's Book, Lindon B. Johnson created the Great Society during his presidency in the 1960s to fight "an unconditional war over poverty". Harrington impacted both Kennedy and Johnson through his explanation of the "new poverty". The image of the 1930s' Great Depression poverty has disappeared and poverty is now invisible, as they stay in the inner cities, and do not mix with middle and upper classes. With cheap food and clothes, poor people are able to dress well and be well-nourished, with a tendency to obesity. Johnson's aims were therefore to eradicate this poverty through education and knowledge for the young generations. The Great Society has succeeded to pass many legislations…show more content…
With the current nationwide sympathy due to John F. Kennedy's assassination, as well as a mostly Democratic Congress, Johnson took advantage of the situation to be able to pass many laws and legislations. In less than 2 years, he passed 400 bills because there was no strong opposition to him. Moreover, there was a mismanagement of funds and under-funding occurring for many programs. In 1966, 1.2Billion$ were allocated to the Great Society projects, while 22Billion$ were allocated to the Vietnam war, a war which was not popular and that no one wanted to endure. In addition, money collected int he federal funds were not given directly to the poor and passed first by agencies who took a lot for…show more content…
The population considered qualifying as poor (income less than 3000$ per year) went from 40 million to 25 million from 1959 to 1968. Huge successes marked the American history such as the Medicaid and Medicare that no president, even Republican has dared to suppress. In addition, educational reforms helped the population to scramble out of misery. A huge novelty was the anti-segregationist laws that went one step further regarding equality and freedom for all. Nevertheless, the successes could have been greater if the failures had not occurred, especially regarding the mismanagement of

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