Social Security

The Social Security Act of 1935: "From the Cradle to the Grave"

The Signing of the Social Security Act

The Wikimedia Foundation

Ethan Ross Block 3 Mr. Swidler March 28th, 2014

1

There have been many economic crises in the history of the modern world, but none

have ever been as severe or devastating as the Great Depression. Triggered by the stock

market crash of 1929, the Great Depression forever altered the course of American history. The

Great Depression was detrimental to the lives of nearly all Americans, and by the early 1930's

many were driven into desperate poverty. People lost their jobs and their homes, along with any

hope that things would get better. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who took office on March 4th,

1933, had his work cut out for him. Roosevelt acted quickly, and within one hundred days of

assuming office introduced fifteen major legislative bills to Congress, all of which were passed

("The 1930s: Government and Politics: Overview" 219). The series of economic measures by

Roosevelt to counteract the Depression was known as the "New Deal," designed to bring relief

to struggling Americans and prosperity back to the United States. The keystone of Roosevelt's

New Deal was the Social Security Act of 1935.

Due to the economic difficulties that many Americans faced during the Great Depression,

it was not just appropriate, but also necessary for the United States government to intervene in

economic affairs in order to aid its citizens. The United States was brutally unprepared for the

Great Depression and suffered mightily because of this. Therefore, the Social Security Act

established the first social insurance program in American history to provide economic security

for Americans. The Act included old­age benefits to retirees, unemployment compensation, aid

to dependent children, and additional aid to public...