Creation of Social Security

Courtesy of Internet Archives

"An Act to provide for the general welfare by establishing a system of Federal old-age benefits, and by enabling the several States to make more adequate provision for aged persons, blind persons, dependent and crippled children, maternal and child welfare, public health, and the administration of their unemployment compensation laws; to establish a Social Security Board; to raise revenue; and for other purposes."
Social Security Administration

Courtesy of Social Security History

The idea started long ago when Thomas Paine suggested old age help in 1795, Europe had worker insurance, and after the Civil War, the U.S. paid disabled soldiers. By the 1920s, some states tried old-age pensions, but they were weak or ruled illegal. Dr. Francis Townsend's popular plan pushed for big pensions, showing people wanted federal action.

"Townsend supporters rally in Columbus"
Library of Congress

"It is estimated that the population of the age of 60 and above in the United States is somewhere between nine and twelve million. I suggest that the national government retire all who reach that age on a monthly pension of $200 a month or more, on condition that they spend the money as they get it. This will ensure an even distribution throughout the nation of two or three billions of fresh money each month. Thereby assuring a healthy and brisk state of business, comparable to that we enjoyed during war times"
Francis Townsend

Courtesy of Social Security History

Over half of elderly Americans lived in poverty in 1934, prompting President Franklin D. Roosevelt to create the Committee on Economic Security (CES), led by Labor Secretary Frances Perkins. Guided by advice from a Supreme Court justice, Perkins proposed using the federal taxing power so workers and employers would each pay payroll taxes toward their own future benefits—not government handouts. The CES, which included Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr., Harry Hopkins, and other top officials, worked quickly. In just six months, a team led by Arthur Altmeyer studied old-age pensions, unemployment aid, and related issues. Their January 1935 report recommended payroll-tax-funded retirement insurance and similar programs, forming the foundation of the Social Security Act that Congress passed in 1935 and the Supreme Court upheld in 1937.

Courtesy of Library of Congress

"Every qualified individual (as defined in section 210) shall be entitled to receive, with respect to the period beginning on the date he attains the age of sixty-five, or on January 1, 1942, whichever is the later, and ending on the date of his death, an old-age benefit (payable as nearly as practicable in equal monthly installments)."
Social Sercurity Administration

Courtesy of Franklin D. Roosevelt Library

"New Yorkers sign up for Social Security in 1939" Couresty of Getty Images

Courtesty of Roosevelt Institute