Great Society (U.S.) Further reading: Dittmer, Lowell Liu Shao-ch’i and the Chinese Cultural Revolution: The Politics of Mass Criticism Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975; Gao, Yuan Born Red: A Chronicle of the Cultural Revolution Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987; MacFarquhar, Roderick, and Michael Schoenhals Mao’s Last Revolution Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006; Thurston, Ann F Enemies of the People: The Ordeal of Intellectuals in China’s Great Cultural Revolution Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986 Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur Great Society (U.S.) President Lyndon B Johnson’s Great Society was an aggressive agenda of domestic legislative reforms Introduced at a speech given at the University of Michigan in May 1964, Johnson’s list of programs seemed limitless, and would lead, he hoped, to better schools, better health, better cities, safer highways, a more beautiful nation, support for the arts, and more equality By the time Johnson became president, he had already had three decades of political experience During his tenure in Congress, he had experienced New Deal legislation and the mobilization of resources against enemies in World War II Once he became president, Johnson decided to use all of the powers given to him to extend and even surpass the New Deal’s progressive record With his landslide victory in the 1964 election, he had a powerful mandate and a large Democratic majority in Congress These factors gave Johnson what he needed to carry out his plan He was particularly interested in equality of opportunity, improved urban conditions, an improved educational system, ending poverty, and implementing racial justice The Housing and Urban Development Act was put into effect in 1965 It offered reduced interest rates to builders of housing for the poor and elderly In addition, it allocated funds for urban beautification programs, health programs, recreation centers, and improvements to inner-city housing and provided a rent-supplement program for the poor To streamline and control programs, the law made it mandatory that all applications for federal aid to cities be approved by city or regional planning agencies To administer the new programs, Congress created a new cabinet secretary and agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development In 1964 Congress granted nearly $400 million for masstransit planning In 1966 Congress allocated even more 177 funds for that purpose, and created a new agency, the Department of Transportation, to administer them The Model Cities Act of 1966 granted $1.2 billion for slum clearance and removal The goal of the act was to revitalize inner-city life in many respects, including housing, schools, job training, recreation, and health care The law gave funds to new model communities Another of Johnson’s goals was to improve the quality of education Johnson, a former teacher, envisioned the Great Society as one in which all children could enrich their minds To achieve this, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed in 1965 and allocated over $1 billion for programs to aid children who were seen as educationally deprived The bulk of that money went to schools in poor districts However, the bill also targeted bilingual education for Hispanic children and the education of disabled children In addition to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Higher Education Act was also passed in 1965 This act created a federal scholarship and loan program for college students and provided library grants to colleges and universities to increase their resources These two acts had an enormous impact on the state of education in the United States, but also increased government expenditures substantially In 1965 alone, government spending on education was over $4 billion The Great Society drastically improved the state of healthcare Johnson’s Medicare bill was enacted by Congress in 1965 and provided health insurance for all Americans over the age of 65 Medicare was initially provided with a fund of $6.5 billion, with long-range funding to come from increased social security payroll deductions To increase the number of health professionals, Congress passed funding for nursing and medical schools and provided scholarships for students to enter those fields Medicare’s companion program, Medicaid, administered through state welfare systems, provided healthcare for poor Americans Preserving the environment and national splendor was another of Johnson’s Great Society goals Johnson sought to combat the effects of industrialization, which included shrinking wilderness areas, vanishing species of wildlife, a degradation of the landscape, and pollution During Johnson’s presidency, Congress passed nearly 300 pieces of legislation relating to beautification, pollution, and conservation—amounting to expenditures of $12 billion Another aspect of Johnson’s Great Society was the “war on poverty.” One of the largest pieces of legislation passed to wage the war on poverty was the Economic Opportunity Act, passed in August 1964 The act had 10 major parts Head Start offered basic skills