Frances Perkins: “Social Insurance for U.S.” Radio Address

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

On January 17, 1935, President Roosevelt sent the Senate his draft Economic Security Bill. Nearly a month later, Perkins addressed the nation in a radio broadcast to explain the details of that proposed legislation. She had been intimately involved in developing the bill; in fact, she had come to Washington with the goal of implementing some type of national unemployment insurance. As industrial commissioner in New York, Perkins had studied the causes of unemployment in search of a cure, canvassing the state and talking to employers and workers. She had traveled to England to study that country's system of unemployment insurance. After her extensive research, she came to the conclusion that the solution to unemployment required a combination of public works programs and unemployment insurance and convinced Roosevelt that this remedy would work on a national basis.

The Senate Finance Committee debated the bill, and several of the committee members—conservative southerners—found fault with the proposed legislation for various reasons. Although the public initially supported the bill, press coverage was increasingly negative; editorials criticized the legislation's details and the way in which it was developed. Much of the negative press centered on Perkins, who, as a woman with a history as a social reformer, was disliked by many in the political establishment. As one of the chief architects of social insurance, and to combat this negative publicity, Perkins became the primary spokesperson in favor of the bill, making numerous speeches on radio and before groups. One of the earliest such speeches is her radio address of February 25, 1935, which shows her style of persuasive argument through the use of evidence based on careful research.

Perkins sets the tone for her speech in the first paragraph. She emphasizes the role that research and prudent discussion played in the development of this legislation. Perkins was the chair of the Committee on Economic Security, the group that had designed the social security system. By using words such as “conscientious,” “thorough,” and “better-ordered,” she counters the criticism that her committee was made up of bureaucrats rather than competent experts.

Although Perkins was not a particularly charismatic speaker, she here conveys much of the same message of trust and hope that Roosevelt did in his public speeches. A deeply religious woman, she rooted her faith in making a difference on earth rather than merely focusing on the afterlife. Although she rarely uses fiery rhetoric, she does call people to action, yet with a language grounded in reality. Her audience needed some kind of hope; by the end of 1934, close to one quarter of the nation's workforce was unemployed. She offers “sanity and wisdom” based on sound judgment and experience rather than more emotional appeals.

Perkins ties herself to Roosevelt by quoting an important speech of his. On June 8, 1934, Roosevelt announced to Congress his plans to pursue a national program for social unemployment and old-age insurance. By referencing that speech, Perkins gives the background of the bill currently before the Senate and points out that the proposed legislation is a key component of Roosevelt's agenda for his term in office. Her discussion of industrialization driving the need for social insurance echoes Roosevelt's earlier speeches, including his messages to Congress and his Fireside Chats. Both she and Roosevelt had to address the objection that social insurance would stifle American individualism; Roosevelt was adamant that the program not simply be a government handout. By casting social insurance as a means to protect the health of the overall American economy rather than just a humanitarian act, Perkins shows that the bill before Congress is not a government dole program but a way to shore up an ailing economy faced with the new realities of industrialization. Drawing on her own research in England, she uses the British system of social insurance as an example, pointing out that America is not alone among the industrialized nations in facing the negative impacts of economic cycles.

One of the challenges Perkins faced was that she had to explain a complicated and technical bill to the general public. In order to cover the proposed legislation in adequate detail but without overwhelming her audience, she focuses on the two most important components of the social insurance bill: unemployment relief and care for the aged.

Perkins begins with a brief discussion of what would become the Works Progress Administration (WPA). This was, as she points out, a separate piece of legislation from the social insurance bill. The WPA was a jobs-creation program in which the government provided work for the unemployed in a wide variety of tasks, such as road and bridge building, rural improvements, and other infrastructure projects. There were also special programs under the WPA, including the Federal Arts Project, in which the government paid artists and musicians to produce murals and concerts, and the Federal Writers Project, which resulted in the collection and cataloguing of a vast array of historical and sociological material. Perkins emphasizes the morale-building role of this program, indicating that participants in the program would be earning support rather than receiving a government handout. This message of human dignity in the face of dire poverty and hopelessness is a theme in many of Perkins's and Roosevelt's speeches. There was a stigma associated with being poor and unemployed in her era; poverty was typically equated with moral failure rather than a failure in the system itself. In her writings and speeches, however, there is always a clear message that industrialization is responsible for many of society's ills and that it is government's responsibility to counteract the effects of modernity. At the same time, she advocates a system whereby people earn their benefits, upholding the American values of hard work and individual responsibility.

