<P> After the task force reports were submitted to the White House, Moyers began a second round of review . The recommendations were circulated among the agencies concerned and were evaluated by new committees composed mostly of government officials . Experts on relations with Congress were also drawn into the deliberations to get the best advice on persuading the Congress to pass the legislation . In late 1964 Johnson reviewed these initial Great Society proposals at his ranch with Moyers and Budget Director Kermit Gordon . Many of them were included in Johnson's State of the Union Address delivered on January 4, 1965 . </P> <P> The task - force approach, combined with Johnson's electoral victory in 1964 and his talents in obtaining congressional approval, were widely credited with the success of the legislation agenda in 1965 . Critics later cited the task forces as a factor in a perceived elitist approach to Great Society programs . Also, because many of the initiatives did not originate from outside lobbying, some programs had no political constituencies that would support their continued funding . </P> <P> With the exception of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Great Society agenda was not a widely discussed issue during the 1964 presidential election campaign . Johnson won the election with 61% of the vote, and he carried all but six states . Democrats gained enough seats to control more than two - thirds of each chamber in the Eighty - ninth Congress, with a 68--32 margin in the Senate and a 295--140 margin in the House of Representatives . </P> <P> The political realignment allowed House leaders to alter rules that had allowed Southern Democrats to kill New Frontier and civil rights legislation in committee, which aided efforts to pass Great Society legislation . In 1965, the first session of the Eighty - Ninth Congress created the core of the Great Society . It began by enacting long - stalled legislation such as Medicare and federal aid to education and then moved into other areas, including high - speed mass transit, rental supplements, truth in packaging, environmental safety legislation, new provisions for mental health facilities, the Teacher Corps, manpower training, the Head Start program, aid to urban mass transit, a demonstration cities program, a housing act that included rental subsidies, and an act for higher education . The Johnson Administration submitted 87 bills to Congress, and Johnson signed 84, or 96%, arguably the most successful legislative agenda in US congressional history . </P>

What was the significance of the great society