Comparing Kennedy’s New Frontier and Johnson’s Great Society Coursework

Comparing Kennedy’s New Frontier and Johnson’s Great Society

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Background

John F Kennedy was the 35^th United States’ president. Upon election as the presidential candidate for the democrats, Kennedy used the tern new frontier in his acceptance speech in 1960. The term was adopted as the party’s slogan to try and inspire the citizens and win their support. The term later developed to be a phrase to represent Kennedy’s administration policies. On the other hand, the great society was a term used by President Lyndon Johnson as set of domestic policies and programs in the United States.

Head Start

This initiative was announced and introduced by President Johnson on May 1965. The initiative was then known as project head start. The program started by having children in the low income groups in the United States attending public schools. The president, having experienced education problems as a former teacher wanted education to be the corner stone of his programs. The initiative saw over 560000 children benefit during the first summer (Schultz, 2009, p.430).

Peace Corps

It was on 14^th October 1960, when the Peace Corps program was first mentioned. Addressing students at the University of Michigan, senator john Kennedy, on a camping tour urged the youths present to dedicate themselves to initiatives and actions of peace and development. The initiative was later approved by the congress as an agency of the government. The young volunteers serve the nation as well as other nations to bring about peace and development. The initiative provides the fresh graduates with real life experiences and therefore equips them with relevant skills to face life bravely.

Job corps

Upon the assassination of john Kennedy, President Johnson seemed to conserve Kennedy’s legacy urging the citizens to continue with what Kennedy had initiated. Kennedy had started a war on poverty among the Americans. Johnson had to continue with war against poverty. In 1964, Johnson initiated the jobs corps program. It involved training which equipped the poor and unemployed with skills on jobs (Schultz, 2009, p.437). The program provided finances i9nform of loan to rural families as well as business people in urban areas.

Civil rights

On June 11, 1963, John Kennedy addressed the nation on civil rights. He introduced the civil rights bill which later came to be the civil rights act. The act sought to make sure3 that every American received facilities which were open to public.

Voting Rights Act

The voting rights act was sent to the US congress by Johnson on 17^th march 1965 and was later passed by a massive vote by the congress.

New food stamp program

This initiative was passed by the congress under the leadership of John Kennedy. At its inception the program helped close to 400000 citizens. The program involved the citizens purchasing a stamp for accessing food stuffs.

Medical aid for the elderly and poor

This program was initiated by President Johnson. During his reign as president the congress enacted Medicare, which was a health insurance program designed mainly for the elderly citizens as well as the poor.

Aid to Latin America

On May 27, 1961, President John Kennedy authorized aid to Latin America when he signed bill that provide for close to US$ 600,000,000. This was an initiative that would see the United States support the Latin America financially.

Aid to education

This was an initiative of President Johnson. In 1964 the president fulfilled his promise for aid to education.

Aid to disadvantaged neighborhood

This initiative was started by President Johnson. The president also ensured that the tax cuts which had been introduced by President Kennedy benefited the citizens. During President Johnson’s rule the pollution control bill was passed on 15^th September 1965. It is during presidents Johnson’s rule that a number of acts were passed to tighten standards of air pollution. The following acts were passed. Clean air amendments act (1966), air quality act (1967) and the clean air act extension of 1970.

President Johnson also initiated the decreased immigration limits. In 1965, during the reign of President Johnson, the immigration and nationality acts amendments were made (Schultz, 2009, p.445). These amendments sought to abolish the national origin quotas and therefore made migration to the US easier.

Reference

Schultz, K. (2009). America unbound: a US history primer. New York: Cengage learning.