Lyndon Baines Johnson

Birth-Death: (1908 - 1973 ) Term: (1963-1969 )

President Johnson began to fully implement his Great Society program after his election. Johnson had experienced the despair of poverty first hand growing up in rural Texas where he had taught students living in the depths of poverty. Under his administration, the nation took enormous strides towards improving the living standard of all Americans.

Domestic Events of Lyndon Johnson

    The major issue during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson was the Civil Rights issue. After the 1954 decision of Brown vs. Board of Education declared segregation unconstitutional under the fourteenth amendment, the south was still not participating actively in desegregation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed quickly after a three-month long filibuster in the Senate was ended by a cloture vote. It had many important provisions, but for the most part it forced segregation onto the Southern States and threatened the states with action from the Attorney General if the law was not followed.

    The general economic situation of the nation also changed with Johnsonıs presidency. The income tax cut in 1964 had reduced taxes by about three percent in the income tax brackets. The same year Johnson declared his war on poverty. $947 million was spent setting up job-training centers, providing loans to low-income families, giving aid to needy college students and providing the people with basic education. Medicare went up a year later. It provided payment of medical expenses to a large majority of people 65 and over.