Lyndon B. Johnson's began his presidential term when he took the place of former president, John F. Kennedy. After the assassination of Kennedy in 1963, Johnson tried to incorporate the idea of the “Great Society.” Appealing to people was not an easy job while the U.S recovered from a loss, but Johnson used it as a way to make America believe the Kennedy would have wanted this. Johnson took advantage of it while neither he or the people realized it, and more people began to agree and go through with the idea’s that he stated. The Great Society brought good and bad issues, but Johnson still saw it as a way to “fix” america through solving political, economic, and social issues in the United States. Political issues began to grow during …show more content…
began to encounter a range of social issues in the 1960’s. One example was the advance in medicine and when life expectancy rates began to grow, the senior citizens were left behind, paying for the new health care system while growing old (Document A.) The Johnson Administration soon responded with the creation of Medicaid and Medicare as a part of the Social Security Act. Despite previous history, the new programs allowed health care to anyone over 65 or under the poverty line. Still in existence today, these programs have been largely successful. While this situation was occurring Johnson started to involve the country in Vietnam. Most of the negative impacts landed socially, as the draft and the collapse of many “Great Society” programs helped fuel the war (Document E.) Arguably, one of the most important social issues was the outbreak of crime in the late 1960’s. When Johnson began to get reports on how crime was rising and there was no enforcement to back it up (Document G,) Johnson became frantic to find a resolution. He began a “War on Crime” and ushered a new era of law enforcement. This became a federal priority as he wanted to what was right for his country, but soon realized it caused more panic than what they began with. As his focus turned to building weapons and putting out “front line soldiers,” he began to hit crossroads and disagreements. When Johnson realized how destructive he was with the war and his policies, he chose not to run for a second term in office due to his failures in this