President Johnson's great society: goals, achievements, and philosophy - Essay Example

President Johnson's Great Society: Goals, Achievements, and Philosophy President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society was a massive social program that was implemented as an attempt to create more economic and educational equality among the socio-economic classes in America. In his speech announcing the Great Society Johnson (1964) called for "an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in out time". In addition it called for a new vision of equality that included the total rebuilding of the entire American urban area (Johnson, 1964).

It was the most ambitious social program since the New Deal and called for building low cost housing, providing food for the poor, and education for the disadvantaged. While the program has been criticized as too expensive and overly bureaucratic, it left the legacies of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Medicare, and Medicaid (Nash et al., 2004, pp.977-978). Johnson's deep commitment to the Great Society was rooted in his fundamental philosophy that believed all people were created equal and were deserving of equal opportunity.

In a conversation with Bill Moyers, his Press Secretary, Johnson (n.d.) stated, ""I have a vision-a vision of a land where a child can [pauses] have a home to live in. [. . .] And read what he wants to, and can wish what he wants to, and can dream what he wants to" (Lyndon Johnson, n.d.). His philosophy is further exemplified by his speech in New York as a candidate for President in 1964 when he said, "Our first task is to complete the work of the last 30 years. So we will work to give every citizen an equal chance to hold a job, to vote, to educate his children, to enjoy all the blessings of liberty, whatever his color, his religion, or his race" (Johnson, 1964).

The Vietnam War: America's Competing Forces America's entry into the Vietnam War was a response to the perception of Soviet aggression during the turbulent period of the 1950s Cold War. It was an extension of the foreign Policy of Containment that advocated stopping the spread of Soviet communism anywhere on the planet. Kennedy had a commitment to winning the Cold War and expanded the American presence in Vietnam during his administration (Nash et al., 2004, p.987). After the assassination of President Kennedy, and Johnson's re-election, the war expanded from 25,000 American troops in 1965 to 543,000 by 1968 (Nash et al., 2004, p.989).

The continued military buildup during this period was due to the fear of pulling out and the accompanied loss of American prestige and power (Nash et al., 2004, p.990). America's failure to be able to win the Vietnam War, while propping up a foreign dictator, resulted in discontent on the home front. Individual freedoms that had been born during the economic prosperity and communications technology of the 1950s collided to produce massive demonstrations against the war. There had been racial riots in the major cities during 1965 and there were violent anti-war protests during the period of 1965-1967.

In 1967 300,000 people marched in an anti-war rally in New York City and 100,000 people marched on the Pentagon that same year (Nash et al., 2004, p.992). The drug counter-culture, free love movement, the hippies, and the anti-war movement confronted the establishment at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. This was the period when any disaffected political group could protest as part of the anti-war coalition. References Johnson, L. (1964). Great Society speech, Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964.

Retrieved November 7, 2007, from http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/hst306/documents/great.html Johnson, L. (1964, October 31). Remarks in Madison Square Garden. Retrieved November 7, 2007, from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.phppid=26700 Lyndon Johnson: President as Congressional Leader (n.d.). Retrieved November 7, 2007 Nash, J. et al. (2004). The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society (6th ed.). New York: Pearson Education.