President Johnson: The Good Overlooked
...cutes policy on housing and cities and it still exists to this day. Other programs Johnson brought in to help look after everybody in the United States were Medicare and Medicaid. These health insurance programs provided the elderly and the disabled with the health insurance that they needed. They also helped low income individuals and families get health insurance as well. Linked to Johnson’s plan of the Great Society was the fact that America had too many people suffering from poverty. Lyndon Johnson also focused on the War on Poverty. He strongly felt that America had to eliminate poverty the best it could so the country could benefit as a whole. In one of Johnson’s speeches he said, “This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America” (Wikipedia). He knew America’s situation with poverty at the time was not good at all. In a book called The Other America by Michael Harrington, it was shown that not many people were aware of Americas growing poverty. Harrington claimed that up to one quarter of Americans were poor and went on to say: The United States contains an underdeveloped nation, a culture of poverty. Its inhabitants do not suffer the extreme poverty of the peasants of Asia…yet the mechanism of the misery is similar. They are beyond history, beyond progress, sunk in a paralyzing, maiming routine. (History of a Free Nation-958) This book was an eye-opener for many in the United States, but Johnson was already doing whatever he could to try and eliminate this problem. One program Johnson created was VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), which was a domestic version of the Peace Corps. This program increased employment opportunities for conscientious people who felt they could contribute to the War on Poverty. Volunteers worked in communities throughout the United States, focusing on enriching educational programs and special training for the nation’s underprivileged classes. VISTA was introduced under the Economic Oppurtunity Act (EOA) in 1964. Along with VISTA, Job Corps is another program that was introduced under the EOA. Job Corps is a program in the United States which is run by various agencies for disadvantaged and at-risk youth to give them a job and the social skills they need to succeed in the workplace. Head Start is another program that was introduced in order to help people in America who struggle through poverty. The project was designed to help end poverty by providing preschool children from low-income families with a program that would meet emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs. The program continues on today helping different generations of preschool children and their families. These programs Johnson put in are just a few of the many things he did to fight the War on Poverty. Johnson passed more legislation involving the War on Poverty in the first 100 days then any ...