Throughout history, when historians consider the success of the Great Society, a divide appears, one side believing that the Great Society was a total failure and a huge waste of government money, conversely the other side believing that the Great Society really improved the American life and was a worthwhile plan. Two notable historians, George F. Will and Joseph Califano butt heads in this argument. Califano, who worked closely with Lyndon B. Johnson, believes that the Great Society was a huge success, which rebuts Will’s ideas that the Great Society caused over dependency on the national government and its provisions. Califano believes that the Great Society’s legislations brought down the poverty level and improved Americans lives in many
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Before the Great Society many minorities felt betrayed by the government because they were not receiving equal treatment. many poor people were left to start on the street and many African Americans felt left out of politics. programs such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the Omnibus Housing Bill of 1965 caused these problems to diminish, and gave American society more hopeful outlook for the future. Lyndon B. Johnson referred to the Omnibus Housing Bill of 1965 as the “‘single most important breakthrough’ in housing in decades”. This bill “provided hefty rent subsidies for low-income people who moved into new housing projects, created grants to help low income homeowners rehabilitate their properties, aided small businesses displaced by urban renewal and grants to rehabilitate blighted urban property”. Because of this act many poor people’s living conditions greatly improved thus improving the general welfare of poor people in the United States. Another act the improved the general welfare of the United States was the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law “outlawed discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion or sex,” but it also “authorized the attorney general to bring lawsuits again schools practicing segregation”. In addition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
Before the Great Society many minorities felt betrayed by the government because they were not receiving equal treatment. many poor people were left to start on the street and many African Americans felt left out of politics. programs such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the Omnibus Housing Bill of 1965 caused these problems to diminish, and gave American society more hopeful outlook for the future. Lyndon B. Johnson referred to the Omnibus Housing Bill of 1965 as the “‘single most important breakthrough’ in housing in decades”. This bill “provided hefty rent subsidies for low-income people who moved into new housing projects, created grants to help low income homeowners rehabilitate their properties, aided small businesses displaced by urban renewal and grants to rehabilitate blighted urban property”. Because of this act many poor people’s living conditions greatly improved thus improving the general welfare of poor people in the United States. Another act the improved the general welfare of the United States was the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law “outlawed discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion or sex,” but it also “authorized the attorney general to bring lawsuits again schools practicing segregation”. In addition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964,