Was the "Great Society" a success or failure?

[civ_king]

All I know is that he was a good general who went around demolishing castles

 

[Azale]

A dismal failure; trillions squandered.

Where in God's green Earth would that money have been better spent? More bombs in 'Nam?

 

[Bronx Warlord]

LBJ did a lot of great things, not many understand that due to a little place called Vietnam. I think it was a failure due to that war and the unrest it caused.

 

[Kraznaya]

LBJ did a lot of great things, not many understand that due to a little place called Vietnam. I think it was a failure due to that war and the unrest it caused.

I don't think the "Great Society" umbrella includes the Vietnam War, though.

 

[Bronx Warlord]

I don't think the "Great Society" umbrella includes the Vietnam War, though.

It definately does on many levels. Racial equality? Sure, after we drop some Naplam on the land of our Allies. They were just little yellow people though so it diden't count?

 

[Kraznaya]

It definately does on many levels. Racial equality? Sure, after we drop some Naplam on the land of our Allies. They were just little yellow people though so it diden't count?

But the Great Society could have been done without all of LBJ's policies correct? So a historical referendum solely on the Great Society and not on LBJ is reasonable.

 

[Bronx Warlord]

But the Great Society could have been done without all of LBJ's policies correct? So a historical referendum solely on the Great Society and not on LBJ is reasonable.

You can't talk about one without the other. He tried to make a lot of changes for sure, he really felt he was doing the right thing. Yet you can't save America and fight in Vietnam, it just does not work. Racial and Political riots, the anti war movement and the Great Society were all in the same time frame. To me that speaks volumes about just what exactly took place in the late 60's

 

[El_Machinae]

I think the goals are very good. I never underestimate people's seemingly insistence to stay in poverty, or for social cultures to be self-destructive no matter what advantages they're given.

Psychology has made good advances on figuring out what racism is and sociology has figured out many causes of poverty. But getting the public to learn and incorporate these data is not always easy.

 

[Cutlass]

It was the right thing to do, not very well executed. So a qualified success.

 

[GoodGame]

Qualified success. Certainly helped a lot of people but created its share of problems down the road.

I think this is the most accurate statement, though I'd cite this as why it was a mediocre success. In protecting the environment, cementing civil rights and starting federal aid for education, it was a good thing, but probably misguided in the other areas.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

A doesn't always lead to B. I have Oliver Cromwell as my avatar; I'm obviously planning regicide

Good. I like you more for it.

FWIW, I'm actually a female French prostitute singer from the 1950s. Just a little FYI.

As for the Great Society, I have mixed feelings about it. While the Voting Rights Act and other legislation aimed at racial equality has been a success, what should have been the crowning moment of that trend, an Equal Rights Amendment, failed. Medicare and Medicaid have worked rather well, but are in serious need of reform. That is obviously not Johnson's fault, though. I think it could have performed a lot better had our full attention been focused on it, rather than that needless foray into Southeast Asia.

 

[downtown]

I voted dismal failure without reading the whole OP. In the lit I've read, the term "Great Society" is typically to describe the anti-poverty programs...not the civil rights legislation.

I think everybody besides Ama and a few hardcore States Righters would agree that the civil rights legislation was a smashing success. America is absolutely a better place for it.

But a lot of those anti-poverty programs just did not work at all. The 1960's era Public Housing projects were some of the created public policy failures of the 20th century. They became cesspools of crime and health problems, and most had to be blown up.
The education programs weren't super helpful or well executed, with the exception of Head Start. What they *did* do is help strengthen a cycle of dependency and excuse making for urban school districts.

The Great Society threw a lot of money at a lot of places. Some of the programs stuck (Head Start, Food Stamps). Others became widely expensive albatrosses around the neck of state budgets (Medicare). Others were abject failures (public housing).

The public felt a lot of these went too far, given the results they saw...which was a big reason that Nixon and Reagan were able to roll back so much city funding. In the end, the GS helped created dependency to the federal govt with urban bureaucrats, created the political will to suck up resources, and *didn't* do very much to end poverty.

I'm not a big fan.

 

[amadeus]

he has other reasons for opposing the act which I most definitely disagree with.

How do you know I oppose the Voting Rights Act? That's awfully presumptuous of you.

 

[Irish Caesar]

who selected other? (I should have made it a public poll)

I did.

I think this is the most accurate statement, though I'd cite this as why it was a mediocre success. In protecting the environment, cementing civil rights and starting federal aid for education, it was a good thing, but probably misguided in the other areas.

No!

Making an education more of a centralized Federal issue and less of a community issue cannot be a good thing. We need more community involvement in schools, and we need lots and lots and lots of it.

I voted dismal failure without reading the whole OP. In the lit I've read, the term "Great Society" is typically to describe the anti-poverty programs...not the civil rights legislation.

I also have never heard the term used for the civil rights legislation, but I figured since that was included in the OP, I couldn't very well vote "the Great Society was awful!"

I'm not going to re-quote the rest of your post, but I pretty much agree with the points I had known, and also agree with what I learned by reading it (after a long time building engineery things, my history gets a bit oxidized...).

 

[Azale]

I voted dismal failure without reading the whole OP. In the lit I've read, the term "Great Society" is typically to describe the anti-poverty programs...not the civil rights legislation.

Do you remember any of the books you read on it? I would be interested in reading it myself

 

[Masada]

FWIW, I'm actually a female French prostitute singer from the 1950s. Just a little FYI.

The Puritan in me tells me to form a new model army and chase that tail (allowing for time differences of course).

rather than that needless foray into Southeast Asia.

A non-American needs to run a counter-factual on the Domino Theory in the early years of Vietnam (to avoid that seething mass of feelings that you guys seem to have for it). I tend to lean towards the fact that while it was flawed, it did serve as a major deterrent to Communists in South East Asia, in all my favorite places like say Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Timor, Laos and Cambodia.

 

[Kraznaya]

For what its worth, the Voting Rights Act and expansion of civil rights is being taught as part of AP US History classes nationwide.

 

[Masada]

For what its worth, the Voting Rights Act and expansion of civil rights is being taught as part of AP US History classes nationwide.

Not all that stunning to be honest considering the education establishment

 

[Princeps]

The Great Society threw a lot of money at a lot of places. Some of the programs stuck (Head Start, Food Stamps). Others became widely expensive albatrosses around the neck of state budgets (Medicare). Others were abject failures (public housing).

So, 3/4 of the projects you can invoke were successes. Remarkable.

Yes, Medicare was successful, but its in a dire need of reform (in general, high medical costs are the reason why US fiscal situation looks so dim in the long term).

 

[Oerdin]

It halved the poverty rate in America in just 4 years. I'd say that's an out of the ball park success.