From the
Playwright
A CONVERSATION WITH
ROBERT SCHENKKAN
Great Society, Great Accomplishments
Pictured left to right: LBJ signs Medicare bill on July 30, 1965. LBJ during a commencement
speech at the University of Michigan on May 22, 1964. LBJ’s War on Poverty outreach.
JOHNSON’S DREAM
DO WE LIVE IN A GREAT SOCIETY?
LBJ’s vision for the U.S. was rooted in equality. He wanted to create a nation with the highest
standard of living in the world and equal access to safe housing, education and health care.
His Great Society programs represent the largest expansion of social services since Franklin
D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs of the 1930s.
Johnson’s pet project was his War on Poverty, over 40 bills to improve living and working
conditions for America’s poorest citizens.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
“We have the opportunity
to move not only toward
the rich society and the
powerful society, but upward
to the Great Society.”—LBJ
Over the course of his time in office, LBJ passed thousands of bills. Some notable ones are listed below:
CIVIL RIGHTS
EDUCATION
ENVIRONMENT
• Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1968
LBJ’s first civil rights legislation outlawed
most forms of racial segregation, and four
years later he passed another bill that
provided equal housing opportunities.
• Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965
Funded primary and secondary schools,
enforced equal opportunity, established
high standards but forbade a uniform
national curriculum.
• Clean Air Act of 1963
Designed to control air pollution on a
national level, the act put regulations in
place to protect the public from hazardous
airborne contaminants.
• Voting Rights Act of 1965
Regulated the administration of elections
so voters would not be discriminated
against based on race. One of the key
pieces of this legislation ensured that
voting laws could not be changed at the
state level. (In 2013 the Supreme Court
struck down this part of the act, allowing
nine Southern states to change election
laws without advanced federal approval.)
• Higher Education Act of 1965
Increased federal money given to
universities, created scholarships, gave
low-interest loans for students, and
established a National Teachers Corps.
• National Foundation on the Arts and
Humanities Act of 1965
Established the National Endowment
for the Humanities and the National
Endowment for the Arts to promote
artistic progress and scholarship.
PUBLIC BROADCASTING
• Public Broadcasting Act of 1967
Created public broadcasting by providing
funds for educational radio and TV
programs. This act eventually led to the
creation of the Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR).
In the Southern U.S. police brandish heavy weaponry and utilize
dogs to ward off enraged civil rights protestors. The situation is so
explosive that the government sends in federal agents to intervene
and announces a full investigation led by the Department of Justice.
In the meantime, voting rights for all citizens are endangered due
to shifting political boundaries and increasingly onerous proof
of identification laws. In Washington D.C. the divide between
the executive and legislative branches of government is deeply
polarized. The country is challenged by a wide socio-economic
divergence between the upper and middle classes. The United
States sends military “advisors” into a foreign country and risks
being drawn into all-out war. Sound like the 1960s? Actually these
are the events of 2014.
Photos from last summer’s protests in Ferguson, Missouri bear resemblance
to the 1967 Newark riots.
It was fascinating. Even though I lived through this period and
was to some degree very involved in (or at least aware of) these
events, there was so much I didn’t know or had forgotten. It is
fascinating to be reminded of how little attention we actually
pay to the daily political events in our lives, even ones that are
as influential as this. It is a good lesson in how to live your life
today—be conscious.
Which elements of LBJ’s story do you hope will resonate
particularly strongly with young people?
As you watch these individuals—LBJ, Dr. King, Bob Moses,
Fannie Lou Hamer—struggle to make equality more an actual
part of the American experience, what are the issues that are
important to you? When you think about “power” in your life—
the acquisition and exercise of—how do you decide where the
line is drawn in terms of what is an acceptable compromise?
How far do you think a person should go to achieve what they
think is a “good” thing? Do the ends always justify the means? If
not, where do you draw the line?
• Head Start Program (1965)
Provided early childhood education,
nutrition, and parent services to lowincome children.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act and shakes hands with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
As a playwright, what was it like to revisit political events that
you experienced as teenager?
Is there anything else you’d like to say to our young audiences?
POVERTY AND HEALTHCARE
• Medicaid (1965)
Provided health care for low income
families and individuals of all ages.
Sometimes it is easier to grasp the outline and even the
particulars of a past event when it is dramatized, as opposed to
reading it in a textbook. The story “comes alive” in a way that is
rarely possible when just reading it.
Social and political progress is the result of the individual efforts
of many ordinary people. You matter. What you do matters.
Social justice will not happen by itself. It needs you.
• Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Protection Act (1966)
Protected some 35 species of mammals
and 30-40 species of birds which
conservationists believed would
otherwise become extinct.
• Medicare (1965)
Guaranteed health insurance for
Americans age 65 and over who have
worked and paid into the system, as well
as younger people with disabilities.
What is the value in experiencing this complicated history
through theatre as opposed to in a textbook?
