The Great Society free essay sample

What is the Great Society? Lyndon Johnson came up with the Great Society of the 1960s. It helps with education and people in poverty. Medicaid and Medicare are also two big parts of the Great Society during the 1960s. Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908. Johnson graduated from high school, at the age of 15, as a valedictorian, in 1924. When Johnson finally went to college, his tuition was only forty-five dollars per year. He went to South West Texas State Teachers College. He graduated at age 21, on August 17, 1930 (Morgan Reynolds Inc. ). Once Johnson graduated, he taught at the school. He was the principal and coach of the Debate Team. Johnson was offered a job as a US Representative and he accepted. Sadly, December 7, 1931, Johnson walked out of Union State in Washington D. C. He married Lady Bird three years later on November 24, 1934 (Morgan Reynolds Inc. ). What started Johnson to help society is when he saw his seventh and eighth graders digging in the trash, looking for something to eat. He decided to start a school’s lunch program after seeing that. He also came up with the idea of building â€Å"Roadside Parks† (Morgan Reynolds Inc. ). Johnson combined Civil Rights Act of 1964 and federal programs into a vision and that is how â€Å"The Great Society† all started. Johnson asked students to fight for four battles: Civil Rights, against poverty, and finally for the Great Society, which seeks a â€Å"richer life of mind and spirit† (LBJ Launches 1). July 30, 1965, one of the 90 laws for his Great Society, that was passed was Medicare (Devaney 100). Medicare became as much a part of America as Social Security (Devaney 116). President Truman said, â€Å"I’ve wanted the Medicare Act you’ll sign today for a long time. † when Johnson passed the law. Medicare Act will help pay medical bills for Americans of the age 65 or older (Wilmore 15). The Medicare program was a first step toward creating the system of national insurance. It provided federal funding for many of the medical cost of older Americans. It also overcame the bitter resistance to the idea of socialized medicine (Brinkley 471). Medicare did not carry the stigma that was attached to Medicaid, to some people (Naples). In 1963, most elderly Americans had no health insurance. Since 1965, 79 million Americans have signed up for Medicare. Democrats tried to preserve and expand Great Society programs such as Medicare. Medicare has had a defining impact on American families (Califano, Jr. ). Since 1966, Medicaid has served more than 200 million needy Americans (Califano, Jr. ). Medicaid is one of the largest Great Society programs (Brinkley 472). This healthcare system was said to be in crisis. This led people to fear that poverty might ne one severe illness or accident away (Sherrow 10). Health care payments come from public providers such as Medicaid (Sherrow 18). Congress approved the Medicaid program in 1967, to finance health care for the poor (Sherrow 39). People who qualified for Medicaid could choose among private services as well as public clinics and university outpatient departments. Medicaid gave millions of people more access to care although many physicians and providers chose not to accept Medicaid patients. Some administered their own Medicaid programs (Sherrow 39). By the 1970s, both Medicare and Medicaid provided coverage for all ages, poor, disabled, unemployed, blind, those who were unable to work, and dependent children with one parent (Sherrow 44). The Great Society is the latest stage in the evolution of Woodrow Wilson’s progressivism and Franklin Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights liberalism (LBJ Launches 1). The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands to end poverty and racial in justice. The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his/her mind and to enlarge his/her talents (Johnson 3). It is a challenge constantly renewed beckoning us toward a destiny where the meaning of our lives matches the marvelous products of our labor. The Great Society was built to prove that our material progress is only the foundation (Lyndon 4). The Great Society was so we can build a richer life of mind and spirit. Woodrow Wilson once wrote: â€Å"Every man sent out from his university should be a man of his nation as well as a man of his time† (Lyndon 4). The Great Society is a term used to describe antipoverty legislation. The Great Society legislation targeted poor communities and individuals living in poverty as well as educational and employment practices (Naples). Education was another one of the Great Society’s main programs (LBJ Launches 1). Johnson’s Great Society articulates the vision of the students for a democratic society (LBJ Launches 2). The Great Society’s higher education legislation with scholarships, and etc. , is opened to any American with the necessary brains and ambition. The Great Society had a bilingual education designed to teach Hispanics subjects like math and history. These special educational programs have helped millions of children with learning disabilities (Califano, Jr. ). Expanding educational opportunities was one of the goals for the Great Society. 1965 Health Professions Educational Assistance Act provided resources to double the number of doctors graduating from medical schools. Educational programs such as Sesame Street, has also given the nation countless bows of fine arts (Califano, Jr. ). Parents send their children to college often with assistance with the Great Society higher programs like the Educational Act. It was announced at Ohio University that new majors spending programs that addressed education, medical care, urban problems, and transportation were launched during this period of the Great Society. Education was central to opening up the promise of American life to all. With the 1965 Secondary Education Act, the Great Society, for the first time, committed the federal government to helping local school districts (Califano, Jr. ). The goal of the Democratic Party under the leadership of President Johnson, is chiefly to enact domestic programs to improve education, provide medical care for the aged and to eliminate poverty. Johnson had so many goals for the society, in which many people took heed to. People may not know, but the Great Society is actually still going on today. Medicaid and Medicare, Educational Programs such as Job Corp, and many other programs of Johnson, has helped people lives until this day.