The Land of Plenty
"The Great Society is going to make this a land of plenty - owe plenty, tax plenty, spend plenty, waste plenty." - Congressman Bob Dole, March 1965
In 1960, Democratic nominee for President John F. Kennedy dubbed his policy vision America's "New Frontier." Following Kennedy's assassination, his successor, President Lyndon Johnson, sought election to the presidency in 1964, invoking the concept of a "Great Society" to describe his own expansive vision.
During the Kennedy and Johnson presidential administrations, strong Democratic majorities also controlled Congress. Congressman Dole, a Republican conservative, represented the will of the majority of his constituents, and as such, he was a consistent "nay" vote on most administration programs.
"For a century we labored to settle and to subdue a continent. For half a century we called upon unbounded invention and untiring industry to create an order of plenty for all of our people.
The challenge of the next half century is whether we have the wisdom to use that wealth to enrich and elevate our national life, and to advance the quality of our American civilization...
The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time. But that is just the beginning...
[There are] three places where we begin to build the Great Society - in our cities, in our countryside, and in our classrooms." - President Lyndon Johnson in his "Great Society" speech, May 1964
Federal Spending Priorities
In April 1968, a Ulysses constituent concerned about rising federal income taxes wanted continued spending on the ongoing war against communism to take priority over Great Society domestic spending programs: "Give people a chance to earn a living."
"I am receiving an ever-increasing number of letters from constituents reflecting deep concern over the trend toward more and more centralization of power in the Federal Government." - Congressman Bob Dole to a Hays constituent, April 1966
"People in [my] area are deeply disturbed about the present state of affairs of our country. They are very dissatisfied and disturbed about the mess in Viet Nam and the reckless and irresponsible spending programs by our government." - Kansas City, September 1967
A "Credibility Gap": a term first used to express skepticism about the Johnson administration's statements and policies on the Vietnam War. By 1966, Republicans, led by Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen and House Minority Leader Gerald Ford, expanded the meaning to describe discrepancies between the administration’s statements and its actions on domestic policy.
