Presidents and Economics: Lyndon Johnson, the War on Poverty and the Creation of Medicare
President Lyndon Johnson wanted the centerpiece of his legacy to be what he termed "the Great Society." Included in this vision was Johnson's "war on poverty", which Johnson began in 1964, while completing the term of his assassinated predecessor President John F. Kennedy.
At Johnson's urging, Congress passed a number of bills which created programs such as Head Start (services to low income children and their families), food stamps, Work Study (which assisted students with the costs of post-secondary education), Medicare and Medicaid.
At the time that Johnson was pushing for the medicare program, half of the country’s population over age sixty-five had no medical insurance, and a third of them lived in poverty, unable to afford proper medical care. Shortly after his November election win, Johnson instructed Health, Education, and Welfare assistant secretary, Wilbur Cohen, to make Medicare the administration’s “number one priority.” On January 4, Johnson showcased the issue in his State of the Union message. three days later he pressed for passage of Medicare, issuing a statement to Congress demanding that America’s senior citizens “be spared the darkness of sickness without hope.”
John F. Kennedy had tried to pass similar legislation in 1962, sending a comparable bill to Capitol Hill, but it missed passage in the Senate by a few votes. As with previous efforts at heath care reform, the American Medical Association (AMA) was the chief opponent if the legislation, spending millions of dollars to oppose the bill and calling the concept “socialized medicine” and something that was intrinsically un-American. Conservatives such as Ronald Reagan warned that such a program would “invade every area of freedom in this country.” Reagan also told his audiences that Americans would have to remind future generations about “what it was like in America when men were free.”
Undaunted, Johnson believed that, in his words, “the times had caught up with the idea” and he was bolstered by the political capital he had earned in his 1964 victory over Barry Goldwater which came with increased majorities in the House and Senate. The former "Master of the Senate" first had to deal with the House Ways and Means Committee. Most members of the committee, including its Democratic chairman, Arkansas congressman Wilbur Mills, were fierce opponents of Medicare when Kennedy proposed it. They believed it to be fiscally irresponsible. But Johnson believed he could find the votes to bring Medicare to fruition. Shortly after Johnson’s 1964 election victory, in which Johnson added Arkansas to his win column, Mills agreed to “work something out” on Medicare and to work help shape the bill to ensure its passage and effectiveness.
The AMA threatened a national boycott of Medicare. Johnson took on the AMA head on, meeting with eleven of its officers at his ranch on July 11, 1965. First, he asked that the AMA support a program of rotating doctors in and out of Vietnam to serve the civilian population. When they agreed to the latter, Johnson called an impromptu press conference, in which he praised the AMA for its commitment to the Vietnamese. When reporters asked about whether the AMA would support Medicare, as Johnson knew they would, Johnson declared, “These men are going to get doctors to go to Vietnam where they may be killed. Medicare is the law of the land. Of course, they’ll support the law of the land.” He then turned to the AMA president, “You tell him.” Placed on the spot, the AMA president replied, “Of course, we will. We are law abiding citizens, and we have every intention of obeying the new law.” Within a matter of weeks, the AMA would formally endorse Medicare.
On July 30, 1965, Johnson traveled to the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, where former President Truman and his wife Bess watched Johnson sign Medicare into law. Johnson called Truman the “real daddy” of Medicare, and he awarded President and Mrs. Truman the first two Medicare cards, numbers one and two. “He had started it all, so many years before,” Johnson wrote of Truman later. “I wanted him to know that America remembered.”
Johnson's assistant Jack Valenti quoted his boss as saying “I’m going to make Harry Truman’s dream come true. Old folks are not going to be barred from a doctor’s office or a hospital because they don’t have any money for medical attention. They are never again going to have to be sick and hurt and cry alone. It’s a god- damned crime and we’re never going to have that happen again in this country. When this bill is passed, I’m going to Independence, and I’m going to sign it in Harry Truman’s presence.” Johnson did just that.
