Term paper on Establishment of Social Security (1935)

Establishment of Social Security

RESOURCE GUIDE

Despite the urgings of early twentieth-century reformers and the example of European nations, the United States lacked a national system of welfare assistance to its needy. Spurred on by the popular promises of the Townsend Plan and by the efforts of Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, Congress in 1935 passed the Social Security Act. The measure focused on three major goals: (1) a pension plan for retirees age sixty-five and over, to be financed equally by employers and workers; (2) a more uniform state code of unemployment compensation; and (3) federal assistance to states for such welfare matters as aiding dependent children and disabled persons.
Suggestions for Term Papers

1. Analyze why European nations generally had a social security system before the United States did.

2. Was the Townsend Plan a realistic proposal?

3. Analyze the arguments both for and against social security during the New Deal era and today.

4. Discuss the origins of the Social Security Act.

5. Compare today’s social security system in the United States with that of a European nation.

Suggested Sources : See entry 32 for related items.

REFERENCE SOURCES

Basic Readings in Social Security: 25th Anniversary of the Social Security Act, 1935–1960 . U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare Library. (1960). Reprint. New York : Greenwood , 1968. Useful bibliography of publications treating social security and public welfare.

Social Security, Its Development from Roosevelt to Reagan . Alva W. Stewart. Monticello , IL: Vance Bibliographies, 1982. One of the Vance bibliographies done by and for librarians; thirteen-page listing of pertinent publications.

GENERAL SOURCES

Eliot, Thomas H. Recollections of the New Deal: When the People Mattered . Boston : Northeastern University Press, 1995. Excellent historical treatment by one of the chief designers of the Social Security Act. Well written and interesting.

Haber, Carole, and Brian Grattan. Old Age and the Search for Security: An American Social History . Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1993. A brief, informative history of the quest for some form of security for the elderly.

Kirkendall, Richard S. Social Scientists and Farm Politics in the Age of Roosevelt . (1966). Reprint. Ames : Iowa State University Press, 1982. Examines the place of agriculture within governmental economic policy embracing social services to its citizens. Initially published by the University of Missouri .

Neuberger, Richard L., and Kelley Loe. An Army of the Aged, a History and Analysis of the Townsend Old Age Pension Plan . (1936). Reprint. New York : Da Capo, 1973. Early examination of the Townsend National Recovery Plan, proposed prior to the Social Security Act.

van der Linden, Marcel et al., eds. Social Security Mutualism: The Comparative History of Mutual Benefit Societies . New York : Peter Lang, 1996. Detailed account of the origin, growth, and development of social security systems around the world.

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Altmeyer, Arthur J. The Formative Years of Social Security . Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, 1966. Examination of the early years of social security; identifies official documents from 1935 to 1965.

Conkin, Paul K. FDR and the Origins of the Welfare State . New York : Crowell, 1967. Brief and interesting treatment of Roosevelt ‘s efforts in pushing through New Deal legislation and security measures.

Douglas, Paul H. Social Security in the United States : An Analysis and Appraisal of the Federal Social Security Act . (1936). Reprint. Westport , CT : Greenwood , 1972. Thorough and detailed early analyis of the impact of the social security system in the United States .

Duncan, John I. A Guide to Expanding Social Services to the Blind Under Title XX of the Social Security Act . New York: American Foundation for the Blind, 1976. Good example of the manner in which social security has been expanded through the years to embrace the needs of various population groups. Brief guide to benefits.

McKinley, Charles, and Robert W. Frase. Launching Social Security: A Capture-and-Record Account, 1935–1937 . Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1970. Detailed and thorough history of the startup procedures and emergence of the social security system, with a good exposition on the Social Security Act.

Witte, Edwin E. The Development of the Social Security Act: A Memorandum on the History of the Committee on Economic Security and Drafting and Legislative History of the Social Security Act . Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1962. Examination of the work of the committee in drafting and submitting the Social Security Act.

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Morris, Jeffrey B. The FDR Way . Minneapolis: Lerner, 1996. Brief easy-toread description of the life and presidency of FDR, with an emphasis on his important decisions, such as social security.

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

Social Security: Mainstream USA . Kent, CT: Creative Arts Television Archive, 1987. Videocassette. 17-minute informative analysis of the system and how it operates.

WORLD WIDE WEB

Social Security History Page . September 1997. http://www.ssa.gov/history/ A mix of material of both general and scholarly interest. Includes a brief history, text of the 1935 law as well as the current law, 1937 rulings of the Supreme Court, and a chronology.