Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumThe Great Society and the War on Poverty

Source: Martin Luther King Jr., "Beyond Vietnam," speech at Riverside Church in New York City, 1967.

"There was a shining moment in that struggle a few years ago. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor—both black and white—through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam, and I watched this program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money..."

Which of the following represents a major difference between the Great Society programs described in the excerpt and the New Deal programs of the 1930s?

  1. The Great Society programs attempted to address long-term structural poverty and racial discrimination rather than primarily offering relief from a temporary economic depression.Answer
  2. B
    The Great Society programs focused primarily on creating temporary public works jobs to end an acute national economic crisis.
  3. C
    The Great Society programs successfully secured permanent funding because of the geopolitical consensus surrounding containment policy.
  4. D
    The Great Society programs were rejected by civil rights leaders who argued that legal equality had rendered economic reform unnecessary.

Answer

The Great Society programs attempted to address long-term structural poverty and racial discrimination rather than primarily offering relief from a temporary economic depression.
The correct answer is correct because the Great Society's War on Poverty targeted structural causes of poverty (such as deficiencies in education, job skills, and health care) and addressed racial inequality during a prosperous era, whereas the New Deal was launched to rescue the country from an acute nationwide depression primarily through economic relief and recovery.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus context and the core objectives of the Great Society program.
The stimulus identifies the poverty program as aiming to rehabilitate the poor (both Black and white) during the mid-1960s, a period of economic expansion.
This establishes the historical context of the Great Society's War on Poverty.
2
Compare the socioeconomic goals of the Great Society with those of the New Deal.
The New Deal (1930s) responded to a crisis of unemployment and bank failures with relief and recovery, while the Great Society (1960s) targeted systemic issues like civil rights, education, and healthcare.
This distinguishes the structural reform goals of the 1960s from the emergency relief focus of the 1930s.
3
Evaluate the options to identify which accurately captures this historical distinction.
The option identifying the focus on structural poverty and racial discrimination over short-term depression relief correctly highlights the primary difference.
This resolves the comparison required by the stem.

Key Concept

Comparison of New Deal and Great Society Reform Eras
Estimated Time:1m 0s
Rate this question

Topics

The Great Society and the War on Poverty

More questions from this topic