Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society (The American Ways Series) |
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Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society (The American Ways Series)
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by John A. Andrew
Sales Rank: 959009
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List Price: $12.95
$12.95
At Amazon
on 9-12-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 224 pages
Published by: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher February 25, 1999
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 1566631858
ISBN 13 Number: 978-1566631853
Book Dimensions:
8.3 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
Weighs: 9.1 ounces
From Publishers Weekly
This succinct survey of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society initiative and its aftermath recounts the genesis and fates of the various programs that today will evoke a wave of nostalgia in those old enough to remember them, inter alia, the War on Poverty, Model Cities, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Head Start. Andrew (The Other Side of the Sixties) is fair and humane as he dissects the individual components of the Great Society and evaluates their successes and failures while pointing out what he considers to have been flaws in the conception and design of some of the programs. Citing the period of the mid-'60s that gave birth to the Great Society as "a liberal interlude unmatched in the twentieth century and unlikely to recur in the foreseeable future," Andrew argues that the biggest failure of the Great Society was "its lack of understanding and appreciation for the challenges it confronted. Once Americans saw the scope of the task, its complexity and costs overwhelmed them." This account is especially useful for helping us understand why though we're a people of wildly differing extremes of wealth, we have been dismantling federal welfare for our citizens.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Booklist
Andrew displays a remarkable evenhandedness in this essay on the still-controversial Great Society. Rather than ruminate on whether Johnson's expensive dreams were successes or failures--opinions about which still animate contemporary politics--Andrew concentrates on what the main programs of the Great Society were, how they emerged from Congress, and how political support for them evaporated as they were implemented. Andrew illustrates the collapse of consensus by 1968 in his discussion of the 1964 Civil Rights Act; opposition to the Great Society mounted as, it seemed to opponents, the principle of equality of opportunity gave way to equality of results. Andrew then takes up the War on Poverty, the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid, "model cities" programs, environmental protection, and cultural funding. Delivering an overview of the events, such as riots and "black power" militancy, that either alienated crucial white, middle-class support for LBJ's vision or cemented it, as with guaranteed old-age medical care, Andrew renders a balanced introduction to the mixed bag that was the Great Society. Gilbert Taylor
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society (American Ways Series) (Hardcover)
This book looks at the government policy view of Great Society programs. It is flawed in that it detaches the Great Society legislation from LBJ's political skills, the nation at the time, and the political environment at the time. Many Great Society programs have provided a hand-up to success, better medical care, less polution, and much more. I would rank college funding very high, along with health care for the elderly. However, the book details that Great Society was also misguided in some ways. The urban renewal programs were flops. CAP and Model Cities come to mind as being especially inept. It was these Great Society programs that Reagan railed against as "big government, and correctly so. Hoever, much of the Great Society was a great success. High school graduation rates doubled, and college graduations tripled. Poverty was almost cut in half, even if the underlying caused sometimes remained (Johnson failed in his proposal to reform welfare). Head Start has helped tens of millions of children prepare for school. Pollution of the air, soil, and water was greatly reduced. Mass transit we take for granted in many cities was built. Medicare has served a couple hundred million people, when before few elderly people had health care of any kind. The number of doctors graduating doubled. Good medical centers became far more widespread, and medical excellence in our society reached new heights through research and funding. Life expectancy has jumped substantially. We owe our advances in medicine in large part to the programs of the Great Society. The National Endowment for the Arts has greatly expanded the arts in the nation. And how about public TV? So there were successes, and there were failures. This points out what is going right, what could be done better, or what should just be left alone. The author suggests that LBJ should have imposed more radical means to save costs (such as health care) and ensure proper outcomes; accountability. However, that was not possible at the time. Johnson, the politician of amazing instincts and legislative power, rammed his massive programs through while the window of opportunity was there after his landslide election, leaving it to later leaders to review his work later. He rammed so many bills through Congress that some of the details were a little sloppy. Which brings us to this book.
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Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society (The American Ways Series)
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Price: $12.95
Updated on 9-12-2008.
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