Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society

Johnson had been vice president, elevated to the presidency by the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Johnson had a good track record of promoting reform for instance helping to guide the Civil Rights Act of 1957 through the Senate. As discussed below Johnson’s presidency was not completely devoid of success or reform, but the ideal of a Great Society was arguably unobtainable. Various factors were to detract and limit the Great Society programme such as the Vietnam War, splits within the Democratic Party and the inability to find a presidential candidate who could have won in 1968.

The ambitious nature of the Great Society programme was due to the legacy of the Great Depression and Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal that had helped to combat unemployment and poverty. Truman had hoped to introduce further reforms such as Medicare, racial equality in the workplace and more social security provision. These and other reforms were achieved during the Johnson administration. Johnson had stated that his aim was to “demand an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time.”

This crusade against racial inequality and the war on poverty led to an unprecedented volume of social welfare legislation. Lyndon Johnson was an able administrator and used his vast experience of Congress and his powers of persuasion to great effect. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave all African Americans the rights they should have had following the Civil War. The Texan Johnson put an end to years of segregation and countered discrimination in employment and housing. Despite this progressive legislation society was not transformed overnight, dissatisfaction amongst the African Americans of the inner cities was demonstrated by the riots of 1965 and 1968. The difference with Johnson was that he ensured that civil rights legislation was effectively enforced whereas the previous acts of 1866 and 1875 had been largely ignored in the Southern states.

A limit upon the Great Society was the fact that not all in the Democratic Party supported it, particularly in the Southern states. These divisions when combined with other factors meant that there would no repeat landslide victory in 1968 and in any further advances towards the Great Society would cease under the Republican Nixon. Democratic opposition to Johnson and his programme was headed by George C Wallace erstwhile Governor of Alabama and strong supporter of segregation. Wallace founded the American Independent Party and contested the election of 1968. Without any hope of victory he took enough votes off the Democrats to allow Nixon victory. Not only was Wallace and his followers reacting against the Great Society but also the anti-war movement and the increased interference of the federal government at state level. The Great Society was also limited by Johnson’s decision not to stand for re-election and the assassination of Robert Kennedy during the traumatic year of 1968. Hubert Humphrey was unable to beat the astute Nixon whose Southern strategy had limited the impact of Wallace.