DBQ 07- Lyndon B. Johnson

DBQ Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential reign began with the assassination of former president John F. Kennedy in 1963. While the people of the United States tried to recover from the loss of Kennedy, Johnson used it to his advantage. Many citizens did not notice that this was being done, and some even wonder if Johnson himself knew he was using it to his advantage. By him telling America that Kennedy would have wanted the Great Society, the people believed him and went through with it. Many things, both good an bad came out of the Great Society. The Great Society was Johnson’s way of fixing the problems in America, that being the political, emotional and mostly the social problems. Johnson used the nations grief to pass the civil rights bill. It had the same idea of the bill Kennedy was planning on passing, but the difference was that Johnson’s was stronger and more powerful. This act was passed in July of 1964, and it outlawed radical discrimination in all public places. Places that included hotels, and restaurants, it banned the discrimination of unions, and the employers and even programs that were funded by the federal government. The civil rights act was not the only thing passed in 1964 though, he also passed the Economic Opportunity Act. As seen in document B, the act was made to help people in poverty. It started head start, a preschool program funded by the government, and gave workers and farmers money to break through and escape from poverty. It improved what was being done in our nation at that time, and became a milestone for our 180-year search for a better life for our people. With these couple of acts being formed it did help our poverty rates change. When you look at document H you can see that in 1959 before Johnson’s presidency, the poverty rate was at 55.1 for blacks, 18.1 for whites, and 53.3 for all non-whites. Once the acts were formed the rates went down a little and were recorded in 1966 by about 15 percent except