This nation, this generation, in this hour has man’s first chance to build a Great Society, a place where the meaning of man’s life matches the marvels of man’s labor.

Lyndon B. Johnson used this language in 1964 as he framed the domestic vision that soon became known as the “Great Society.” In the wake of John F. Kennedy’s assassination and amid rapid economic growth, technological change, and Cold War pressures, Johnson argued that prosperity and scientific “marvels” should be matched by moral and civic progress. The phrase helped set the tone for his push for sweeping federal action on civil rights, poverty, education, health care, and urban and environmental policy. It belongs to the rhetorical moment when Johnson was asking Americans to see the coming years as a rare opportunity to align national wealth and power with a higher quality of life and broader social justice.

The sentence contrasts material achievement (“the marvels of man’s labor”) with the deeper question of purpose (“the meaning of man’s life”). Johnson suggests that technological and economic advances are not self-justifying; they create an obligation to build institutions and conditions that make life more dignified and humane. By calling it “man’s first chance,” he casts the mid‑20th century as a turning point: modern abundance makes it possible—perhaps for the first time on a national scale—to reduce poverty, expand opportunity, and improve communal life. The “Great Society” thus becomes not merely a program list but a moral project: to ensure that progress in production is matched by progress in equality, education, health, and civic belonging.