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LBJ and the Great Society
On May 22, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered a speech at the University of
Michigan in Ann Arbor. In this speech he described “…the opportunity to move not only toward
the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society.”1 It was not the first
time he had used the phrase Great Society, but the speech did mark the start of Johnson’s major
domestic program.2 Prior to the introduction of the Great Society, Johnson had lacked the slogan
for his administration that previous presidents had. Kennedy had the New Frontier, Truman had
the Fair Deal, FDR had the New Deal, Johnson now had a slogan that he could build on. In his
speech at Ann Arbor, Johnson explained the basics of what his Great Society was to be built on.
“The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all,” he said. “It demands an end to
poverty and racial injustice.”3
Johnson went on win the presidential election in 1964 in a landslide. When he delivered
his State of the Union address on January 4, 1965 he took the opportunity to set the Congress to
work on creating the Great Society that he envisioned. “…we are only at the beginning of the
road to the Great Society. Ahead now is a summit where freedom from the wants of the body can
help fulfill the needs of the spirit,” he said.4 Johnson went on to propose the programs that would
become his Great Society. He asked for reforms in education, health care, the environment,
suffrage, crime prevention, the arts, and government waste.5
Given the ambitious quantity and content of what Johnson was seeking in his Great
Society agenda in 1965, how was he able to get so much of it passed? The answer is a
1
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. Remarks at the University of Michigan. http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/
Evans, R., Novak, R., Lyndon B. Johnson: The Exercise of Power. p. 426
3
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. Remarks at the University of Michigan. http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/
4
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. Annual Message to the Congress of the State of the Union
http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/
5
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. Annual Message to the Congress of the State of the Union
http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/
2
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combination of factors. First, there was the famed Johnson Treatment. With The Treatment came
Johnson’s knowledge of operations in the House and Senate. The other factor to Johnson’s
legislative success was the elections of 1964. A large margin of victory in the popular vote
combined with majorities of over two-thirds in both houses gave Johnson the political capital to
pursue the reforms he wanted to enact.
The Johnson Treatment is very much part of the legacy of LBJ. Pictures of it in action show
Johnson towering over his target. The Treatment came with Johnson getting right in the face of
his target and pointing his finger on the other’s chest. According to the journalists and authors
Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, “It ran the gamut of human emotions. Its velocity was
breathtaking, and it was all in one direction. Interjections from the target were rare.”6 Hubert
Humphrey described how “…he’d [Johnson] take the whole room over…There was nothing
delicate about him.”7 Yet even with the intimidation and threats of force, The Treatment was a
practiced and calculated tool each time it was used according to Doris Kearns.8 Having first been
elected to Congress in 1937, Johnson was well versed in political negotiations.9 As such, he was
able to get legislation through Congress quickly with his “extraordinary legislative skill.”10
“There is only one way for a President to deal with the Congress,” he said, “and that is
continuously, incessantly, and without interruption.”11
Perhaps more important, at least generally speaking, than The Treatment, was the
majority that Johnson had in both the House and the Senate. The Senate had 68 Democrats and
32 Republicans at the start of the 89th Congress, a gain of one seat for Democrats over the
6
Dallek, R., Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President. P. 87
Dallek, R., P. 87
8
Dallek, R., P. 87
9
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. LBJ Biography. http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/
10
Milkis, S., Nelson, M., The American Presidency Origins and Development, 1776-2007 P. 335
11
Davidson, R., Oleszek, W., Lee, F., Congress and Its Members. P.325
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previous Congress. The House had 295 Democrats versus 140 Republicans, a shift of 37 seats in
favor of Democrats.12 The result would be that nearly 70 percent of Johnson’s submissions to
Congress became law.13
Likewise, the presidential election went exceedingly well for Johnson. He got over 61
