e United States, for better social security provision" (p. 869).
In his special message to Congress on March 16, 1964, LBJ declared "unconditional war on poverty in America" because " it is right, . . . wise, and because, for the first time in our history, it is possible to conquer poverty" (Modern, 2004, p. 1).
He established the Office of Economic Opportunity under JFK's brother-in-law Sargent Shriver, who proved to be a supersalesman for the program but a poor administrator. In August 1964, Congress enacted the Economic Opportunity Act by wide margins, 226-185 in the House of Representatives and 61-36 in the Senate (Andrews, p. 70). LBJ placed great faith in the program. Andrews said that "Johnson believed that the eradication of poverty would be his path to greatness as president" (p. 56). The War on Poverty was an important part of what LBJ envisaged as an even greater accomplishment, the creation of the Great Society. In his speech at Ann Arbor, Michigan on May 22, 1964, he said:
"the challenge of the next half century is whether
we have the wisdom to use that [our] wealth to enrich
and elevate our national life, and to advance the quality
of our civilization . . . in your time we have the
opportunity to move not only toward the rich society,
but upward to the Great Society" (Dallek, p. 82).
LBJ won re-election by a landslide, 61 percent of the
popular vote. He had a two to one majority in both houses of the 89th Congress. The stage was set was the passage of 181 major pieces of legislation (Andrews, p. 13). According to Johnson, "the White House . . . became the most active engine for passing legislation, and spending money, in the entire history of peacetime America" (p. 873). Between 1964 and 1966, a variety of bills were passed, many of which aimed in whole or in part at improving the lot of the poor, including aid to education, Medicare and Medicaid (passed June 1965)...