Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society by John Andrew-a Review
Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society Review In 1964, Lyndon Johnson set out to enact the “Great Society” program in order to expand upon and complete Roosevelt’s New Deal. This was a liberal program set up to ensure that the government staked more claim in aiding the citizens of the United States. This program touched on issues such as civil rights, education, and health care which were prevalent issues at the time, and that still have a major impact on society today. John Andrew lays out in detail in the book Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society these issues, as well as others. He gives each major topic a chapter, and goes into great detail of how he feels Johnson set out to change the American political and social structure. The first chapter focuses on the battle for civil rights. Here, Andrew goes into detail of how the government saw racial inequality as a speed bump for the embitterment of the entire country. He outlines in this chapter details of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He discussed how this was the first major instilment of racial laws since they were implemented during the Civil War era. This act gave African Americans the right to vote as well as banned the discrimination of public services for their use. This chapter also outlines the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which deals with housing rights, and affirmative action which plays a big role on guaranteeing rights regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity. Andrew did a good job explaining in this chapter that the civil rights movement was one of Johnson’s biggest accomplishments. He explains how he felt that even though Johnson would lose support with his southern Democrats, he still felt that racial inequality was impeding forward progress and took away from what he felt Roosevelt was trying to do with the New Deal and the bettering of society. Andrew did a good job of explaining what white Americans felt; that this was not affecting them on a personal level, and were more concerned with how it
Bibliography: Andrew, John. Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee Publisher, 1998. 224. Print.