Social Security Act

The Social Security Act of 1935, enacted under the administration of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, created a unique national system of unemployment insurance and retirement income financed by employer and employee contributions instead of government payments. The Social Security Act provides the first public social safety net for Americans. Whereas old age or unemployment once guaranteed a life of poverty, Social Security affords a minimum level of income for unemployed and retired workers.

The Great Depression plagued Americans following the stock market crash of 1929; by 1934 over 25 percent of the nation's workforce was unemployed. In a nation that equated poverty and idleness with personal moral failure, millions of formerly employed men lined up at soup kitchens; wandered the country looking for work; or stayed at home, scrounging for food. The elderly were particularly vulnerable; state aid was meager, and families often offered little to no support. Facing a frustrated public, political challengers, and a Congress floating its own solutions, Roosevelt called for a national program for unemployment insurance and retirement income.

The program survived and has evolved over the years. In 1973, in the midst of the Watergate scandal, a sudden energy crisis, runaway inflation, and growing unemployment, Social Security faced its first deficit. It has since been criticized by economists and is frequently the subject of debate. Roosevelt's vision nevertheless remains a reality for the many Americans who, lacking private individual savings of their own, would be destitute without Social Security.