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April in Alabama inevitably brings on thoughts of tornado season, and with very good reason. Few Birmingham area residents can quickly forget the devastating April 27, 2011, tornadoes, which killed 238 people in the state. And the National Weather Service in Birmingham is reminding people about another catastrophic storm period 40 years ago, April 3 and 4, 1974 — what is now known as a “super outbreak.” LOCAL EXPERTS ADVISE STAYING READY TO DEAL WITH ANY DISASTER by Nick Patterson
/ Apr 3-10, 2014 / Page 17
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“During the late afternoon and evening hours of April 3, 1974, at least eight tornadoes, including four extremely intense and long-lived storms, brought death and extreme storm destruction to Alabama,” as reported on the NWS Birmingham website. “Eighty-six persons were killed; 949 were injured, and damages exceeded $50 million. Sixteen counties in the northern part of the state were hit the hardest.” April, according to John De Block, the warning coordination meteorologist for the NWS, is the worst month for twisters in a state where tornadoes can happen 12 months out of the year. “April is the peak month for severe weather season for us,” he said. “There are a number of historic events that have occurred in the month of April and affected Alabama.” But De Block noted that while March-May is the longest peak severe weather period, because Alabama weather goes back and forth between cooler and warmer temperatures both in spring and fall, there is a secondary peak for tornado season here. “We are subject to tornadoes every month of the year,” De Block said. “People don’t need to focus just on March, April and May, NovemberDecember, but be prepared at all times for potentially severe weather in Alabama.” As noted on the NWS website, “Alabamians are reminded over and over again of the power and fury that nature can unleash. It’s important that people continue to improve their severe weather awareness and preparedness in order to reduce the toll exacted by these devastating storms.” There are things the experts recommend that you do to get ready for tornado season, but an official with the Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency recommends that you don’t think small — that is, just in terms of windstorms. “Are you prepared for a disaster — whatever it may be?” asked Michael Harter, the training and exercise officer for the Jeffco EMA.
Let’s start with tornadoes “The first thing to be prepared is to know about your threat,” De Block said. “To understand what the threat is, to realize that April is the time, the peak of severe weather season, that means you’re going to need to be paying attention to what the weather forecast has in store. If you hear of thunderstorms in the forecast in April, you should really peak your ear up... “Once you’re paying close attention, it’s important to have multiple ways of getting weather information,” he said. De Block recommended having a NOAA weather radio designed to come on and alert you even in the middle of the night in case of severe weather. “It’s the equivalent of a smoke alarm for weather. It’s a relatively inexpensive item, around $30,” he said. “There are plenty of other ways to get weather information. There are apps; there are texting services, [with] most of the media outlets, you can subscribe to a notification service. We encourage people to have as many layers of weather information as possible.” For many people, apps and weather radios are not as prominent or as popular a choice as relying on outdoor weather sirens, which some communities are phasing out, or not using. But it would not be a good idea to rely on those sirens in any case, De Block said. “Outdoor sirens are just that: they’re designed for people outdoors. They are not designed to wake you up in the middle of the night. So I really don’t encourage anyone to rely solely on an outdoor siren to notify them of impending severe weather. It’s important to have those other methods of getting notification... “If you’re at the park, you’re in the middle of a ball game and for whatever reason, a warning is issued and...those sirens go off, that’s going to be your last line of defense really for your outdoor areas.”
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Outdoor sirens are dependent on several factors that impact their effectiveness, De Block said: being in good repair, relying on someone to manual set the siren off and wind direction. “If the wind is blowing the wrong direction, you might not be able to hear the outdoor siren as well,” he said. On the other hand, the weather radio signal is reliable for 95 percent of Alabamians. “That said, it [the weather radio] is technology that is subject to phone outages, power outages, just like any other form of technology. That’s why we recommend having multiple sources of information — to not just rely on one.”