percent of the popular vote and 486 electoral votes. He only lost in states in the South and
Goldwater’s home state of Arizona.14 With such a large margin of victory, Johnson could
“…build his Great Society.”15 While it would seem that with such electoral success Johnson
would have no trouble passing whatever he wanted to pass, he was not so convinced. “I’ve
watched the Congress from either the inside or the outside, man and boy, for more than forty
years,” he said, “and I’ve never seen a Congress that didn’t eventually take the measure of the
President it was dealing with.”16
After Johnson outlined his desires in the State of the Union, the Congress went to work
on the Great Society. The legislation that the 89th Congress was able to pass was far reaching. In
1965 alone, they passed, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Higher Education
Act, the Social Security Act, which created Medicare and Medicaid, and the Voting Rights Act.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) marked the first major instance of
federal funding for education. Before ESEA federal monies for education were extremely
limited. Johnson wanted to change that. His goal was to expand opportunities, especially for poor
students. In a message to Congress on education, Johnson said that the price to the country of a
student who does poorly was seven times greater than that of a student who does well. The
problem for education reform in the past was three-fold. First, the view was widely held that it
12
Riddick, M., Zweben, M., The Eighty-Ninth Congress: First Session. The Western Political Quarterly p. 355
Riddick, M., Zweben, M., P. 373
14
Evans, R., Novak, R., p. 481
15
Evans, R., Novak, R., p. 483
16
Dallek, R., P.191
13
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would mean forced integration of schools. Second, there was concern that aid would go to
parochial schools, a violation of the separation of church and state. Finally, and along the same
lines, it was seen as excessive government control, especially during the Cold War. Previous
civil rights legislation negated the concerns over integration and the Democrats liberal majority
took care of concerns about government involvement. Johnson just needed to find a way to avoid
breaching the separation of church and state. Using the Supreme Court’s ruling in Everson v.
Ewing Township (1947) Commissioner of Education Francis Keppel found a solution for
Johnson. The ruling stipulated that federal funding could go to students at parochial schools, just
not the school itself. With that in mind, Johnson sent his message to Congress on January 12,
1965. As the Congress worked on the bill, Johnson took an active role in pushing it through.
After the House passed a version of the bill, Johnson convinced the Senate to pass the same bill
in order to avoid conference committee. He got his wish on April 9 when the Senate passed the
House bill with 73 yeas and 18 neas.17
The other educational reform that the Congress passed in 1965 was the Higher Education
Act (HEA). It marked another shift in federal funding. Instead of the government supporting
institutions, it began to make loans to individual students. The effect of HEA has been clear. In
1950, only 15 percent of college aged people attended. In 1970, that had more than doubled to 34
percent, and one in four college students was getting federal help. By 1990, 52 percent of 18-21
year-olds were attending college.18
On the health care front of Johnson’s Great Society was the Social Security Act. This act
was responsible for creating the Medicare and Medicaid programs that so many people depend
on still today. The passage of Medicare had been on agendas going back to FDR’s days as
17
18
Dallek, R., P. 192-194
Dallek, R., P. 196
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president. The roadblock to getting it passed during the 89th Congress was chairman of the Ways
and Means Committee, Congressman Wilbur Mills from Arkansas. Mills was one of the few
people who Johnson’s Treatment would not affect. Mills held a safe seat and was fiscally
conservative. His fear was that Medicare would lead to budget problems. However, with the shift
in power towards liberals in the elections of 1964, Mills recognized that his committee was going
to change as well. As a result, Mills allowed the Ways and Means Committee to take the issue
up. With an initial bill that covered only hospital costs and not doctors’ fees likely to get side
tracked in the Senate, Mills and his committee developed a plan where there would be hospital
insurance, doctors’ bills were paid and state administered coverage for the poor known as
Medicaid. After the bill made its way through the House and Senate, the only concern remaining
was whether or not the American Medical Association would accept the new law. With a
variation on his Treatment, Johnson saw to it that they would. He invited members of the AMA
to the White House. He started by asking them if they could develop a program to send doctors
to Vietnam, appealing to the patriot in each of them. When they agreed he called the press in.