Johnson's war on poverty turned out to be more than just rhetoric. During Johnson's years in office, national poverty declined significantly, with the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line dropping from 23% to 12%.
At Johnson's urging, Congress passed a number of bills which created programs such as Head Start (services to low income children and their families), food stamps, Work Study (which assisted students with the costs of post-secondary education), Medicare and Medicaid.
At the time that Johnson was pushing for the medicare program, half of the country’s population over age sixty-five had no medical insurance, and a third of them lived in poverty, unable to afford proper medical care. Shortly after his November election win, Johnson instructed Health, Education, and Welfare assistant secretary, Wilbur Cohen, to make Medicare the administration’s “number one priority.” On January 4, Johnson showcased the issue in his State of the Union message. three days later he pressed for passage of Medicare, issuing a statement to Congress demanding that America’s senior citizens “be spared the darkness of sickness without hope.”
John F. Kennedy had tried to pass similar legislation in 1962, sending a comparable bill to Capitol Hill, but it missed passage in the Senate by a few votes. As with previous efforts at heath care reform, the American Medical Association (AMA) was the chief opponent if the legislation, spending millions of dollars to oppose the bill and calling the concept “socialized medicine” and something that was intrinsically un-American. Conservatives such as Ronald Reagan warned that such a program would “invade every area of freedom in this country.” Reagan also told his audiences that Americans would have to remind future generations about “what it was like in America when men were free.”
Undaunted, Johnson believed that, in his words, “the times had caught up with the idea” and he was bolstered by the political capital he had earned in his 1964 victory over Barry Goldwater which came with increased majorities in the House and Senate. The former "Master of the Senate" first had to deal with the House Ways and Means Committee. Most members of the committee, including its Democratic chairman, Arkansas congressman Wilbur Mills, were fierce opponents of Medicare when Kennedy proposed it. They believed it to be fiscally irresponsible. But Johnson believed he could find the votes to bring Medicare to fruition. Shortly after Johnson’s 1964 election victory, in which Johnson added Arkansas to his win column, Mills agreed to “work something out” on Medicare and to work help shape the bill to ensure its passage and effectiveness.
The AMA threatened a national boycott of Medicare. Johnson took on the AMA head on, meeting with eleven of its officers at his ranch on July 11, 1965. First, he asked that the AMA support a program of rotating doctors in and out of Vietnam to serve the civilian population. When they agreed to the latter, Johnson called an impromptu press conference, in which he praised the AMA for its commitment to the Vietnamese. When reporters asked about whether the AMA would support Medicare, as Johnson knew they would, Johnson declared, “These men are going to get doctors to go to Vietnam where they may be killed. Medicare is the law of the land. Of course, they’ll support the law of the land.” He then turned to the AMA president, “You tell him.” Placed on the spot, the AMA president replied, “Of course, we will. We are law abiding citizens, and we have every intention of obeying the new law.” Within a matter of weeks, the AMA would formally endorse Medicare.
On July 30, 1965, Johnson traveled to the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, where former President Truman and his wife Bess watched Johnson sign Medicare into law. Johnson called Truman the “real daddy” of Medicare, and he awarded President and Mrs. Truman the first two Medicare cards, numbers one and two. “He had started it all, so many years before,” Johnson wrote of Truman later. “I wanted him to know that America remembered.”
Johnson's assistant Jack Valenti quoted his boss as saying “I’m going to make Harry Truman’s dream come true. Old folks are not going to be barred from a doctor’s office or a hospital because they don’t have any money for medical attention. They are never again going to have to be sick and hurt and cry alone. It’s a god- damned crime and we’re never going to have that happen again in this country. When this bill is passed, I’m going to Independence, and I’m going to sign it in Harry Truman’s presence.” Johnson did just that.
Johnson's war on poverty turned out to be more than just rhetoric. During Johnson's years in office, national poverty declined significantly, with the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line dropping from 23% to 12%.