Doesn’t it just bug you when you miss the birthday of a close friend? That happened to me when I recently missed the 90th birthday of someone who (well, actually something that) has been a big part of my life for the past half-century. I’m talking about the Social Security program that turned 90 on Aug. 14. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on Aug. 14, 1935.
I forgot to wish it a happy birthday in my last column, so I’m going to make up for it today by once again sharing a little history of our nation’s bedrock social insurance program.
Most people recognize that the concept of a national social insurance system in the United States grew out of the economic crises that followed the Great Depression and out of the election of Roosevelt as president in 1932. His “New Deal” programs were enacted to help bring the country out of the economic depths of that time. And of course, Social Security was one of those programs. (By the way, Social Security programs had been in existence in many countries around the world long before Roosevelt introduced it in the United States.)
But it’s not like our country was initially willing and eager to welcome this new kind of government-run old-age pension system. And opposition didn’t just come from expected sources such as conservative Republicans, almost all of whom vehemently opposed the bill. Most employers and even many unions just didn’t think that the federal government would be able to finance and manage such a huge and comprehensive program.
Of course, many people were involved in making Social Security happen. But one often overlooked person deserves a great deal of credit. And that is Frances Perkins. She was Roosevelt’s secretary of labor. And it was her perseverance and powers of persuasion with not only labor leaders, but also with members of Congress, that finally took Social Security off the planning table and onto the floors of Congress as actual legislation in January 1935.
But once there, the bill didn’t exactly breeze through Congress. In fact, on March 20, 1935, The New York Times ran a story headlined “Hopes Are Fading for the Social Security Bill.” Then Roosevelt stepped in. He called the leaders of Congress over to the White House and gave them a pep talk. Not long afterward, those members of Congress swallowed their doubts and passed the Social Security bill by a substantial 372–33 margin.
Then the bill was bogged down in the Senate, with various members of the upper body trying to tack on amendments (such as making the program voluntary rather than compulsory). Eventually, all these issues were ironed out, the bill passed, and Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on Aug. 14, 1935.
Speaking of that original Social Security law, many readers always tell me that we should take Social Security “back to its roots.” They think that too many “goodies” have been tacked on to the program over the years and that we'd be better off with “good old-fashioned original Social Security.”
I always tell these folks that if they really mean that they want only the original Social Security law, then all we would have is retirement benefits for people 65 and older who are totally retired. That’s it. Period. Nothing else!
So that means that we would have no early retirement benefits at age 62. Those millions of people getting early retirement benefits could kiss their checks goodbye under the “back to basics” plan.
It would also mean that we would not pay benefits to anyone 65 and older if they were still working. The original Social Security law required that you be completely retired to collect benefits. So tough luck for all the working seniors out there under the original plan.
Oh, and there would be no extra bonus for people who delay taking benefits until a later age. Millions of seniors currently plan to work until 70 to get a bonus of up to 32 percent added to their checks. Back-to-basic plans would turn off that incentive to delay retirement.
There would be no benefits for spouses, widows, or widowers. And if a young worker dies and leaves small children, tough luck. No government benefits for them. (Actually, these benefits were quickly added to the program in 1939 before any regular monthly benefits were paid. But still, they were not part of the original Social Security Act.)
And there would be no disability benefits. So if you have a heart attack at age 55, well then, that’s just too bad. You just have to wait until you are 65 to collect your Social Security, assuming that you live that long.
I could go on and on. There are tens of millions of people getting Social Security benefits today who would not qualify for anything under the original Social Security law.
Some people call these extra benefits “goodies” added to the original Social Security law. I would make the point that Social Security expanded over the years not because Congress was looking for ways to hand out freebies to freeloaders, but because there were legitimate needs that people had and that a caring and compassionate society needed to provide for its citizens. That’s why today we have Social Security benefits for working seniors, for spouses and widows, for orphaned children, for divorced spouses, and for disabled workers. And despite all the nonsense rumors, today’s Social Security program does not pay benefits to dead people or to people living here illegally.
And finally, let me get back to Social Security’s 90th birthday and make this point. For all the 50-plus years I have been associated with the program (I started working for the Social Security Administration in 1973), people have been telling me that Social Security is doomed to failure. My mentor was a guy who started working for Social Security in 1936. Back then, he said, everyone was telling him that the program wouldn’t last.
In other words, for 90 years now, people have been predicting the program’s demise. Come on, you doomsayers! I mean, how long does the program have to be around before you accept the fact that it is here to stay? It has been updated often in the past nine decades to adapt to changing times. And it will be reformed again (likely in the next several years) to adapt once more to changing times. But a basic social insurance program is always going to be part of what makes us a civilized society. Happy birthday again, Social Security!
