America and the "Great Society" Flashcards
(30 cards)
What was the “New Frontier”?
JFK’s plan to make America a better and fairer place to live
Give 2 changes JFK made to the economy.
- Cut taxes
- Made $900 million available to businesses to create new jobs.
- Created jobs by enlarging the armed forces.
- Gave grants to businesses to buy high-tech equipment.
Give 2 disadvantages of changes JFK made to the economy.
- Fewer workers needed when high-tech equipment was used
- Unemployment remained high - unemployment for Black Americans was double that
Give 2 changes JFK made to change healthcare or decrease poverty.
- Minimum wage increased from $1 an hour to $1.25
- $4.9 bil made available for loans -> improve housing, clear slums, build roads
- SSA (Social Security Act) increased benefits for elderly and unemployed
- Plans to introduce Medicare - health insurance for elderly
Give 2 disadvantages of changes JFK made to healthcare or decreasing poverty.
- Congress defeated Medicare proposals
- Home improvement loans only helped those who could afford them
- Increase in minimum wage only helped those in work
Name a change JFK made to education.
Created the Peace Corps -> sent volunteers to work abroad
Name a disadvantage of changes JFK made to education.
Congress defeated JFK’s plan to give more money to schools.
When did LBJ (Lyndon B. Johnson) become president?
1964 - after JFK’s assassination
What did LBJ promise?
To create a “Great Society”
What was the Great Society Programme?
LBJ’s social programme - to make America a fairer society
Name 3 changes LBJ made with the Great Society Programme.
- Minimum hourly wage increased from $1.25 to $1.40.
- Number of people in desperate poverty decreased - due to “Operation Headstart”
- Medicare - millions now had access to good standard healthcare
Name 2 things Operation Headstart did.
- Gave money to schools in cities to provide better education for the poor
- Model Cities Act - cleared up inner-city slums
What was a critique of the Great Society Programme?
Some say LBJ spent too much on his reforms. Unemployment was on the increase by 1968, and there was widespread rioting in poorer areas of cities.
Women: what happened in 1963?
JFK commissioned a report on women in the workplace.
What did the JFK report say?
- Women earned 60% less than men for the same jobs
- 95% of managers were men
- Only 4% of doctors and 7% of lawyers were women
What year was ‘The Feminine Mystique’ published?
1963
What was ‘The Feminine Mystique’?
A best-selling feminist work by Betty Friedan - argued for the rights of women
What was the 1963 Equal Pay Act?
Made it law for men and women to be paid the same.
What was the 1964 Civil Rights Act?
Outlawed discrimination in race and gender.
What was the NOW?
The National Organisation for Women.
What did the NOW campaign for?
Equal rights, reproductive rights
How did the NOW campaign?
Wrote to politicians, organised demonstrations, took companies with gender pay gaps to court
What was an example of a more radical form of protest?
In 1968, 4000+ members of the Women’s Liberation Movement protested at the Miss World beauty pagaent.
What did the protestors at the Miss World beauty pageant do?
Set up litter bins and threw away symbols of their oppression, such as bras and high heels
