Historical Context
"During the Great Depression many older people were unemployed. Americans were living longer but retiring earlier; age discrimination made it difficult for elderly Americans to find employment . . . As Governor of New York State FDR enacted a law to provide old-age pensions and was ready to extend it nationally."
-FDR Library and Museum
-FDR Library and Museum
Transcript of Letter to FDR from Mrs. M. Zoller (original images to right) | |
File Size: | 152 kb |
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Reform: Social Security Act (SSA)
Roosevelt recognized the need for a law that provided a safety net for the most vulnerable people in society. He had the courage to propose the SSA for the people's sake despite the criticism it faced.
"On August 15, 1935, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law."
-U.S. Congress "We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family . . ." |
Criticism
"I fear [Roosevelt’s Social Security policies] may end the progress of a great country and bring its people to the level of the average European . . . It will discourage and defeat the American trait of thrift. It will go a long way toward destroying American initiative and courage." |
Legacy
With the SSA, Roosevelt established that the government has an inherent responsibility to provide for the economic welfare and social well-being of its citizens. Social Security still exists today.
"The crown jewel of FDR’s New Deal, Social Security is his greatest legacy to the nation...No other New Deal measure proved more lastingly consequential or more emblematic of the very meaning of the New Deal.” |
"The Roosevelt enactment of Social Security was a moral revolution in our country: We were assured that we would never reach the very depths of poverty." |
"This law represents a cornerstone in a structure...intended to lessen the force of possible future depressions...It is, in short, a law that will take care of human needs and at the same time provide for the United States an economic structure of vastly greater soundness." |
"As of June 2010, over 53 million people, or about one in every six U.S. residents, collected Social Security. Seventy-seven percent of them received benefits as retirees or elderly widow(er)s, 19 percent received disability benefits, and 4 percent received benefits as young survivors of deceased workers." -Center for Budget and Policy Priorities |