When the reporters asked about the AMA’s views on the Medicare bill Johnson responded,
“These men are going to get doctors to go to Vietnam where they might be killed. Medicare is
the law of the land. Of course they’ll support the law of the land. Tell him.” The leader of the
AMA agreed.19
The Voting Rights Act broke down southern barriers to suffrage for minorities. It
outlawed the literacy tests that were used in the south to prevent blacks from registering to vote.
Early in 1965, Johnson did not move quickly on legislation on black suffrage. However, police
brutality in Selma, Alabama captured the nation’s attention. Public sympathy for the black cause
19
Dallek, R., P. 196-200
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was ever increasing. It culminated with “Bloody Sunday” on March 7. Nearly 100 state troopers
and sheriffs deputies beat a group marching from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery. With
a national outcry on his hands Johnson had to act. The Governor of Alabama, George Wallace
also was seeking to prevent more bloodshed. Wallace asked Johnson to meet with him, and
Johnson obliged and invited Wallace to the White House. When Wallace arrived Johnson gave
him the treatment for three hours and gained Wallace’s cooperation. The next step for Johnson
was to initiate legislation. With such a strong national outcry, he chose to deliver a speech to
Congress outlining what needed to happen. In his speech, Johnson pointed to the long history of
injustice put on African-Americans. At the end, he had nearly everyone in attendance standing
and applauding. Even Senators and Congressmen were moved to tears. The Senate broke a
Republican filibuster and passed the bill on May 26. The House took longer, but passed the bill
on July 9. The result was that, only a year later, all states except Mississippi had near 50 percent
of blacks registered to vote.20
The legacy of the Great Society is very much mixed. Johnson was of the belief that the
future would look on his program. “I believe that thirty years from now Americans will look
back upon these 1960s as the time of the great American Breakthrough,” he said.21 Yet even at
the time some expressed concerns that the Great Society combined with Johnson’s other policies
represented to much of a concentration of power. Hans Morgenthau went so far as to say “The
President of the United States has become an uncrowned king. Lyndon B. Johnson has become
the Julius Caesar of the American Republic.”22 Others summarized the critique in somewhat less
dramatic fashion saying ” The charge is that it exaggerated the capacity of government to change
20
Dallek, R., P. 201-207
Johnson, L., My Hope for America. P. 60
22
Morgenthau, H., A Dangerous Concentration of Power. Gettleman, M., Mermelstein, D., The Great Society
Reader: The Failure of American Liberalism P. 523
21
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conditions and ineffectively "threw money at problems," overextending the heavy hand of
government, pushing the nation too far, too fast, leaving a legacy of inflation, alienation, racial
tension and other lingering ills.”23
The latter is a more accurate assessment then the former. It is true that ESEA did not
achieve its goal of expressly helping poor children. However, it did cause states to put more
effort into education.24 Mills’ concerns about the budget deficits that might come from Medicare
have been realized. Even though it has problems, it is a vast improvement than elderly citizens
falling into poverty prior to Medicare.25 The Watts riots in Los Angeles did take some of national
sympathy away from the black cause. That said, in spite of the lost moment more and more
blacks became involved in the political process, culminating with Barack Obama’s election as
president.26
Two main factors allowed Johnson to pass portions of the Great Society in 1965. The first
was The Treatment. For each bill, there was at least one key figure that Johnson had to persuade
in order to pass the legislation. The second was the timing of the shift in power in the Congress.
The Democrats gains, especially in the House removed barriers that had prevented similar
legislation in the past. Given today’s polarized political climate that can seem deadlocked at
times, it is important to remember that prior to Johnson’s Great Society many initiatives could
not make it through Congress. Yet it only took one election and everything changed.
23
Levitan, S., Taggart, R., The Great Society Did Succeed. Political Science Quarterly. P. 602
Dallek, R., P. 195
25
Dallek, R., P. 201
26
Dallek, R., P. 207
24
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