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Timeline
1935 - Detail
August 14, 1935 - The Social Security Act is passed by Congress as part of the New Deal legislation and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It would begin payouts to retirees within two years. Workers began contributing into the system during the same year, at a rate of 2% of the first $3,000 in earnings, half paid by the employee and half paid by the employer.
Jason Donovan, Author
A shadow has hung over the United States since its inception. That shadow is how
society cares for its elders and those with disabilities. Some people held the old
aged among them in high regard and cared for them, while others were pushed
aside into poverty and destitution. These options were the state of affairs in the
United States until the Social Security Act was enacted in 1935. The Act changed
American society forever.
American society's relationship with those in need has always been
influenced by the country's past. Being a former English colony, we have
approached this issue through the lens of the English Poor Laws and the
philosophy of the Protestant Work Ethic. The English Poor Laws placed three
basic groupings: the vagrants, involuntarily unemployed, and the helpless. At its
most basic, people in need were broken down into "worthy" and "unworthy"
classes. The elderly, widows, orphans, and the handicapped were all "worthy. On
the other hand, there were people the state had decided were "unworthy," such as
drug addicts and alcoholics and people deemed to be lazy and unenterprising.
These regulations also set forth what aid is to be provided to each type of person.
The law also mandated the local government or parish as the administrator of
aid. As the administrating entity, the parish was authorized to "raise taxes as
needed and use the funds to build and manage almshouses; to supply food and
sustenance in their own homes for the aged and the handicapped (e.g., blind,
"crippled"); and to purchase materials necessary to put the able-bodied to work. If
vagrants or able-bodied persons refused to work they could be put in jail. The poor laws were enacted in 1594 and 1601. The law of Settlement and Removal of 1662 would complete the trifecta. This law resulted from the previous
two laws. These two previous provisions created a situation where the poor
moved to areas where the aid was superior. As a result of this development, the
law provided the parish authorities with the authority to remove non-local needy
people and send them back to their home areas.
These laws formed the legal framework for caring for the poor in early
America. They were brought about as a result of society's indoctrination with the
Protestant Work Ethic. The Protestant Work Ethic is a philosophy that hard work
leads to success. Thus, the poor have put themselves in their position by not
having worked hard enough. These statutes and attitudes have shaped the
predominant view that has been spread throughout American society.
Throughout the pre-depression era in America, the state provided aid
through the feared and loathed workhouses and poorhouses. Many of the people
were left with no choice but to become an "inmate" of such places. The high
mortality rate among the elderly in these institutions that society saw them as
places one goes to die. This feeling had so saturated the fabric of the American
social conscience that in 1872 Will Carleton penned "a ballad "Over the Hill to the
Poorhouse" that became a major musical hit. It went, in part, ...
"Over the hill to the poor-house I'm trudgin' my weary way—
I a woman of 70 and only a trifle gray—
I, who am smart an' chipper, for all the years I've told,
As many another woman that's only half as old ...
What is the use of heapin' on me a pauper's shame?
Am I lazy or crazy? Am I blind or lame?
True, I am not so supple, nor yet so awful stout:
But charity ain't no favor, If one can live without
Over the hill to the poorhouse—my child'rn dear, goodbye!
Many a night I've watched you when only God was nigh:
And God'll judge between us; but I will always pray
That you shall never suffer the half I do today. (Carleton, 1882)"
Poorhouse System
Things changed for the poorhouse system post-Civil War and the 14th
Amendment's provision against "involuntary servitude." From then on, all people
in the poorhouses were, technically, there voluntarily and could come and go as
they pleased. Over time, a large proportion of the population in the poorhouse
would enter of their own free will. There are many reasons why the elderly went
to poorhouses. In an article entitled "Poor Relief and the Almshouse," Dr. David
Wagner of the University of Southern Maine states that, ...
"My own research found that well into the mid-twentieth century, officials
in many towns and cities complained that men and women came in and out at will
and gave not the least respect to their betters. New Hampshire counties had
"county homes" (still another name for the poorhouses) into the 1960s. I
interviewed people who also went seasonally into these homes for
companionship."