Though LBJ’s Great Society and Voting Rights Acts were watershed
moments for the United States, it is worth pondering how much of
his vision for the country remains intact. Indeed, some speculate
that the emergence of political movements like the Tea Party
can be traced back in part to the conversion of the Democratic
South to a Republican stronghold, a conversion due in part to
the policies of LBJ. Has the United States evolved into the Great
Society envisioned by LBJ?
Written by Emma Watt, Rose Woodbury, and Scott Koh.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) Ask an adult in your life about their memories of the ‘60s.
How do their experiences compare to what you see onstage?
2) How would you evaluate LBJ’s presidency? If he were a
candidate today, would you vote for him?
3) What is a “Great Society”? What does social justice mean to you?
4) What political stories from today do you think we will be talking
about 50 years from now?
All the Way
The Great Society
Accidental president. Brilliant politician. Flawed man.
The minute you gain power, you start to lose it.
It’s 1963 and an assassin’s bullet catapults Lyndon
From 1965 to 1968, LBJ struggled to pass some of the
Baines Johnson into the presidency. A Shakespearean
most important social programs in U.S. history. The
figure of towering ambition and appetite, the
Great Society depicts the larger-than-life politician’s
charismatic and conflicted Texan hurls himself into Civil
tragic fall from grace, as his legislative War on Poverty
Rights legislation, throwing the country into turmoil.
is overshadowed by the escalation of the Vietnam War.
November 14, 2014—January 4, 2015 December 5, 2014—January 4, 2015
By Robert Schenkkan
Directed by Bill Rauch
in partnership with Oregon Shakespeare Festival
#seattlerep
The Civil Rights Movement
Meet the Political Players
GAINING MOMENTUM FOR EQUALITY
All the Way and The Great Society
are historical dramas, and the
characters on stage are fictionalized
portrayals of real people. Sometimes,
the dialogue on stage has been
copied directly from speeches or
papers written by the political figures.
Other times, their words are the work
of the playwright’s imagination.
When Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) stepped into the role of President after John F.
Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, he not only took on the great challenge of leading
a grieving nation but the task of passing bills which Kennedy had endorsed. One of
these bills was to become the Civil Rights Act of 1964, legislation which was strongly
opposed by Southern Democrats.
LIFE UNDER JIM CROW
Although federal law abolished slavery in 1865, a system of state and local laws
known as Jim Crow continued to limit every aspect of African American freedom.
Laws justified racial segregation by labeling African Americans “separate but equal.”
If you were a black teenager living in the ‘60s before the Civil Rights Act, you
attended different schools than your white peers with outdated textbooks, poorly
maintained buildings, and far fewer teachers. You couldn’t wait in the same waiting
rooms or sit in the same part of a bus, go out for ice cream in the same stores, or be
buried in the same graveyard as a white person.
PRESIDENT LYNDON
BAINES JOHNSON (LBJ)
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), run by Dr.
King, was the largest of the civil
rights groups, and organized
through black churches.
Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee
(SNCC) organized young
people for civil rights
demonstrations.
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP), the oldest
civil rights group in the play,
favored legislative action
over protests.
One of the most notable achievements of
Johnson’s presidency, the Civil Rights Act,
outlawed segregation and discrimination
based on race, gender or religion in hiring,
promoting and firing. Outlawing segregation
meant that blacks and whites now had the
legal right to attend the same schools and to
patronize the same establishments.
enough in this country
Walter Jenkins
Chief Aide
to the President
His even temperament and ability to
gracefully navigate tense situations
made him one of Johnson’s top aides.
UNLIKELY ALLIES
Hubert Humphrey
Vice President, Liberal Democrat
Humphrey was a strong advocate for civil rights
and social programs. He ardently supported LBJ, at
least in the public eye. Behind the scenes, the two
argued about Vietnam War policies.
“This is not a jungle war, but a
struggle for freedom on every
Ralph Abernathy
Civil Rights Leader
front of human activity.”—LBJ
A close associate of MLK, Abernathy
helped lead the SCLC and the 1968
March on Washington.
We have talked for
one hundred years or
more. It is time now to
write the next chapter,
and to write it in the
books of law.” —LBJ
Boy from rural Texas turned behindthe-scenes master of Congress; the
“accidental” president was thrust into
the public eye with the assassination
of John F. Kennedy. At one of the most
volatile moments in American history,
suddenly politicians, journalists, soldiers
and activists are all asking, “What does
LBJ want?”
Richard Russell
Senator from Georgia,
Southern Democrat
Despite being LBJ’s close friend and political
mentor, Russell led the Southern Democrats,
a group of white senators and congressmen
determined to block civil rights progress.
Photo credits:
Left panel: Signs during Jim Crow, 1963 March on Washington
Middle panel: LBJ’s War on Poverty outreach
Right panel: Vietnam War protests
J. Edgar Hoover
First Director of the FBI
Wallace threatened civil rights from the
governor’s mansion while challenging Johnson
in the 1964 Democratic Primary.