What next? After being aware of what the threat is, De Block said, “you have to know what to do once the threat manifests itself. ... If you don’t have a designated FEMA-approved storm shelter, then you’re going to go to the lowest level of your building, center of the building, away from windows, with the most walls possible around you like a closet or a hallway, even bathrooms. ... Some place where there’s more structure that will help protect you.” De Block also pointed out that there are awareness campaigns underway about the advantages of wearing helmets to enhance safety during outbreaks of dangerous weather. “Strongly encourage anybody who might have a bike helmet to keep that bike helmet nearby, and football helmet for the kids or baseball helmet. Anything you can do to protect yourself, and especially your head, will be a great added measure of safety.” Underscoring the importance of that advice, De Block noted that in the April 27 tornadoes, based on data from Jefferson County, “roughly 50 percent of the fatalities were related to head injuries.” Every tornado season needs to be considered potentially the worst ever, De Block said. “Last year, we only had 23 tornadoes across the state of Alabama for the entire year,” as opposed, say, to 2011, when there were 145 tornadoes throughout the state. The average is about 40 per year. The numbers of violent storms in the state since 2011 have been lower, but that doesn’t actually predict a trend, De Block noted. “You should not let your guard down. You need to be prepared, because it only takes one storm that hits your house to make it the worst severe weather season that you’ve experienced.” Taking common sense precautions can present a disastrous situation from being the worst, he said. “Always be aware; be prepared. There’s no reason to be afraid. If you’re aware, and you’ve got the knowledge, then you act on the information and you take your steps, you should be as safe as you can be.” The ways that people prepare for tornadoes has changed over the years in the wake of events with substantial loss of life, injuries and property damage, De Block noted. “There were a number of people who rode out those 2011 storms in those storm pits that probably Mama or Daddy, or Grandpa or Grandma, built back after the 1974 tornadoes. There have been a number of people who have installed storm shelters in their homes now since 2011, that one of these years down the road, they’re going to wind up saving somebody’s life.”
Preparing for disasters — the EMA focus The National Weather Service is connected by radio and other means to the Jefferson County EMA — the agencies work together to helping local officials get prepared to deal with severe weather, said Harter. “If they suspect an event to happen they would brief us, saying, ‘This is what we know so far as to the event that is going to take place.’ Then we would go in and send out a message ...to different players — police chiefs, fire chiefs, mayors, commissioners — that we have a potential for severe weather,” Harter said. The EMA uses WARN — the Wide Area Rapid Notification system. “It allows us to send text messages, TTYs, just emails, to either home or work or phone, or whatever we wanted to. It’s a very quick way of getting information out to those that need to be aware.” Those first contacts allow leadership to make sure their first responders and staff members are prepared for whatever is coming, Harter said. “They should also be taking a look at: [Are] my employees ready? Can they stay away from work or from home, x number of days if a disaster strikes? They’ve got to make sure that the employees basically have a preparedness plan also in case they’re away from work.” Depending on when and where the disaster strikes and what it does, employees may be stranded either at work or at home, he said. Harter was stranded at his home in Clay for a period during the snowstorms in January, for example. Another aspect of the county getting ready involves making certain that the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) (which, like Harter’s office, is in the basement of a building next door to Birmingham City Hall) is prepared for the influx of representatives of various agencies which work together to mitigating a disaster. The main room in the EOC is laid out like a command center, with long desks equipped with computers, phones and radios, as well as projectors for presenting situation-based graphics for the response team to see and flat screen monitors for public information officers to keep up with news coverage of events as they unfold, among other things. An adjacent room houses a communications hub for quickly routing telephone calls to the appropriate member of the team, and even a setup for ham radio operators who might come into play in given circumstances. When a disaster strikes, representatives of agencies from the Birmingham Police and Fire Departments, to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, the EMA, public works from the county and the city, and suburban police and fire units, come together as a team to deal with the event. Once they enter the EOC, they play different roles, but the teamwork required to deal with a catastrophe demands that everyone check their jurisdictional affiliations at the door, Harter said. “When they come in, they are not known as Jefferson County or Birming-
ham. They are the EOC law enforcement branch.” The folks in the EOC make sure that all of the departments across the county are prepared to support the joint effort, Harter said. For instance, during the snowstorms in January, units from Hoover and Bessemer went to the far eastern end of the county to help rescue people as needed. Preparing the officials is just part of the task, however. In most disasters, the first responder on the scene is you. For any disaster that might happen, “citizens need to be prepared,” Harter said, including personal disasters. “If I had a fire in my home, it would be disastrous to me but maybe not to the community. Now, what do I do? How do I pick up the pieces from this?”
