Here we are in the third episode of our 4 episode season looking at how Lyndon Johnson, by passing the civil rights bill on July 2nd, 1964, and The Economic Opportunity Act on Aug. 20th, 1964, is continuing the work of Franklin Roosevelt, and doing it as a sort of interim president before he is elected in his own right in November of 1964. An election he’s nervous about, an election that could find him out of politics altogether with an enormous amount of work undone and with no clear path to power within reach. One of the biggest goals left undone by FDR and through the terms of Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy, is that of passing a comprehensive healthcare bill for the poor and elderly. In this episode, we explore Medicare’s tenuous, and little-known road to realization and the masterminds behind its conception.
Guian McKee
