The Great Society was a series of domestic initiatives announced in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson at Ann Arbor, Michigan. A main focus of these social reforms to "end to poverty and racial injustice" was the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The efforts also helped establish the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Other programs included:
The Great Society was never fully funded because of the Vietnam War, which drained available resources. It was heavily critized by e.g. Charles Murray in his 'Losing Ground' book in 1984 as being ineffective and creating an underclass of lazy citizens. It was later partially overturned by President Ronald Reagan's first budget.
External links
- Great Society speech http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/great.html
- Outline of American History - Lyndon Johnson and Great Society http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/H/1994/ch12_p2.htm