Robert F. Kennedy
Senator from New York,
Liberal Democrat
The younger brother and closest advisor to
late President John F. Kennedy, Robert was
a powerful and charismatic Democratic
leader—and no fan of Johnson’s.
INTERNAL UNREST:
“WHY ARE WE IN VIETNAM?”
Whether they were protesting outside the White House, or arguing
at the dinner table, by 1968 over half the country was asking,
“Why are we in Vietnam?”
The answer was never simple. After World War II, France tried
to take control of Vietnam, leading to eight years of conflict,
400,000 causalities, and the rise of communist leader Ho Chi
Minh. When the French surrendered, President Eisenhower sent in
military advisors to prop up the new South Vietnamese government,
a policy Kennedy continued despite corrupt leadership in South
Vietnam. When the corrupt government fell apart, Johnson sent in
troops to protect decades of investment in the region.
LBJ’S ACHILLES’ HEEL:
INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATION
Hoover ran the Federal Bureau of
Investigation for 48 years under six
presidents. A keeper of personal and
political secrets, his agenda was his own.
As he had done when seeking election in 1964, LBJ downplayed
the war to the American public. He made few speeches about
it and chose to focus on his domestic agenda with the Great
Society programs. While LBJ was adept at building relationships
domestically by bargaining and bartering with local politicians, he
was not able to apply these skills as easily to conflicts overseas.
STAUNCH OPPONENTS
Governor George Wallace
Alabama Governor,
Southern Democrat
U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War did not begin or end with
President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ). When LBJ stepped into
office, he relied on Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and
other advisers from the Kennedy administration for foreign policy
expertise and military leadership. Thrust into office, LBJ chose to
focus on the 1964 presidential election, knowing that increased
involvement in Vietnam would not be smart politically. After LBJ won
the election, however, incidents overseas made the Vietnam conflict
increasingly complex and impossible to set aside.
But why protect a corrupt government? Fear of nuclear war with
Soviet Russia was tangible during the Cold War (1946—1991).
According to the so-called “Domino Theory,” if South Vietnam
became communist, so would nearby countries like Laos, Thailand,
and even Australia, threatening American security in a region
dominated by communist China and Soviet Russia. To a Cold War
generation, victory in Vietnam was a matter of national security.
FAIR WEATHER FANS
about equal rights.
Many have questioned Johnson’s true motivation in passing the Civil Rights Act.
Was he a true believer in equal opportunity for all Americans, or was passing the
bill a pragmatic move to avoid further violence and gain the support of a substantial
minority vote?
Horizons Foundation
The Loeb Family Charitable Foundations
National Corporate Theatre Fund
Fales Foundation Trust
AT&T Foundation
A shrewd manager of LBJ’s campaigns, she
was also a lifelong advocate for beautifying
the nation’s cities and highways.
From his “I Have a Dream” speech to the
Nobel Peace Prize, King galvanized a nation
to fight racial oppression using nonviolent
resistance. A master of activism and political
strategy, he also advocated for urban poverty
relief and was against the war in Vietnam.
“We have talked long
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR EDUCATION SPONSORS:
National Endowment for the Arts
Thomas Wright & Alexandra Brouwer-Wright
The Chisholm Foundation
Washington State Arts Commission
U.S. Bank Foundation
Lady Bird Johnson
LBJ’s wife
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
(MLK)
Civil Rights Leader
MOVING TOWARD JUSTICE
CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS
AN INHERITED WAR
LBJ LOYALISTS
U.S. President:
November 1963—January 1969
African Americans were prevented from voting through laws requiring poll taxes and
literacy tests. They faced blatant discrimination in hiring practices and home ownership,
police brutality, false accusations of rape and murder, and daily verbal abuse. Even
in the North, where Jim Crow laws were less common, these forms of discrimination
existed, resulting in de facto segregation between black and white Americans.
LBJ and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. met less than
two months after Kennedy’s assassination.
Each man had already spoken highly of the
other and an alliance on civil rights was
imminent. Johnson also worked with several
civil rights activist groups to help pass the
Civil Rights Act.
The Vietnam War
Barry Goldwater
1964 Presidential Nominee,
Republican
Goldwater ran against LBJ for the presidency
in 1964. Though ultimately he lost the election,
Goldwater was credited with the resurgence of the
American conservative political movement.
Many Americans came to see the Vietnam conflict as a civil war
which had gone on for decades and could not be resolved by U.S.
intervention. Because no American president had lost a war, and
Johnson was determined not to be the first, he believed that if he
persisted in demonstrating America’s strength, Ho Chi Minh would
come to the bargaining table as was common in his dealings with
American politicians.
Ultimately, by the time LBJ left office in 1968, the conflict in Vietnam
had overshadowed his many domestic accomplishments.