Liberalism at Its Height
Poverty inside affluence
- Despite an overall affluence in postwar America, advocates raised concerns about the prevalence and persistence of poverty as a national problem.
- Despite an overall affluence — the CED concedes the prosperity and then names what it did not reach.
- As a national problem is the political move: poverty framed as a national responsibility invites a federal answer.
Select both commitments the CED uses to define liberalism.
Dropping the first half misses 8.12's left critics.
What liberalism meant at its height
- Liberalism, based on anti-communism abroad and a firm belief in the efficacy of government power to achieve social goals at home, reached a high point of political influence by the mid-1960s.
- The CED defines it by two commitments: anti-communism abroad and government power at home — and both are essential to the definition.
- 7.9's redefinition of liberalism is the earlier stage; this is its maximum, and 8.14 will record the decline.
Select all three Great Society aims.
The verbs are absolute: end, eliminate.
Three Great Society aims
- Liberal ideas found expression in Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, which attempted to use federal legislation and programmes to end racial discrimination, eliminate poverty, and address other social issues.
- Attempted again, and three aims: end racial discrimination, eliminate poverty, and address other social issues.
- The verbs are absolute — end, eliminate — which is what a high point of confidence in government sounds like.
A definition, an aim, or the immigration change?
Sort each element of 1960s liberalism.
Framing poverty 'as a national problem' invites...
The CED concedes affluence first, then names what it did not reach.
The CED defines liberalism by two commitments, not one. It rested on anti-communism abroad and a firm belief in the efficacy of government power to achieve social goals at home — dropping the first half misses why 8.12's left critics broke with it over immoral policies abroad.
New immigration laws in ____ opened access from around the world.
Reversing quotas in place since the 1920s.
And immigration law changed
- Immigrants from around the world sought access to the political, social, and economic opportunities in the United States, especially after the passage of new immigration laws in 1965.
- From around the world marks the change from 7.6's and 7.8's national quotas, which had targeted specific regions.
- So 1965 reverses a policy in place since the 1920s, and the demographic consequences run to the present.
Liberalism reached its high point of political influence...
7.9 was the earlier stage; 8.14 records the decline.
Two objectives, one government
- 8.9 carries the role of the federal government and continuities and changes in immigration patterns, and both turn on what Washington decided to do.
- Government's role: a high point of confidence, absolute aims, and a poverty problem framed nationally.
- Immigration: a 1965 law replacing quotas, opening access from around the world.
A programme that promises to end a condition rather than reduce it has set a standard by which it can only fail. That is not carelessness; it is what confidence sounds like before it is tested.
Despite an overall affluence in postwar America, advocates raised concerns about the prevalence and persistence of poverty as a national problem. Liberalism, based on anti-communism abroad and a firm belief in the efficacy of government power to achieve social goals at home, reached a high point of political influence by the mid-1960s, expressed in Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, which attempted to use federal legislation and programmes to end racial discrimination, eliminate poverty, and address other social issues. Immigrants from around the world sought access... especially after the passage of new immigration laws in 1965.