Great Society
The Great Society is the collection of programs that came out of Lyndon B. Johnson's first (and only) full term as President. Some of these are:
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities
- the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
- Food Stamps (the concept had existed as a New Deal program as well, but was canceled in 1943.)
It also gave rise to the "War on Poverty."
Speech Relevance[edit]
The name 'Great Society' hadn't been coined until roughly 5 months before the broadcast of Reagan's 'A Time For Choosing' speech, so there is little direct connection between Johnson's designs and Reagan's speech. Indirectly, however, Reagan railed against the ideas of a socialized medical system in both 'A Time For Choosing' and 'Encroaching Control' and against the "War on Poverty" in 'A Time For Choosing'.
Reagan also recorded a speech specifically about the dangers of socialized medicine.
In 1966, before he formally announced his joining the race for California governor, Reagan spoke to a rally at the Patton Center in the Bronx borough of New York. This speech is labelled as "The Myth of the Great Society".
