SECTION 4 : The New Frontier and the Great Society

It was Kennedy’s idea of a programme to get the USA going again. He believed that the country had been allowed to stagnate under Eisenhower. He tried to appeal to the younger generation by referring to the pioneering spirit of the nineteenth century.

The programme included

• Deliberately not balancing the budget to increase economic growth and reduce unemployment.

• A programme of public works that cost $900,000,000.

• A general tax cut and an increase in the minimum wage from $1.00 to $1.25

These were all very successful, although the real effects were only felt after Kennedy’s death.

Less successful were Medicare, a system of state health insurance, improvements in education and housing.

• The Area Redevelopment Act, which allowed the Federal Government to give loans and grants to states with long term unemployment.

• The Manpower and Training Act that provided retraining for the unemployed.

• The Housing Act that provided cheap loans for the redevelopment of inner cities.

What was The Great Society?

• The Medical Care Act, which provided Medicare (for the old) and Medicaid (for the poor) tried to ensure equal access to health for all.

• The Appalachian Recovery programme applied the idea of FDR’s TVA to another run-down area.

• The Office of Economic Opportunity set up schemes to help poor people in inner cities: education, loans, community projects. This was the basis of Johnson’s Programme for Poverty.

• The Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided the first major federal support for state education ever.

• The Model Cities Act continued Kennedy’s policy of urban renewal.

• At the beginning of his presidency, Johnson took advantage of the sympathy for the government after the death of Kennedy.

• Later the policies brought huge opposition from both Republicans and members of his own party, the Democrats.

• Johnson also had to wind many of his projects down because of the cost of the Vietnam War.

• Eventually Johnson himself was worn down by the Vietnam War and decided not to stand for re-election in 1968.