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