The Lyndon B Johnson Library: The National Endowment For The Arts

The Lyndon B. Johnson Library defines the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as “an independent agency that supports artist's excellence, creativity, and innovation through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector.” The NEA was the brainchild of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the Council of Graduate Schools in America, and the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa who formed the Commission on Humanities in 1963. These groups constructed a government funded study that analyzed the need for a government funded humanities program on the grounds that it was equally as important in funding the other studies such as sciences and technology. Historically the government

It was argued that humanities helps to stimulate creativity, promote growth in personal betterment, aiding in Democracy because it challenges the mind to expand and learn from past experiences, and that art has the innate ability to cross lines drawn by society and culture. Art can touch a person’s heart and change a person’s mind by helping them envision a different life then their own, ultimately making people better more empathic human beings with the added benefit of enriching people’s lives, thus creating the idea for The National Endowment for the Arts. It was decided that the NEA should be an independent organization in the hopes that the agency would remain neutral from political bias, and keep the NEA’s best interest at heart while protecting it from the control of the government. The original report was brought to then President John F. Kennedy, but his untimely death delayed bill, the plans to have the bill sent to Congress had already been set in motion. Later the National Cultural Center would be designed to

Congress would later approve $23 million to help build what is now known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. When President Lyndon B. Johnson came into the White House he was already a supporter of the Arts and a believer in the betterment of people through education so the idea of the NEA made sense to him. The idea to start the NEA came at a pivotal time in history, post Second World War, lives were improving the middle class was increasing and there was a desire for entertainment because for the first time people had leisure time. President Johnson delivered one of President Kennedys pledge speeches, “The world leadership which has come to the United States cannot rest solely upon superior power, wealth, and technology, but must be founded upon worldwide respect and admiration for the nation’s high qualities as a leader in the realm of ideas and of the spirt.” The purpose of the bill was to give significance to the continuing education in humanities and art, along with helping the public receive this education with backing from money collected by the Government with the purpose of honoring different cultures and supporting new concepts. The National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 was signed into law on September 29, 1965 by President Johnson with the support of Congress and Senators Joseph Clark(D- PA),Hubert Humphrey(D-