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Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), 1964
The purpose of the Harmony/VISTA Service-Learning Demonstration Project is to engage high school students in meaningful leadership and service within their school and community. Through the promotion of youth leadership, service learning and social action initiatives, VISTA Volunteers mobilize teachers, students, parents, and community members to take action against poverty. -
Economic Opportunity Act, 1964
Community Teamwork, Inc. is a private, non-profit Community Action Agency established in 1965. Agencies like CTI were created when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and officially declared a War on Poverty. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
Congress enacted the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) (P.L. 89-10), the most expansive federal education bill ever passed to date, on April 9, 1965, as a part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty." A former teacher who had witnessed poverty's impact on his students, Johnson believed that equal access to education was vital to a child's ability to lead a productive life. -
Medicaid, 1965
The Medicaid program was enacted in the same legislation that created the Medicare program - the Social Security Amendments of 1965 (P.L. 89-97). Prior to the passage of this law, health care services for the indigent were provided primarily through a patchwork of programs sponsored by state and local governments, charities, and community hospitals. -
Medicare, 1965
Congressman Cecil B. King (D-CA), left, and Senator Clinton P. Anderson (D-NM), right, along with SSA Commissioner Robert M. Ball, as Ball displays the new Medicare cards just issued to the two members of Congress. King and Anderson were the princpal sponsors of the Medicare legislation introduced in the Congress in January 1965. Their bill was the first enrolled in each chamber (H.R. 1 and S. 1) and was the basis for the start of the legislative process that eventually resulted in the Medicare. -
The National Foundations of the Arts and Humanities, 1965
"On September 29, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act into law. The act called for the creation of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as separate independent entities." -
Water Quality Act, 1965
October 2, 1965 President Johnson signs the Water Quality Act, preventing water pollution by requiring states to establish and enforce water quality standards for interstate waterways. -
Immigration Act of 1965
In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed a bill that has dramatically changed the method by which immigrants are admitted to America. This bill is the Immigration Act of 1965. This act, also known as the Hart-Cellar Act [1], not only allows more individuals from third world countries to enter the US (including Asians, who have traditionally been hindered from entering America), but also entails a separate quota for refugees. [2]. -
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 1965
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is the principal Federal agency responsible for programs concerned with the Nation's housing needs, fair housing opportunities, and improvement and development of the Nation's communities. -
The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, 1966
On September 9, 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signs the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act into law. Immediately afterward, he signed the Highway Safety Act. The two bills made the federal government responsible for setting and enforcing safety standards for cars and roads. Unsafe highways, Johnson argued, were a menace to public health. -
Clean Water Restoration Act, 1966
Recognizing the threat that dirty water posed to the public health and welfare, Congress enacted the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), in order to "enhance the quality and value of our water resources and to establish a national policy for the prevention, control and abatement of water pollution." FWPCA and its several amendments set out the basic legal authority for Federal regulation of water quality.