Taking the all hazard approach All disasters break down into four basic phases, Harter said: impact, inventory, response and recovery, and his job is to teach people how to deal with all four. “Part of our stuff is to make people aware of preparedness in all disasters, not just tornadoes,” he said. “FEMA went to an all-hazard approach several years ago. ... That’s what we try to do, make people aware of potential hazards and having a plan for that.” Harter visits groups of people regularly to talk about preparing for possible disasters; at the time of this interview, he was planning for a visit and presentation at Center Point City Hall to the Neighborhood Watch program. The following day, he would be talking at St. Vincent’s East to “people who are disabled with vision issues.” In all cases, Harter is “trying to get the information out about being prepared and how [to] get information in a disaster.” He quickly rattles off a list of the kinds of considerations people need to make in case of a disaster. “Having a plan, having a kit. If you were told to evacuate, what would you take? Do you need any medications? Are you on a special diet? Do you have kids? What are the ages of the kids? ... Do you have enough diapers? Do you have enough baby food, formula? Do you have whatever the essential is? If you’re disabled, do you have a friend next door who can help you in a disaster to move from Point A to Point B? There are just so many different things that come into play.” He offers tips to schools, businesses — 40 percent of small businesses don’t recover from catastrophic events — and even to volunteer disaster workers. In every case, though, Harter or other EMA speakers visit only by invitation. “We don’t go out there and volunteer. They call us and say, ‘We need to have an assessment,’” he said. Because of that, not every school has had a visit. Harter clearly believes that having an assessment of various disaster scenarios would be a good thing for any school to do, because most school plans he has seen only take limited possibilities into consideration when preparing for potential disasters. The EMA provides access to a wide range of printed materials to help prepare: brochures from FEMA, generally free of charge, dealing with everything from an emergency supply list to what steps to take to gear up for any disaster; pamphlets from Homeland Security designed to help businesses get ready for anything from terrorist attack to tornado, fire, or flood, and to get citizens involved in Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT); and an emergency preparedness guide for the government’s Citizen Corps, of which CERT is a part. And the Jefferson County EMA website (jeffcoema.org) contains additional information tailored for the local area. Harter and the other seven people at the agency are happy to offer training and advice to anyone in the county to deal with any possible disaster. “The service is available to everybody,” Harter said. “All they’ve got to do is call.” The Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency is located at 709 North 19th Street, in Birmingham. You can reach them by phone at (205) 254-2039.
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AS EARTH WEEK CONTINUES, ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS DON’T GO AWAY by Nick Patterson
WELD / Apr 24-May 1, 2014 / Page 17
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Photo of Birmingham by Nick Patterson.
As the 40th Earth Day passed this week, it might be reasonable for Alabamians to ponder the question: Exactly what is the actual state of the environment — close to home, that is? Local activists cheer what they see as positive developments, but seem to find much more work that needs to be done in “Alabama the Beautiful.” Last week, for instance, two organizations concerned about the environment, the Alabama Rivers Alliance and the Southern Environmental Law Center, applauded Gov. Robert Bentley’s decision to move forward with a statewide water management plan in conjunction with state agencies and nonprofit interest groups. “After years of advocating for a comprehensive water plan to strengthen Alabama’s position for negotiating the water needs of local communities, businesses, and ecosystems, we support the Governor’s decision to move ahead with the report,” said Mitch Reid of Alabama Rivers Alliance. “This is a crucial step toward protecting the streams, rivers, and lakes that provide for this great state.” The report, which outlines progress so far toward
the comprehensive water plan, relates to decades of conflict between Alabama, Georgia and Florida over usage of water that benefits all three states. Until now, Alabama was the only state among the contesting parties without a comprehensive water plan. The recommendations for the Alabama plan “include implementing a robust stakeholder process that brings all water users to the table, decreasing reliance on expensive, large-scale projects like reservoirs and dams that severely disrupt the ecological balance of rivers and streams in favor of improved conservation and efficiency efforts, and implementing flow standards to better protect the rivers and streams as well as all water users throughout the watersheds,” the SELC and ARA said in a joint statement. So as far as that plan goes, environmentalists think
the state is moving in the right direction. But on Monday, as Earth Day approached, the same SELC joined with the Black Warrior Riverkeeper to issue a very different joint statement, one taking a dim view of the state highway department’s moving forward with an undertaking they expect to have detrimental effects on the local environment: the Northern Beltline. The occasion was a groundbreaking for the first phase of the highway, projected to be the most expensive highway ever built in Alabama - 52 miles long, six-lanes, nearly $105 million per mile. “To continue investing in an unnecessary road that will cross and permanently alter streams and wetlands in 125 places, impacting two major sources of local drinking water, is nothing to celebrate,” said Nelson Brooke, the Black Warrior Riverkeeper. “Today’s event is merely a distraction from the fact that the Northern Beltline remains a wasteful and destructive diversion from the Birmingham area’s pressing transportation needs, such as the I-59/20 upgrade and major traffic issues on I-65 and Highway 280.” The statement goes on to say that ALDOT has not stated exactly how the beltline will be paid for -- beyond the initial, less than two mile stretch of the road . “This is particularly problematic in the wake of an announcement this week that the Federal Highway Trust Fund, which Alabama relies on to fund transportation projects all over the state, is projected to run out
