Domestic Policy: The Great Society

The Torch Is Passed.

During the 1950s, much to the disappointment of some conservative Republicans, President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration did not dismantle the New Deal social programs of the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry'S Truman administrations. Eisenhower's social policy was not especially innovative and tended to preserve the status quo. Sen. John F. Kennedy won the 1960 presidential election on a promise "to get America moving again," primarily by stimulating economic growth. He promised to create a cabinet-level urban affairs department, to provide federal aid to elementary and secondary education, and to establish a medical care program for the elderly.

The First One Hundred Days.

In his first State of the Union address Kennedy reiterated the necessity of stimulating the economy, and within the next week he sent Congress twelve specific measures. By the end of June seven of the measures had been...

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