Title: How did the US involvement in the Vietnam War affect domestic programs? - eNotes.com
Headings: How did the US involvement in the Vietnam War affect domestic programs?
The Vietnam War
How did the US involvement in the Vietnam War affect domestic programs?
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Content: Greg Jackson, M.A.
M.A. from University of Massachusetts-Boston
Educator since 2018
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President Lyndon Johnson took office with vastly sweeping domestic programs in mind. His Great Society programs were aimed at reducing poverty, addressing systemic racism, reforming education, protecting the environment, and lowering crime. A number of these petered to an unsuccessful end. It is commonly thought that the Vietnam War was responsible for this. To pay for both the war in Vietnam and these domestic programs, Johnson's advisors urged him to call for higher taxes. Johnson initially resisted this, as he knew it would be a political nightmare. Eventually, Johnson called for tax increases in 1967 to pay for both the war and Great Society programs. His political opponents said that they would only support the tax hikes if he made spending cuts. In the end, it became impossible to fund both the war and these domestic reforms. As a result, some of the domestic reforms that Johnson sought fell by the wayside.