Major Great Society Programs

War on Poverty: forty programs that were intended to eliminate poverty by improving living conditions and enabling people to lift themselves out of the cycle of poverty.

Education: sixty separate bills that provided for new and better-equipped classrooms, minority scholarships, and low-interest student loans.

Medicare & Medicaid: guaranteed health care to every American over sixty-five.

The Environment: introduced measures to reclaim our heritage of clean air and water.

National Endowment for the Arts and the Humanities: created with the philosophy that artists, performers, and writers were a priceless part of our heritage and deserve support.

Job Corps: provided enabling skills for young men and women.

Head Start: program for four- and five-year-old children from disadvantaged families that gave them a chance to start school on an even basis with other youngsters.

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Representative sampling of the laws passed during the Johnson administration to promote the Great Society.


HIGHER EDUCATION FACILITIES ACT OF 1963                                         DEC. 16, 1963

PREVENTION & ABATEMENT OF AIR POLLUTION
(THE CLEAN AIR ACT)                                                                                          DEC. 17, 1963

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION ACT OF 1963                                                       DEC. 18, 1963

INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK ACT                                          JAN. 22,1964

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964                                                                               JULY 2, 1964

URBAN MASS TRANSPORTATION ACT OF 1964                                          JULY 9, 1964

FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY ACT OF 1964                                                         AUG. 13, 1964

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT OF 1964                                                                    AUG. 20, 1964

FOOD STAMP ACT OF 1964                                                                                AUG. 31, 1964

WILDERNESS ACT                                                                                                 SEPT. 3, 1964

NATIONAL ARTS CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1964                  SEPT. 3, 1964

MANPOWER ACT OF 1965                                                                                   APRIL 26, 1965

OLDER AMERICANS ACT OF 1965                                                                    JULY 14, 1965

SOCIAL SECURITY AMENDMENTS OF 1965                                                  JULY 30, 1965

VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965                                                                            AUG. 6, 1965

HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1965                                AUG. 10, 1965

PUBLIC WORKS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1965           AUG. 26, 1965

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ACT             SEPT. 9, 1965

NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS & THE HUMANITIES
ACT OF    1965                                                                                                              SEPT. 29, 1965

AMENDMENT OF FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION
CONTROL ACT                                                                                                            OCT. 2, 1965

AMENDMENT TO THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT               OCT. 3, 1965

HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1965                                                                      NOV. 8, 1965

CHILD NUTRITION ACT OF 1966                                                                           OCT. 11, 1966

CHILD PROTECTION ACT OF 1966                                                                       NOV. 3, 1966

NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH ACT                                                                          MAY 8, 1968