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!