Next Perkins discusses the plan for unemployment compensation. She notes that by providing income to workers laid off for short periods of time, unemployment insurance maintains stability to the overall economy by keeping consumer spending flowing and allowing businesses flexibility in terms of their labor force. Because unemployment benefits were designed for the short term, Perkins mentions the WPA “employment assurance” program; the government provides, in her words, a “first and second line of defense” against long-term unemployment.

Perkins then provides an explanation of the unemployment insurance program. Before the depression, there had been little support for unemployment assistance outside academic circles. As job losses swelled during the 1930s, however, both political parties publicly supported unemployment insurance, as did major labor unions. The concept of a national program of unemployment assistance was another issue. Many senators opposed such a plan, arguing that the variability of unemployment rates in different industries negated the possibility of a single federal program. In order to get the bill passed, Perkins and the Committee on Economic Security created the unemployment compensation system as a combined federal and state program. Funded by a federal tax, unemployment insurance is administrated by each individual state, allowing for flexibility in program design. She highlights this aspect of the unemployment assistance plan in order to assuage the concerns of employers who might resist a federal program.

After explaining the federal/state nature of unemployment insurance, Perkins discusses the plan for old-age assistance. She begins by sketching the current situation with respect to the aged. Many states had some form of aid for the elderly in need, but the depression had bankrupted most of these plans. Perkins refers to the public outcry for a solution and mentions “hare-brained schemes” that have attracted “misguided supporters.” She is referring to the mélange of proposals that came from both the public and private sectors for aiding the elderly. These included Senator Huey Long's “Share Our Wealth” clubs and the very popular Townsend Plan, which promised a monthly government stipend of $200 to everyone over the age of sixty. While only a few states had developed unemployment programs, most had old-age pension programs, and the public wholeheartedly supported the concept of aid to the elderly. Perkins, therefore, did not need to persuade the public of the need for such a program. Rather, she needed to explain how the government would pay for the plan.

As she does for the unemployment program, Perkins emphasizes the flexibility of the states in determining the details of their pension systems. The federal government would provide grants to the states, but the states would make decisions about the size of pensions. This takes care of those already retired. However, for those who are employed, she describes the contributory system of social insurance in which both employees and employers pay into the trust fund. She does not go into much detail, but her comments reflect two important realities of social insurance legislation. One was the concern that the Supreme Court would rule the legislation unconstitutional; it was not at all clear that the federal government had the authority to implement such broad social insurance programs. However, by using the taxing power of the federal government, Perkins and the committee ensured that the legislation would pass the Court's scrutiny. Another concern was how the government would pay pensions for all Americans under the plan. After wrestling with this problem, the compromise was to exclude a number of workers from Social Security, including state and federal employees, those working for nonprofit organizations, and agricultural and domestic workers. The voluntary annuity program was designed to cover these workers. Although Perkins reassures the commercial insurance companies that the annuity program would not compete with their business, Congress struck this element from the bill because of insurance industry opposition.

Perkins ends her speech by once again quoting Roosevelt. Although the speech is her own, she adroitly presents herself as the spokesperson for the president, both at the beginning and the end of her remarks. As a woman in a powerful position, Perkins was the object of considerable scrutiny, and some of her unorthodox methods aroused suspicions. Her refusal to deport Harry Bridges, a radical alien, following a violent longshoremen's strike he had helped plan in San Francisco gave rise to rumors in 1934 that Perkins was a Communist. She had also “cleaned house” when she took over the Department of Labor in 1933, replacing many employees who had been hired for political reasons rather than their qualifications. Roosevelt, too, faced critics in 1934, on both the political left and right. Perkins's speech presents the Roosevelt administration as a unified front in the face of difficult times. By using direct quotes from the president, she makes it clear that she is the spokesperson for the administration. Still, her personal style is apparent, from the emphasis on evidence and research to the reformer's call for thoughtful, moral action.

Perkins gave more than one hundred speeches on social insurance and orchestrated a campaign to help ensure the bill's passage. A skillful politician, she anticipated virtually every possible objection the legislation might encounter and armed herself with research to counter all of them. Her efforts paid off; the bill passed in August 1935, establishing the basic system of Social Security that we have today.