Dr. Wagner continues ... "In some ways, the story of the Tewksbury Almshouse differs from local
almshouses due to its size and state sponsorship. (Rhode Island was the only
other state to erect state almshouses.) However, generally speaking, we need to
keep in mind both the terror and stigma of the "House" and the fact that the
inmates (as they were called in some areas until the 1960s) did routinely use the
poorhouses for their own ends."
A portion of the aid the poor and elderly received came from organizations
such as the church or those expressly set up to help the poor. One of these groups
was the "Committee on Relief of the Poor" of Richmond, Virginia. These groups
were funded by public donations and, in some cases, a wealthy philanthropic
benefactor.
The patchwork of support was not perfect, but it was all that was available.
The system was not robust enough to survive the coming cyclone, the Great
Depression, which overwhelmed that patchwork of support. As this outside
support fell apart, the elderly and handicapped were hit the hardest. Many lost
their personal support network as families were separated as they migrated
across the country in an effort to find work.
As the mass suffering of American society started setting in, many people
looked to their government for help. The help that then-president Herbert
Hoover signed off on was woefully inadequate for the scale of the disaster
unfolding. Hoover's response resulted from his overarching belief that hard work
brought its own rewards or American Individualism. Two cases that illustrate his
views were when the 71st Congress endeavored to pass a $60 million
($1,124,191,616 in 2024) bill for drought relief that included food, livestock feed,
and fertilizers. The bill the president agreed to sign was only $47 million
(880,616,766 in 2024) and did not provide food to people but to livestock instead.
The second case is when, in 1931, congress introduced the "Federal Emergency
Relief Bill". The legislation allocated $375 million ($7.72 billion in 2024) for relief
for the homeless. The states would have administered these funds to provide
food, clothing, and shelter. President Hoover was opposed to the bill on the
grounds that it was an overreach of the federal government. In the end, the vote
on the measure fell only fourteen votes short.
American Individualism works when there is work to do. The problem with this is
that the Great Depression made the main tenant of this belief, work, impossible
for millions. The elderly and disabled, who were able to work, faced a wall of
discrimination. Discrimination led to an inability to secure employment, which,
combined with the government's inaction, meant that many elderly and children
starved to death. Hoover had said that if he saw starvation, he would provide
relief.
Hoover's inaction led to his popularity crashing. There is a glaring example
of what the average person thought of President Hoover, Hoovervilles.
Hoovervilles were the collection of shanty towns and slums that popped up when
people had nowhere else to go. One of the largest Hoovervilles in the nation was in
Seattle. These shelters were thrown together with whatever was at hand and
were laid out in a haphazard manner. Slum conditions are not conducive to good
health for anyone, but especially the elderly and disabled. Change was on the
horizon.
Buy Chronology
Roosevelt and the Social Security Act
On 4 March 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated president
for his first term after defeating incumbent president Hoover with an electoral
college victory of 472 to 59. With his victory, Roosevelt introduced a collection of
legislation called "The New Deal" that was designed to ameliorate the effects of
the devastation the situation had caused. The Social Security Act was just one of
the many pieces of legislation passed in these years of rebuilding the country.
On 14 August 1935, President Roosevelt signed the Act into law. By 1
January 1937, the first payments are sent out as a "lump-sum payment." These
payments were just the beginning of the program, and they were already making
a difference in people's lives. The Social Security Act provided a distinctive, for
the time, way of collecting taxes. The social security system is founded on two
trust funds, one for retirees and one for the disabled. The money to fund these
two trusts is designed as payroll deductions from each paycheck. Each individual
is assigned a social security number. This number is used to track a person's
contributions.
Like many other laws, the Social Security Act would grow and change over
the coming years in order to fit the realities of Americans' changing needs as a
society. Listed below are the major milestones thus showing the many
adaptations that have taken place all the way up to 2024 (AARP):
10 August, 1939: Program broadened to include benefits for workers' dependents
and survivors.
