Table of Contents

Part 1 Introduction 3 Chapter 2 Defining characteristics of the Great Society. The tax cut. The Johnson task forces. The 1964 election. Part 3 FROM CIVIL RIGHTS TO RACE 23 Chapter 4 The 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Moynihan Report. Affirmative action and urban riots. Civil rights moves north. The Civil Rights Act of 1968. Part 5 THE WAR ON POVERTY 56 Chapter 6 Social scientists and poverty. Johnson's alternative paths to combat poverty. The debate over legislation. The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Problems that undermined the war. Head Start. The continuing debate over assessments of the war. Part 7 HEALTH AND EDUCATION 95 Chapter 8 Debates over medical care for the aged. Legislation and problems. A rising tide of criticism. Federal aid to education. Failures in the Kennedy administration. Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The interaction of education and race. Part 9 MODEL CITIES 131 Chapter 10 Urban renewal in the 1950s. The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965. The New Haven experience. Urban riots and Model Cities. The problems of urban revival and the 1967 Detroit riot. The Kerner Commission and the urban crisis in 1968. The Housing Act Part 11 QUALITY OF LIFE 163 Chapter 12 Consumer issues and Ralph Nader. Consumer protection legislation. The business reaction. Beautification and the environment lead to environmental protection efforts. The promotion of national cutlural life. Combating crime. The fading dream of a postscarc Part 13 ASSESSING THE GREAT SOCIETY 183 Chapter 14 The Great Society as a liberal interlude. Changes since the 1960s. The influence of Great Society programs. Challenges to critics. Part 15 A Note on Sources 200 Part 16 Index 208

About the Author

John A. Andrew III died shortly after completing the writing of Power to Destroy. He was professor of history at Franklin & Marshall College and the author of The Other Side of the Sixties, among other books.

Reviews

“A must read for everyone.”
*Rapport*

“Concise and cogent...an evenhanded analysis of the legacy of the Great Society.”
*CHOICE*

“Andrew takes on all of the major policy initiatives of the period in admirable detail...a remarkable feat.”
*H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online*

“Sprightly...a valuable addition to the current research on arguably the most turbulent American decade of the twentieth century.”
*Presidential Studies Quarterly*

“Andrew's aim is to see the Great Society clearly, free of the distortions of partisan politics, and to an impressive degree he succeeds.”
*The Review of Higher Education*

"A must read for everyone." * Rapport *
"Concise and cogent...an evenhanded analysis of the legacy of the Great Society." -- A. J. Dunar * CHOICE *
"Andrew takes on all of the major policy initiatives of the period in admirable detail...a remarkable feat." -- Richard Flanagan * H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online *
"Sprightly...a valuable addition to the current research on arguably the most turbulent American decade of the twentieth century." -- H. Warren Gardner * Presidential Studies Quarterly *
"Andrew's aim is to see the Great Society clearly, free of the distortions of partisan politics, and to an impressive degree he succeeds." -- Jonathan Yardley * The Review of Higher Education *