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of money in four months,” the joint statement said. “The lack of funding to get this project from start to finish – much less fund Birmingham’s other transportation needs – further illustrates that the Beltline is a bad idea for the region and a poor investment for the taxpayers,” said Gil Rogers, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Not only is this project needlessly damaging the Black Warrior and Cahaba River watersheds, but its $5.4-billion price tag would use all of Alabama’s federal funding for much needed road improvements and maintenance projects around the state. Other states are sensibly shelving large projects that are far less costly than the Beltline in the face of economic realities.” SELC has filed federal court lawsuits on behalf of the Black Warrior Riverkeeper in opposition to the Northern Beltline. One suit, filed in 2011 contends that the agencies behind the beltline have “failed to provide a necessary analysis of alternative transportation investments as required by law, and to justify the environmental impacts and tremendous economic cost of the Beltline.” The other suit, filed in 2013, also took aim at potential harm to the environment. That suit challenges a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to allow the first phase of the beltline’s construction, alleging, among other things, that authorities have failed to follow the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Both lawsuits remain open cases.
Off road But the Northern Beltline is not the only environmental concern on the minds of local activists. Alan Gurganus, executive director of the Alabama Environmental Council says that Alabamians need to take the next step before recycling begins to really pay off. After touting the AEC’s consumer-searchable database of recycling locations around the state (www. RecycleAL.com),Gurganus said, “An important aspect of recycling that often gets overlooked is the idea of buying recycled and recyclable consumer goods. If you think about it, it’s a bit pointless to recycle unless we make an effort to close the loop by purchasing goods made from post-consumer recycled materials. Fortunately, in Alabama, we have at least 26 manufacturers that rely on recycled-content feedstock to make their consumer goods.” Citing the “negative environmental and climate impacts of electrical production,”Gurganus said, “We all should pay attention to how we use energy ... [W] e should make sure that we are conservation minded and use it as efficiently as possible. An energy audit can show us ways to save energy and money in our homes and businesses, as well as help us to live more comfortably in our space. Many times, we can save as much as 25 percent with a few simple changes.” Recycling and what to do with so much discarded material remains a hot topic for Pat Matthews, the original Auntie Litter. “As we celebrate Earth Day 2014, Alabamians need to consider the importance of living in a clean and healthy environment by protecting our land, water, and air,” said Mitchell, executive director of Auntie Litter, Inc. “Each person can make a difference by taking pride in Alabama, practicing the environmental 3 Rs (reuse, reduce waste, and recycle), conserving our natural resources, reducing car emissions, and preventing litter! The end result will have a positive long term effect on the health of our citizens and our natural resources for generations to come.” Generations of poor residents in north Birmingham have been exposed to toxins in their environment -the air and the soil in places like Collegeville, Harriman Park and Fairmont contaminated by nearby heavy industries. The result has been higher rates of cancer and respiratory ailments. That’s been a focus for GASP, the Greater Birmingham Alliance to Stop Air Pollution, which produced a recent documentary on contamination in north Birmingham, called Toxic City: Birmingham’s Dirty Secret. Michael Hansen, communications specialist for
GASP said that Earth Day should be a time for remembering that the most impoverished citizens are often those most exposed to unhealthy elements in the environment. “As our society becomes more and more dependent on smart phones, social media, and other modern technologies, it’s important not to become apathetic to and disengaged in the very real environmental concerns facing Alabamians today,” Hansen wrote. “As anthropologist Margaret Mead said, ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’ “A study recently found a significant disparity between the quality of air that poor people and communities of color breathe compared to white people. In 2014, it’s unacceptable for economic status and skin color to be an indicator of your quality of life. Air pollution has significant health consequences — heart disease, lung cancer, asthma, COPD, childhood development, premature births, etc. People should be outraged that air pollution isn’t front and center in the conversation about economic development and public health, particularly in the Birmingham area, which has some of the dirtiest air in the nation. “That’s something Alabamians should think hard about this Earth Day,” Hansen said, “and consider getting involved, just as Mead suggested. We all have the power to make a difference if we choose to do so.” GASP, just last month, launched, a pollution hotline, “for Alabamians who live and/or work near toxic pollution sources such as power plants and industrial facilities to report complaints, especially as related to health issues,” as described on the GASPgroup.org website. To access the hotline, call 1-866-581-GASP (4277). GASP pledges to forward all complaints to the Jefferson County Department of Health.
