The Father of Social Security
by
Sara Triggs & Madeline Brighouse-Glueck
Senior Division
Group Web Site
Edwin Witte, influenced by the circumstances of the Great Depression and by the progressive economic ideas being synthesized at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was a key figure in the creation of the Social Security Act of 1935, which monumentally altered the United States government's role in ensuring the well-being of individual citizens.