Chapter 8, The Great society Summary and Analysis

When Lyndon Johnson spoke at the University of Michigan, he used and broadly defined the "Great Society" which he envisioned for America. Generally, this term referred to a series of programs of relief for the poor, increased job opportunities and wages, assistance to senior citizens, equal educational opportunity, and more, that Johnson hoped to implement during his first fully elected term of office. He wanted to think of himself as the new FDR, reigning over an America in which everyone worked and prospered.

To accomplish his goals, Johnson created a task force for each area to be reformed. The duty of the task force was to identify the problems and design legislation setting up programs to attack the identified problems. Once the legislation was designed, Johnson pushed it through Congress. Taking once again the paternalistic...