Celebrate? State agencies tend to paint a pretty picture -- or at least a more positive one -- of the state of Alabama’s environment. For instance, back in March the Alabama Department of Environmental Management noted that every county in the state now complies with strict Environmental Protection Agency standards for air quality. “Several areas of the State, particularly the Birmingham area, have historically not met the standards which limit fine particle concentrations,” ADEM notes on its website. “The areas having met today’s stringent standards is a result of local, State, and federal emis-
sions-limiting laws and regulations covering industry, vehicles, and other sources of air pollutants. “Nationally, air quality standards have become more and more stringent over the years, and even though overall air quality in Alabama has constantly improved, the Department has been pursuing an ever-changing standard. Due to a lot of hard work by ADEM and other stakeholders, the State of Alabama has attained this current, more stringent air quality standard for all 67 counties.” With so much unfinished business as far as activists - and others are concerned, what is there to celebrate in this little section of Earth?
Earth Week events Earth Day and Earth Week were celebrated by events throughout the community, including the indie rock band Earthbound’s outdoor concert called Earthbound’s Earthfest, held April 19 at Avondale Brewery and benefiting the Black Warrior Riverkeeper. The event gave BWRK a forum for promoting its causes, including prevention of the proposed coal mine at Shepherd’s Bend, which is opposed by BWRK, Avondale Brewery, the city of Birmingham, and more than 100 other businesses and organizations. The coalition against the mine has sought to persuade the University of Alabama not to lease, or sell land or mineral rights for the proposed mine. On Earth Day proper, the Alabama Environmental Council’s 18th annual Green Tie Affair at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, featured music, food and drinks, and a sponsorship credit shared between the AEC, Star Recycling, Advanced Technology Recycling, and a number of corporations. That event raised money for AEC programs statewide. The AEC, along with authorities representing Jefferson County, Birmingham, Bessemer and the state agency which is the Jefferson County Health Department, will host a Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day on Saturday, April 26, from 8am-11am, at Legion Field’s McLendon Park, 400 Graymont Ave W. “This is a zero landfill event for Jefferson County residents to safely recycle and dispose of paint, electronics, batteries, motor oil, ammunition, drugs, appliances and small engines,” Gurganus said. “A free paper shredding service will also be onsite.” More information can be found at www.AEConline.org/HHW
What do you think? What do you think of the environmental condition of the state of Alabama, and Birmingham in particular? Let us know. Write to us at editor@weldbham.com or comment on our website, weldbham.com
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After Half A Century, LBJ’s Grand Vision For America Remains A Work In Progress by Nick Patterson
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When you think about Head Start programs for kids, or about protecting the environment, or whether Medicaid should be expanded in Alabama, or whether the Affordable Care Act is a good thing or a bad one, you’re thinking about some aspect of LBJ’s Great Society. Fifty years ago, on May 22, 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson announced a bold and far-reaching effort to elevate American society — then mired already in the Vietnam War and still reeling from historic demonstrations for civil rights and the recent assassination of a young president — to a better place. He unveiled his Great Society vision for what the nation could be in his commencement address at the University of Michigan, a little less than a month-and-a-half before signing the Civil Rights Act into law. Shortly thereafter, Johnson would also sign the Voting Rights Act, the Medicare Act and laws designed to protect the environment. Over the years, subsequent administrations expanded on those Johnson-era initiatives. Today, what began with the Great Society remains undeniably interwoven into the fabric of American culture. Which is not something everybody knows, said Dr. William P. Hustwit, an assistant professor of history at BirminghamSouthern College. “My sense of it is that most people, in Alabama and elsewhere, do not understand how much their lives have been directly or indirectly shaped by LBJ’s Great Society programs. When Johnson became president in late 1963, Social Security was America’s only nationwide social program. The Great Society introduced Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, anti-poverty measures and a whole raft of social and environmental legislation to create a non-zero-sum game society.” With the Great Society so much a part of American life, whether that’s good or bad depends on your perspective. “The Great Recession, counter-intuitively, has allowed the conservative opponents of Great Society programming to mount an attack questioning its cost, effectiveness and ongoing viability,” said Joshua Sandman, a political science professor at the University of New Haven. Hustwit echoed that point. “Some of