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John A. Andrew

Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society (American Ways) Paperback – February 9, 1999

by John A. Andrew III (Author)

16 ratings

Part of: American Ways (45 books)

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Lyndon Johnson's Great Society was the most ambitious and controversial American reform effort since the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt. Conceived in a time of prosperity rather than devastating depression, it sought to forge a consensus that rested on ideals rather than harsh economic realities. In this narrative analysis, John Andrew examines the underlying ideas and principal objectives of Great Society legislation in the areas of civil rights, poverty, health, education, urban life, and consumer issues―legislation that addressed some of the most important and complex problems facing American society in the mid-1960s. These efforts in some way touched the lives of most Americans. But, as Mr. Andrew points out, LBJ's consensus could persist only by avoiding divisive issues. As times changed and the economy deteriorated, the mood of the nation shifted, and the ideals of the mid-sixties collapsed in the face of ideological and political polarization. In the end, as Mr. Andrew shows, much of the Great Society failed along with the idealism that had sparked it. Yet the issues it addressed proved so intractable that the search for solutions continues to generate political controversy even today.

Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Ivan R. Dee
Publication date

February 9, 1999
Dimensions

5.51 x 0.69 x 8.38 inches
ISBN-10

1566631858
ISBN-13

978-1566631853
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A must read for everyone.” ― Rapport

“Concise and cogent...an evenhanded analysis of the legacy of the Great Society.” -- A. J. Dunar ― Choice

“Andrew takes on all of the major policy initiatives of the period in admirable detail...a remarkable feat.” -- Richard Flanagan ― H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online

“Sprightly...a valuable addition to the current research on arguably the most turbulent American decade of the twentieth century.” -- H. Warren Gardner ― Presidential Studies Quarterly

“Andrew's aim is to see the Great Society clearly, free of the distortions of partisan politics, and to an impressive degree he succeeds.” -- Jonathan Yardley ― The Review of Higher Education

About the Author

John A. Andrew III died shortly after completing the writing of Power to Destroy. He was professor of history at Franklin & Marshall College and the author of The Other Side of the Sixties, among other books.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ivan R. Dee (February 9, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1566631858
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1566631853
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.51 x 0.69 x 8.38 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,261,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,662 in Public Affairs & Administration (Books)
- #2,152 in Government Social Policy
- #2,982 in General Elections & Political Process

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Peder004

A great look at the Great Society

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2018

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This book provides an in depth look at President Johnson, his political ideology and worldview, and the man behind the incredibly ambition Great Society!

Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2013

Verified Purchase

This book blew my mind. I had to read it for my social policy class and it depressed me. The politics of the time, lack of support and mismanagement of funds and of course the civil rights movements, black rights and the continuance of the welfare state and its new face. madness.

One person found this helpful

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btrimble

Puts Johnson in a new light

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2018

Verified Purchase

Never thought much of Johnson but after reading this book, he accomplished some amazing steps in the area of civil rights.

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2016

As expected

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2014

Verified Purchase

Have not read. Will provide an update as soon as I do.

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Scrapple8

The Affluent Society begat the Great Society

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2015

Everybody knows that Lyndon Baines Johnson took over as president of the United States for John F. Kennedy after Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Johnson was elected to the presidency in his own right in November 1964, by a large margin over Arizona Republican Barry Goldwater. Near the beginning of his political career, Johnson was called ‘landslide Lyndon’ as a joke because of the narrow margin of his victory in a Senatorial campaign, but now the term accurately described Johnson’s mandate. Unfortunately, the mandate failed to last, the dream soon died, and hope faded away. Johnson became vastly unpopular due to his escalation of the War in Vietnam, his secrecy in his decisions to escalate the war and hide its costs, and the images of body-bags on the nightly news broadcasts. Some of that unpopularity seeped into the public’s view of Johnson’s domestic program, particularly his Great Society. Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society by John Andrew III is a wonderful overview of Johnson’s idealistic vision for America.

Andrew broke up the Great Society into five chapters: 1) From Civil Rights to Race, 2) The War on Poverty, 3) Health and Education, 4) Model Cities, and 5) Quality of Life. A final chapter assessed the Great Society, in which the author corrected ‘an attempt to demonize the past and influence history.’

Quality of Life actually encompassed several issues: consumer rights, beautification & environmental protection, the arts & humanities, and crime. Some of the other chapters contain overlapping issues too. For instance, the War on Poverty had a civil rights component; better health coverage reduced poverty as much as it provided access to health care services for some people who didn’t have it; and housing -- part of the Model Cities chapter -- also had a component of civil rights. Still, the author did a good job of outlining the various programs of the Great Society and organizing them along topical lines.

Andrew joined Joseph Califano as a defender of the Great Society; with both people feeling that the Conservative Revolution generally associated with Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich had unfairly attacked various programs of the Great Society. “I focus on the underlying ideas and principal objectives of the original Great Society legislation, not on later amendments adopted during other (chiefly Republican) administrations,” explained Andrew in his introductory chapter.

God Bless You, Eliot Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut in a charming novel about the author's opinion of the Great Society. This book is more informative about the specific details of the programs encompassing the Great Society. After reading this book, I plan to take a closer look at the other works in the American Way Series, listed on the last page of the paperback copy of the book that I read.

**

On page 54 in this book, you will notice the following sentence:

Two months later the Supreme Court rendered these efforts somewhat unnecessary when it decided in Jones vs. Alfred H. Mayer Co. that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibited racial discrimination in housing. This is not a misprint, although one might suspect that it is, considering the previous paragraphs discussed the Civil Rights Acts of the Johnson Administration. According to wikipedia, The Civil Rights Act of 1866 (passed by Congress over the veto of Andrew Johnson) provided the basis for the decision in Jones vs. Alfred H. Mayer Co, which held that that Congress could regulate the sale of private property in order to prevent racial discrimination.

3 people found this helpful

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Todd Carlsen

A Decent Look at the Great Society

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2004

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. I walked away thinking a lot of the Great Society was political favors down through the political machine that did not work, like CAP and Model cities. There were achievements too before the Vietnam War, Guns and Butter, would put the nation into inflation, and civil rights would fracture the New Deal political coalition.

In defense of the Great Society, despite some failures, high school graduation rates doubled, and college graduations tripled. Poverty was almost cut in half (although the ways that was measured and means (like simply raising amount paid through Social Security and increasing the future burden_, even if the underlying causes of poverty 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.

9 people found this helpful

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Alexander Tsesis

Finally a Book that Focuses on Great Society Programs

Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 1999

Andrew has written an interesting and informative book about some of the programs that created vital opportunities for indigent people to escape poverty. Andrew discusses the key laws Johnson passed to improve the lives of Americans, including Civil Rights Act of 1964, Medicaid, Medicare, Head Start and many others. As a historical account of legislative acts it is excellent, and on that point it deserves five stars. However, when Andrew discusses how the Great Society affect later laws, the book becomes quite week. In fact it seems like Andrew wrote the bulk of the work in the eighties and only later interspersed a few sentences about the nineties. The index is also a bit sparse and could have been more detailed. This book is, nevertheless, a good read and deserves the attention of persons interested in the Johnson administration.

9 people found this helpful

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