TABLE 26.1 Major Great Society Measures, 1964–1968
YearLegislation or OrderPurpose
1964Civil Rights ActProhibited discrimination in public accommodations, education, and employment
Economic Opportunity ActEstablished War on Poverty agencies: Head Start, VISTA, Job Corps, and Community Action Program
1965Elementary and Secondary Education ActFederal funding for elementary and secondary schools
Medical Care ActProvided Medicare health insurance for citizens sixty-five years and older and Medicaid health benefits for the poor
Voting Rights ActBanned literacy tests for voting, authorized federal registrars to be sent into seven southern states, and monitored voting changes in these states
Executive Order 11246Required employers to take affirmative action to promote equal opportunity and remedy the effects of past discrimination
Immigration and Nationality ActAbolished quotas on immigration that reduced immigration from non-Western and southern and eastern European nations
Water Quality ActEstablished and enforced federal water quality standards
Air Quality ActEstablished air pollution standards for motor vehicles
National Arts and Humanities ActEstablished National Endowment of the Humanities and National Endowment of the Arts to support the work of scholars, writers, artists, and musicians
1966Model Cities ActApproved funding for the rehabilitation of inner cities
1967Executive Order 11375Expanded affirmative action regulations to include women
1968Civil Rights ActOutlawed discrimination in housing