these programs have become politically charged and continue to serve as whipping boys for the Republicans,” the Birmingham-Southern history professor said. “Others, like wearing your seatbelt or enjoying cleaned up, beautiful highways (both were the result of Great Society laws) go unrecognized and unmaligned. When Lyndon Johnson began the War on Poverty, its most popular (perhaps because least controversial) program was Head Start, which provided the children of the poor with pre-schooling, so that they would catch up with the children of the middle class by the time all began kindergarten at age 5. Since then, the middle class soon set in motion a Head Start program of its own, sending its children to nursery and preschools as early as physically possible. “Today, where one’s child goes to school, how well he or she does in schools, which schools give him or her the best shot at even better schools later on — these are all matters of intense concern. That’s an unintended consequence, but it’s another offshoot of the Great Society. There are many more.”
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Sandman noted that “The Great Society programs — in the form of civil rights, education, Medicare, food and nutrition, services for the elderly and more — continue to play an important role in protecting the most vulnerable and bettering the lives of many citizens. These continuing programs cushioned the impact Great Recession for many. However, it was never meant to and could not offset the impact of the housing bubble, deregulation, de-industrialization and the excesses of the financial sector.” But some would argue that the success or failure of the Great Society programs depends entirely on which end of the political bench you’re sitting on. “The first thing you’ve got to look at in the modern context is nothing but controversy,” said Christopher Kline, an adjunct instructor of history at Westmoreland County Community College and Southern New Hampshire University. “The reason I say that is it depends on whether you fit the conservative mindset or the liberal mindset. Because if you’re of a liberal mindset, you’re going to say the Great Society worked and set us on a path towards eradicating poverty. They will also point to Johnson’s own words, in which he said it is basically something that never ends. It’s ongoing, it’s something we’re always striving for, it’s something we’re always working towards,” Kline said. “If you look at the conservative view of that, they’ll say under the Great Society poverty expanded [to a] modern day welfare state. ... The legacy itself of the entire program I would contend is tied up within our modern-day political context.”
Defining a Great Society Johnson framed what he called “The Great Society” as a call to action to that class of 1964 Michigan graduates, after pointing out how American ingenuity and hard work had brought the country to where it was. “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,” Johnson said. “Your imagination, your initiative and your indignation will determine whether we build a society where progress is the servant of our needs, or a society where old values and new visions are buried under unbridled growth. For in your time we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society. “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. “The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents. It is a place where leisure is a welcome chance to build and reflect, not a feared cause of boredom and restlessness. It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community. “It is a place where man can renew contact with nature. It is a place which honors creation for its own sake and for what it adds to the understanding of the race. It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods. “But most of all, the Great Society is not a safe harbor, a resting place, a final objective, a finished work. It is a challenge constantly renewed, beckoning us toward a destiny where the meaning of our lives matches the marvelous products of our labor.” Johnson spoke about the need to rebuild America’s urban environment toward the Aristotelian goal of people living “the good life” together. “It is harder and harder to live the good life in American cities today,” the president noted. “The catalog of ills is long: there is the decay of the centers and the despoiling of the suburbs. There is not enough housing for our people or transportation for our traffic. Open land is vanishing and old landmarks are violated. “Worst of all, expansion is eroding the precious and time-honored values of community with neighbors and communion with nature. The loss of these values breeds loneliness and boredom and indifference. … Our society will never be great until our cities are great.” Johnson also spoke of the need to protect America’s natural beauty. “Today that beauty is in danger. The water we drink, the food we eat, the very air that we breathe, are threatened with pollution. Our parks are overcrowded, our seashores overburdened. Green fields and dense forests are disappearing... “Once the battle is lost, once our natural splendor is destroyed, it can never be recaptured. And once man can no longer walk with beauty or wonder at nature his spirit will wither and his sustenance be wasted.” LBJ argued that a Great Society would have to address the needs of a growing population for a quality education for all of America’s children. “Our society will not be great until every young mind is set free to scan
