A few weeks ago, I wrote a column about the history of the Social Security number. I was surprised by the number of people who enjoyed it. And more than a few of you asked me for more columns with a historical bent, so I thought: Why not the history of Social Security itself?
As you might guess, there are more than a few books about the history of Social Security—books that run to hundreds and even thousands of pages. So how am I going to squeeze that history into the relatively few words I get in this column? Oh well, I'll try.
