movement, which spawned more radical activists following his legislative
attempts at bridging the gaps – further sparking societal divide over the
legitimacy of the protests. The involvement in Vietnam’s civil war again divided
the country among generational lines, with young students leading protests
against the war, and a great number of the general population being supportive
in the beginning. Over the course of the war, this would shift, with more and
more people deeming the war unwinnable – dividing society over the question
of the war’s continuation. While the Great Society might have seemed to have
divisive effects, it was in fact the republican and in general right-wing politicians
like Wallace who used these policies as a scapegoat for problems it was not
responsible for: their campaign against big government is what most divided
people on Johnson’s legislation, not his policies themselves. The president was
therefore not responsible for the latter divides, but some of his policies did have
a negative effect on America’s societal cohesion – with racial conflicts escalating
and an approach to foreign policy that would split America more and more as
the war went on after his presidency was long over.
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