the farthest reaches of thought and imagination,” he said. “We are still far from that goal.” Among other challenges to the educational equity he envisioned, Johnson noted that “In many places, classrooms are overcrowded and curricula are outdated. Most of our qualified teachers are underpaid, and many of our paid teachers are unqualified. So we must give every child a place to sit and a teacher to learn from. Poverty must not be a bar to learning, and learning must offer an escape from poverty. “But more classrooms and more teachers are not enough. We must seek an educational system which grows in excellence as it grows in size. This means better training for our teachers. It means preparing youth to enjoy their hours of leisure as well as their hours of labor. It means exploring new techniques of teaching, to find new ways to stimulate the love of learning and the capacity for creation.” The president promised to marshal the resources of “the best thought and the broadest knowledge from all over the world to find those answers for America,” attacking the problems besetting the country through conferences and meetings to begin to “set our course toward the Great Society.” He ended the speech with a call for the graduating class to act. “So, will you join in the battle to give every citizen the full equality which God enjoins and the law requires, whatever his belief, or race, or the color of his skin? “Will you join in the battle to give every citizen an escape from the crushing weight of poverty? “Will you join in the battle to make it possible for all nations to live in enduring peace — as neighbors and not as mortal enemies? “Will you join in the battle to build the Great Society, to prove that our material progress is only the foundation on which we will build a richer life of mind and spirit?”
Early steps On July 2 of that year, Johnson would sign the Civil Rights Act into law. The following year, he would sign first the Medicare bill in July 1965, then, a week later, the Voting Rights Act. In October 1965, LBJ signed the Highway Beautification Act. When he enacted the Medicare Act, continuing the work begun by Harry S. Truman — who watched as Johnson signed the law — LBJ spoke to Truman of the grand promise of this new element in the social safety net. “There are more than 18 million Americans over the age of 65. Most of them have low incomes. Most of them are threatened by illness and medical expenses that they cannot afford. “And through this new law, Mr. President, every citizen will be able, in his productive years when he is earning, to insure himself against the ravages of illness in his old age. “This insurance will help pay for care in hospitals, in skilled nursing homes, or in the home. And under a separate plan it will help meet the fees of the doctors. ... “No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine. No longer will illness crush and destroy the savings that they have so carefully put away over a lifetime so that they might enjoy dignity
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in their later years. No longer will young families see their own incomes, and their own hopes, eaten away simply because they are carrying out their deep moral obligations to their parents, and to their uncles, and their aunts. “And no longer will this nation refuse the hand of justice to those who have given a lifetime of service and wisdom and labor to the progress of this progressive country. “And this bill, Mr. President, is even broader than that. It will increase Social Security benefits for all of our older Americans. It will improve a wide range of health and medical services for Americans of all ages.” Medicare, education, the War on Poverty, commitment to civil rights, beautifying and preserving the country — all characterized LBJ’s substantial efforts in domestic issues. But those weren’t the only things on his plate.
Vietnam There are those who contend that much of the Great Society’s promise and momentum were swallowed up by the Johnson administration’s involvement in the increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam. But Barrett disputes the idea that the Great Society programs were ultimately derailed by the war in Southeast Asia. “That is so not true,” Barrett said. “All you have to do is look at the list of the laws that were passed, the agencies that were created and the functions that the federal government took on in terms of what we might call social welfare kinds of programs.” Still, the war that dragged on until the Nixon administration did leave footprints on Johnson’s domestic agenda, Barrett acknowledges. “I think there are probably other programs and laws that might have been passed, and there are programs that probably would have been more highly funded were it not for the Vietnam War. I think it is true that the war soured the American public and the Congress to some degree on LBJ, and whatever he wanted to do became suspect in the last couple of years of his presidency, because the war became such a divisive topic and he became so unpopular as a war leader. ... “So I think the war had a negative impact on the Great Society in some respects. But it didn’t kill it, and the Great Society has had a lasting impact, I think, to this day in a multitude of ways.”
