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GREAT SOCIETY LEGISLATION TIMELINE

  • Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) 1964

    Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) 1964
    VISTA or Volunteers in Service to America is an anti-poverty program created by Lyndon Johnson's Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 as the domestic version of the Peace Corps. Initially, the program increased employment opportunities for conscientious people who felt they could contribute tangibly to the War on Poverty. Volunteers served in communities throughout the U.S., focusing on enriching educational programs and vocational training for the nation's underprivileged classes. VISTA’s legislat
  • Economic Opportunity Act, 1964

    Economic Opportunity Act, 1964
    Signed by Lyndon B. Johnson and Michael Herbert on August 20, 1964, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 (Pub.L. 88-452, 78 Stat. 508, 42 U.S.C. § 2701) was central to Johnson's Great Society campaign and its War on Poverty. Implemented by the since disbanded Office of Economic Opportunity, the Act included several social programs to promote the health, education, and general welfare of the poor. Although most of the initiatives in the Act have since been modified, weakened, or altogether rolled
  • The National Foudations of the Arts and Humanities, 1965

    The National Foudations of the Arts and Humanities, 1965
    (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 (Pub.L. 89-209) dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. in the Old Post Office.
  • Elementray and Secondary Education Act of 1965

    Elementray and Secondary Education Act of 1965
    Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (Pub.L. 89-10, 79 Stat. 27, 20 U.S.C. ch.70) is a United States federal statute enacted April 11, 1965. It was passed as a part of the "War on Poverty" and has been the most far-reaching Federal legislation affecting education ever passed by Congress. The Act is an extensive statute which funds primary and secondary education, while explicitly forbidding the establishment of a national curriculum.[1] It also emphasizes equal access to education and
  • Medicaid, 1965

    Medicaid, 1965
    is the United States health program for people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states.[1] Among the groups of people served by Medicaid are certain U.S. citizens and resident aliens, including low-income adults and their children, and people with certain disabilities. Poverty alone does not necessarily qualify someone for Medicaid. Medicaid is the largest source of funding
  • Medicare, 1965

    Medicare, 1965
    is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over, or who meet other special criteria. Medicare operates similar to a single-payer health care system.[1] The program also funds residency training programs for the vast majority of physicians in the United States. The Social Security Act of 1965 was signed into law on July 30, 1965, by President Lyndon B. Johnson as amendments to existing Social Secu
  • The Department of housing and urban development (HUD), 1965

    The Department of housing and urban development (HUD), 1965
    also known as HUD, is a Cabinet department in the Executive branch of the United States federal government. Although its beginnings were in the House and Home Financing Agency, it was founded as a Cabinet department in 1965, as part of the "Great Society" program of President Lyndon Johnson, to develop and execute policies on housing and metropolises
  • Immigration Act of 1965

    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] Under the Act, 170,000 immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere are g
  • Clean Water Restoration Act 1966

    Clean Water Restoration Act 1966
    In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the U.S. government passed a series of pollution control acts designed to clean up and protect the nation's environment. The lawmakers' intent was to reduce the impact of conventional pollutants in the air and on surface waters. Later, lawmakers recognized that toxic pollutants discharged into the water were also dangerous. They took steps to control these, too. One of the results of their efforts was the Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972, which drew—and continues
  • The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, 1966

    The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, 1966
    was enacted in the United States in 1966 to empower the federal government to set and administer new safety standards for motor vehicles and road traffic safety. The Act created the National Highway Safety Bureau (now National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). The Act was one of a number of initiative by the government in response to increasing number of cars and associated fatalities and injuries on the road following a period when the number of people killed on the road had increased 6-f
  • Water Quality Act, 1965

    Water Quality Act, 1965
    is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution.[1] Commonly abbreviated as the CWA, the act established the goals of eliminating releases of high amounts of toxic substances into water, eliminating additional water pollution by 1985, and ensuring that surface waters would meet standards necessary for human sports and recreation by 1983. The principal body of law currently in effect is based on the Federal Water Pollution Control Amendments of 1972[2] and was signific