LBJ’s Great Society

Discovering the Legacy of the War

on Poverty

Academic Standards

• 8.1.9.A Analyze chronological thinking.

• 8.1.9.B Analyze and interpret historical sources.

• 8.1.9.C Analyze the fundamentals of historical interpretation.

• 8.1.9.D Analyze and interpret historical research.

• 5.2.9.G Analyze political and civic participation in government and society.

• 8.3.9.G Explain how the government protects individual rights.

Essential Questions

How far should the government go

to promote equality and

opportunity?

President Johnson’s State of

the Union Address• As you listen to the President, answer the following

questions:

– How would you describe Johnson’s speaking style and tone?

– What are the primary features of Johnson’s Great Society?

– What proposals does Johnson make?

– What governmental efforts would be required to fully achieve Johnson’s proposals?

– How do you think Congress responded to Johnson’s message?

– How do you think the American people responded?

Examine

the

political

cartoon

and

determine

its

meaning.

Create this graphic organizerWar on

Poverty

Program

Goals of

Program

Description of

Program

How program

has influenced

society today

Federal

Food

Assistance

Legal

Services

Job Corps

Head Start

Office of

Economic

Opportunity

VISTA

Directions

1. Look at your visual and try to find the station with the corresponding written information.

2. Read the written information.

3. Use the information to fill in information on the topics of your graphic organizer.

4. Bring your visual and graphic organizer to Mr. Kelly.

5. Mr. Kelly will check your information and give you the next placard.

Federal Food

Assistance

Program

• Goal: To ensure

that disadvantaged

Americans of all

ages obtain at

least the minimum

diet of nutritionally

balanced foods.

Federal Food

Assistance

Program

• Description: U.S.

Department of

Agriculture distributes

food coupons to

individuals or families

who can demonstrate

that their income is

too low for buying an

adequate amount of

food.

Federal Food

Assistance

Program

• Today: By 2005,

the program was

helping feed

almost 26 million

disadvantaged

Americans, from

the youngest

children to the

oldest senior

citizens.

Legal

Services

• Goals: Assist

poor people with

various legal

problems, and

work to change

and reform laws

that were

harmful to the

disadvantaged

Legal

Services• Description: Lawyers

sought to make laws

simpler and more

accessible to the poor.

They fought legislation

that punished or

harmed Americans who

lived in low-income

communities. It also

recruited lawyers in

cities and towns to act

as advocates for the

poor.

Legal

Services• Today: In the early

2000s, the LSC’s

annual budget was

about $330 million.

This money funded

about 140 local

programs, which

provided legal

assistance to more

than 5 million

Americans each year.

Job Corps

• Goals: Help

disadvantaged

youths, ages 16-24,

find work in a

variety of fields by

giving them training

in technical, social ,

and educational

skills.

Job Corps• Description:

Enrollees typically

underwent three to

twelve months training.

They also learned

basic social skills such

as reading and writing.

They received room

and board, health

coverage, a cash

allowance, and, in

some cases, work

clothes.

Job Corps

• Today: In the

mid-2000s, it

operated more

than 120

centers, with an

enrollment of

more than

60,000 students

each year.

Head

Start

• Goals: To

improve the

overall school

performance of

poor children

entering them in a

two-month-long

pre-kindergarten

program.

Head

Start• Description: Preschoolers take

part in various experiences

designed to increase intellectual

awareness. They visit local

museums, railroad stations, zoo, and working farms. They were

introduced to various aspects of

culture, such as art, music, and

theater. They also played with

intellectually challenging puzzles, games, and toys. The

program worked to support the

children’s health. It gave them

hot meals and immunizations

against many childhood diseases.

Head

Start• Today: By the early

2000s, it was

enrolling more than

900,000 children a

year, and its annual

budget was more

than $6 billion. It

has benefitted more

than 21 million

preschool children.

Office of

Economic

Opportunity• Goal: To

administer,

coordinate, and

guide various

programs intended

to reduce the

number of poor,

uneducated, and

jobless people in

the United States.

Office of

Economic

Opportunity

• Description: It

administered

government

programs such as

Head Start, VISTA,

and the Jobs

Corps. It employed

hundreds of

government

officials at the

federal, state, and

local levels.

Office of

Economic

Opportunity

• Today: By the

mid-1970s, it

ceased to exist

as a separate

government

agency.

VISTA

• Goals: To create

a domestic

version of the

Peace Corps that

improves living

conditions of poor

and

disadvantaged

Americans.

VISTA• Description: Volunteers

enrolled in a six-week training

course, which emphasized

psychology, sociology,

economics, and the culture of

poverty. They moved to one

of a number of designated

poverty areas around the

country. For a one-year

period, volunteers taught

classes in English and office

skills, set up food

cooperatives, advised local

residents about legal

problems, helped tenants

with landlord problems, and

organized local youth clubs.

VISTA

• Today: In the early

2000s, nearly 6,000

VISTA volunteers

served in cities and

towns across the United

States. These

volunteers worked

together with about

1,600 nonprofit and

public agencies that

sponsored VISTA

projects in local

communities.

Class Discussion

• Rank the Great Society programs from those that have the least impact on life today to those who have the greatest impact on life today.

• Rank the Great Society programs from those that the Federal government should not be involved in to those that the Federal government should be fully involved in.

Great Society 423