Mondale, McGovern recall the 'high tide' of liberalism

Mondale called Bush's agenda "nothing less than a radical assault on our idea that the federal government is an indispensable instrument of social justice and decency in America."

Former Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota said he was troubled by the impression that Bush relishes his role as commander-in-chief but has few ideas for improving the lot of ordinary Americans.

[In 1965] Congress enacted and LBJ signed laws creating Medicare, knocking down barriers to black voter participation, starting federal aid to elementary and secondary schools, adopting the first-ever federal clean air requirements, ending the system that had allowed immigration mostly from European nations, raising Social Security benefits, initiating federal grants for mental health, doubling funding for existing anti-poverty programs, funding a new program for development of the poverty-ridden Appalachian region, creating the Department of Housing and Urban Development, creating the foundations that became the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, adopting Ladybird Johnson's pet program for the beautification of interstate highways, requiring the first-ever health warning on cigarette cartons, and making it a federal crime to assassinate the president.