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Difficulty: EasyThe Great Society and the War on Poverty

"No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine. No longer will illness clean out the savings of half a lifetime so that one child may have a hope of entering college. And no longer will this Nation backward look to a time when hope was blasted and when doubt was a constant companion."

— President Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks on the Signing of the Medicare Bill, July 30, 1965

Which of the following Great Society programs was established by the legislation described in the excerpt?

  1. MedicareAnswer
  2. B
    Social Security
  3. C
    The Works Progress Administration
  4. D
    The Civilian Conservation Corps

Answer

Medicare
Medicare is correct because it was signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 as a key pillar of the Great Society. It directly addressed the concern raised in the speech by providing health insurance for Americans aged 65 and older, protecting them from the devastating financial costs of illness.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus document.
The excerpt is from Lyndon B. Johnson's remarks at the signing of the Medicare Bill in 1965 and explicitly refers to preventing older Americans from being denied modern medicine and losing their savings to illness.
Understanding the context and the specific target group (older Americans) and issue (medical care costs) mentioned in the source is key to identifying the correct program.
2
Identify the domestic program created during this period that matches the description.
Medicare was enacted in 1965 under the Great Society initiative to provide federal health insurance to Americans aged 65 and older.
This directly aligns with the president's stated goals in the speech.
3
Differentiate between Great Society programs and New Deal programs.
Programs like Social Security, the Works Progress Administration, and the Civilian Conservation Corps belong to the New Deal era of the 1930s rather than the Great Society of the 1960s.
Recognizing the correct historical era prevents conflation between the two major reform movements.

Key Concept

The Great Society and the War on Poverty
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Topics

The Great Society and the War on Poverty

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