Essay On Why Was Johnson Focused On Social Reform

Early on president Johnson focused on social reform issues. Johnson proposed a multidimensional reform program that promised to fulfill the social vision of the new deal.
He also sought to overcome conservative resistance to social reform by insisting on balanced budgets and reducing government expenditures. It was to an extent Johnson was successful, his first six months in office, President Johnson used a strategy that was very successful in forcing Congress to enact much previously blocked new frontier legislation. He evoked memories of the deceased Kennedy as a moral lever to pry bills out of congressional committees. Johnson even persuaded Congress to pass the most comprehensive civil rights bill in American history. The bill passed in 1964 after being delayed
In addition to that promoting tax cuts and civil rights, Kennedy was considering an antipoverty program at the time of his death. Though Johnson immediately adopted it as his own. Few months late Johnson enacted the Economic Opportunity Act, authorizing the spending of $1 billion over three years, beginning in 1965. The act created an umbrella agency called the office of economic opportunity (OEO) to administer the various antipoverty programs. After being backed by the most liberal Congress since 1936, Johnson's overwhelming victory was what he called a Great Society. He organized task forces made up of his staffers, social scientist, bureaucrats, and activists to draft legislative proposals to send to Congress. One of the most important achievements of Great society was the enactment of federal aid to education. The Elementary and secondary education act of 1965 ended a long debate in Congress over the use of federal funds to support public schools. Another important Johnson rescued another new Frontier reform when he secured congressional passage of immigration act of 1965, the comprehensive overhaul of U.S immigration