HELP

[rmac3075]

We need an LBJ. People say he was an AH of course he was how do you think he rammed integration through

[Silent Type]

1. At this point in time, you are probably right. Wonder how he would do in today's party?

[Stinky The Clown]

2. One of my favorite presidents

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. LBJ had a Democratic supermajority in the senate

And some of his big bills like voting rights, civil rights, Medicare actually got bipartisan support.

[Tree Lady]

4. Yes that was back when republicans

Cared about people, cared about clean air & water. Now its greed and each man for himself screw you.

[Keepthesoulalive]

5. I don't have time to give a history lesson

But maybe you should research the man and the circumstances. He was a member of the senate for many years , he knew how the sausage was made and Which hogs to slaughter.

[SeattleVet]

6. and he had a lot of dirt on everyone, and was willing to use it to get what he wanted.

He was pretty ruthless - which is basically just what we need again today.

[Keepthesoulalive]

7. I think we have a dumb selfish version in the White House now

LBJ was very smart and ambitious. His legacy was tarnished by listening to the wrong advisors. He moved this country forward but Vietnam will always be what defines him.

[Morbius]

8. One of my favorite stories about American political history involves LBJ.

In early August, 1965, the Congress passed Medicare, and Johnson signed it into law. It was a much debated and fought battle, but he got it done. But even the most ardent supporters of Medicare was concerned that a sudden influx of patients would overwhelm the healthcare system at the time, so the new law had a built-in delay: it would go into effect in early August of 1966.

Hospitals across the nation got prepared for all these new patients. Many took out loans. They built new wings, or spent heavily to remodel old wings to bring them up to code. They hired and trained new doctors and nurses and radiologists and so forth, and bought ton of supplies. They prepared eagerly to collect these expected billions of federal dollars.

Then at the beginning of July, Johnson's assistant secretary of health announced that no Medicare dollars would go to any institution which did not comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. At that time there were over 1000 segregated or whites only hospitals. The day after Medicare went into effect, hospitals were 92% compliant with the Civil Rights Act; six months later it was 98%. It never was perfect, and segregation in hospitals didn't entirely end, but a huge gain was made it making healthcare in America more colorblind and equitable... and Johnson pulled it off with the carrot, instead of the stick. If he had announced the compliance requirement at the time the Medicare law was passed, many of these hospitals wouldn't have made the financial commitment. But come July of 1966, they were stuck.

Makes me smile every time I think about it.