Lyndon Baines Johnson: The Great Society

Melinda Amador
Mr. Wenzinger
U of F History
23 April 2015
The Great Society Idealism is the practice of pursuing ideals that are unrealistic. Realism is the practice of accepting the situation and dealing with it appropriately. Some might say that Lyndon Baines Johnson was an idealist for wanting to end poverty and racial injustice. The two main goals of his Great Society were; elimination of poverty and racial injustice. Although the Great Society was not necessarily “great” it still aided Americans and continues to aid Americans today. Johnson was elected as a senator for Texas in 1948. Quickly advancing with his connections, he became the youngest minority leader in Senate history in 1953. Since democrats had won control of the Senate

population was in poverty. When Johnson’s term began, in 1963, 21% of the U.S. was in poverty. In 1966, poverty was at 14.7%. At the end of his term 12.1% were in poverty. In 2011, 15% of the U.S. population was in poverty. The most recent year documented in the U.S. Census Bureau is 2012 with 15% of Americans in poverty, no change from 2011. The only way that the government had prevented the poverty rate from climbing higher are the social welfare programs created by the New Deal. Programs like unemployment, insurance, and food stamps are helping many families from going into

In 2010, a little under 47 million people participated in Medicare, this included both elderly and disabled. During the 1960s 9% of people in the U.S. were enrolled in Medicare. Around 1975 is when people started to enroll in Medicaid, with 10.2% of people in the U.S. enrolled. Medicare keeps increasing throughout the years, as a result of the slow growth 15.2% were recorded enrolled in 2010. Medicaid was recorded at 22.4% in 2010. There are currently 62 million people that participate in both programs. As of 2012 16% of people in the U.S. are Medicare beneficiaries. There are 69,975,289 people in the U.S. that enroll monthly for Medicaid and CHIP. The acronym CHIP stands for, Children’s Health Insurance