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The Great Society at Fifty
Report

The Great Society at Fifty

The Triumph and the Tragedy

Nicholas Eberstadt
AEI, 2014
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Editorial Rating

6

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Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, casts an ideological eye on the Great Society’s impact on American life. The Great Society set out to end discrimination against African-Americans and reduce poverty. The author regards the first effort as successful, though it rode roughshod over states’ rights. Eberstadt calls the War on Poverty a disaster, notably because programs designed to alleviate 1960s poverty continued and expanded over successive administrations. Progressives won’t care for Eberstadt’s conclusions, and his simplistic one-sidedness can be off-putting. Nonetheless, getAbstract – always politically neutral – suggests his thought-provoking conclusions to office holders, government officials, ordinary citizens interested in debating the issues, and students of history and government policy.

Summary

The Great Society

In 1964, US President Lyndon Johnson announced his War on Poverty, the tip of the wedge of what would become the Great Society. This Herculean government effort had no parallel in US history. While initially intended to end poverty and racial injustice, this war came to encompass urban renewal, environmental improvement and advances in the educational system, among many other admirable goals. At the time, those tasks seemed doable, given the nation’s finest minds and a vast exchequer. Opponents did not question America’s capability even as they challenged the program’s wisdom. Could the US recognize and seize the chance to “advance the quality of our American civilization”?

President Johnson’s nonpareil legislative skills and a Congressional Democratic majority loosed a torrent of legislation that swelled to a river of federal projects. The trend continued through succeeding administrations: The welfare state steadily expanded.

In 2014, 50 years after its founding, The Great Society profoundly influences every aspect of American life. Some believe that its aggressive projection of federal power provides a reason to regard the effort as a complete...

About the Author

Nicholas Eberstadt holds the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He writes frequently on demographics, entitlements and national security.

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