Lasting impact As noted above, in time, the initiatives related to the Great Society would come to include many programs reflecting governmental involvement in the lives of U.S. citizens. But as Johnson envisioned it, the Great Society would require not just government but a cooperative spirit throughout the country if it was to ultimately succeed. “There are those timid souls who say this battle cannot be won; that we are condemned to a soulless wealth,” LBJ told the Michigan graduates in 1964. “I do not agree. We have the power to shape the civilization that we want. But we need your will, your labor, your hearts, if we are to build that kind of society.” That kind of cooperation — or even a shared vision of what the country is now, or should become — remains elusive. “The two linchpins of the Great Society, of course, were commitments to ending poverty and racial
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injustice,” Hustwin said. “Statistically, the percentage of Americans living in poverty plunged in the years following the Great Society. Today, however, we live with a different kind of poverty, one that sees the poor with some material possessions and the ability to participate in consumer culture, but living without good schools and a bright future. They also suffer from family breakdown and a lack of access to medical and counseling providers to deal with a range of public and private healthcare issues.” In Alabama, some see aspects of the Great Society as very much under attack. Consider the refusal of Governor Robert Bentley, for instance, to expand Medicaid in the state to accommodate the Affordable Care Act. Or consider that most sensitive of topics in Alabama: race. “There is no denying that we live in a changed racial landscape as a result of the Great Society’s civil rights legislation,” Hustwin continued. “The Birmingham of today is nothing like the walls of segregation in 1963. The ‘63 demonstrations, which fueled the 1964 Civil Rights Act, began the process of opening up the city to the outside world and tearing down racial barriers. “Conversely, civil rights gains can also be repealed, which we have seen in recent years. Alabama led the way in gutting a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and elements of the 1964 Civil Rights Act could be next on the chopping block. There is also no denying that poverty, urban decay and homelessness remain problems in Birmingham, and those problems can often be linked to race as well as class.”
What would LBJ think today? There is no question that elements of the Great Society remain. Sandman noted that “The Great Society programs, after these many years, continue to both provide a safety net and continue to allow citizens to uplift themselves.” But some scholars believe Johnson, were he alive today, would lament how little he’s remembered for the vast — if unfinished — social changes he brought into being, in comparison to how many link him inextricably to the war that was brought into American homes on the evening news during his administration. “He wanted to be the greatest president of the 20th century,” Barrett said. “He wanted to outdo [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt, who was a mentor of his. But this ambition to be a great president, it was all about domestic reform. That was his passion. Civil rights, poverty, education, the environment — all that stuff — that was his great passion.” And yet because the country was drawn more and more into Vietnam, LBJ’s presidential legacy is more often attached to that, Barrett said. “He did not love that war. He conducted and presided and he led us into a bigger war than we’d been in under Kennedy. But it’s a bit ironic that the war was not his love. His love was the Great Society.” Few would argue that the principles of the Great Society can or should be completely disentangled from the operation of the federal government. “I think it’s deeply embedded in our society, our culture, our government, in terms of public perceptions that the government will be involved in these things,” Barrett said, offering an example. “Many of the Republican leaders who oppose Obamacare, what they come up with is sort of an alternate approach to how the government can assure that citizens get some level of healthcare.” Most people, Barrett said, accept the notion that the government “should be involved in things like education of children and supporting that, or healthcare, or protecting the environment, supporting the arts. I think these are here to stay. Tea Party Conservatives and some Libertarians want to get rid of that role of the government, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think that specific programs and bureaucracies — they may come and go. But the concept and the fact that the government will be involved in these things, I think is here to stay. ... That’s a very important legacy of the Johnson administration whether we like it or not.” The issue, then, might be, not what the Great Society has already wrought, but what, based on the will of the American people, it will become in the next 50 years. “I think,” Hustwit said, “that the crucial question raised by the legacy of the Great Society for Alabamians and all Americans is: What kind of government do we want? Are we able to recognize problems and issues that affect the entire national community and to seek solutions that sometimes require the presence of an active, responsive federal government? Or does government have no or minimal role in correcting problems that face the nation? That is the bifurcated legacy of LBJ’s Great Society, and it’s one we have not resolved — nor do I think we should.”