The Act Itself
Although the Social Security Act (SSA) did not bring an end to the Great Depression, a precedent was set for social insurance in America.
I call upon my fellow citizens everywhere to cooperate with me in making this the most efficient and the cleanest example of public enterprise the world has ever seen. It is time to provide a smashing answer for those cynical men who say that a democracy cannot be honest and efficient. If you will help, this can be done. |
The Social Security Act of 1935 constituted the most sweeping action to place worker welfare under the charge of the federal government ever. The full text of the Act is embedded above, courtesy of ssa.gov. It achieved, on a national level, benefits and monthly stipends for retirees and the unemployed (funded by a payroll and employer tax), and the allocation of money to states for providing aid to the elderly, unemployed, blind, those with dependent children, and for public health services. |
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 against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.
- President Roosevelt at signing of SSA
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President Roosevelt signing the SSA, August 14, 1935, courtesy of ssa.gov. 1. Rep. Jere Cooper (D-TN). 2. Rep. Claude Fuller (D-AR) 3. Rep. Robert Doughton (D-NC) 4. Rep. Frank Buck (D-CA) 5. Rep. John Boehne, Jr.(D-IN) 6 . Sen. Robert Wagner (D-NY) 7 . Sen. Alben Barkley (D-KY) 9 . Sen. Robert LaFollette, Jr., (PROG-WI) 10 . Rep. John Dingell, Sr. (D-MI) 11. Sen. Augustine Lonergan (D-CT) 12 . Sec. Frances Perkins 13. Rep. Frank Crowther (R-NY) 14. Sen. William H. King (D-UT) 15. Rep. David J. Lewis (D-MD) 16. Sen. Byron Patton "Pat" Harrison (D-MS) 17. Sen. Joseph Guffey (D-PA) 18. Sen. Edward Costigan (D-CO) 19. Rep. Samuel B. Hill (D-WA) 20. Rep. Fred Vinson (D-KY) 21. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.