Social Security Act Timeline
31 January 1940: Ida M. Fuller became the first person to receive a monthly
benefit. Her first check was for $22.54, the inflation-adjusted equivalent of
$509.46 today. Fuller lived to the age of 100.
October 1950: Congress authorized the first cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), an
increase of 77 percent.
1 August 1956, the program expanded again when workers with disabilities ages
50 to 64 and adults with disabilities dating to childhood, and to allow women to
take early retirement at age 62, albeit at a reduced Social Security benefit.
Previously, no one could claim retirement benefits until age 65.
September 1960: President Dwight Eisenhower signed a law amending the
disability rules to permit payment of benefits to workers with disabilities of any
age and to their dependents.
30 June, 1961: Social Security Act amended to reduce the minimum eligibility
age for retirement benefits to 62 for all workers, regardless of gender.
30 October, 1972: Congress established Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a
national benefit program administered by Social Security that provides monthly
cash payments to people who are 65 or older, blind, or have a disability and have
very low incomes and limited assets.
July 1975: The first annual automatic COLA kicked in, boosting benefits by 8
percent. Before 1975, congressional authorization was required to adjust benefits
for inflation.
July 1980: Beneficiaries received the highest annual COLA increase ever — 14.3
percent. The inflation rate in 1980 was 12.5 percent.
20 April 1983: President Ronald Reagan signed into law sweeping changes to
Social Security, based on recommendations of the National Commission on Social
Security Reform (also known as the Greenspan Commission) aimed at shoring up
the program's shaky financial footing. These included increasing the payroll
taxes that fund Social Security; gradually raising the full retirement age (FRA)
from 65 to 67; and making 50 percent of Social Security benefit income taxable
for recipients with overall incomes above $25,000 for an individual and $32,000
for a married couple filing jointly.
1 October 1988: A nationwide toll-free number was implemented for people to
contact the Social Security Administration (SSA).
10 August, 1993: President Bill Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation
Act, a massive package of tax increases and spending cuts that included a
provision raising the share of Social Security benefits subject to income tax from
50 percent to 85 percent for beneficiaries with incomes above $34,000 (single)
or $44,000 (couple).
17 May, 1994: The SSA official website was launched.
1 October, 1999: Annual mailings of Social Security statements began. About 125
million workers ages 25 and older were sent statements showing their earnings
history and projected benefits.
7 April 2000: The Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act of 2000 was signed into
law, eliminating the Retirement Earnings Test (RET) for beneficiaries at or above
full retirement age. (The earnings test still applies to those who claim retirement
benefits before reaching their FRA.) The RET was an original feature of the Social
Security Act.
12 February 2008: Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, the first baby boomer to apply for
Social Security retirement benefits, received her first monthly benefit payment.
1 May, 2012: The Social Security statement became available online. The SSA
largely ceased sending out paper statements in 2011. Today, paper statements
are automatically mailed only to workers 60 and over who are not yet collecting
benefits and who have not set up an online My Social Security account.
17 March 2020: Social Security field offices shut down because of the COVID-19
pandemic. Several months later, they began offering in-person appointments in
rare, "dire need" situations, but most services were offered only online or by
phone.
7 April, 2022: Field offices fully reopened after more than two years of pandemic
restrictions.
6 May, 2024: Social Security's trustees released their 2024 annual report, which
projects that the two trust funds from which benefits are paid will run short of
reserve funds in 2035 unless Congress acts to shore up the program's finances,
as it did in 1983. Absent such action, the SSA would be able to pay only about 83
percent of scheduled benefits.
Today, the Social Security program is in trouble. The trusts are losing
money yearly, and some projections show that full benefits payments may run
out by 2035. It has been 90 years since the enactment of the Social Security Act,
and even though an argument can be made on both sides of this issue regarding
what has to be done to halt the insolvency of the trusts. No matter what is done,
the program keeps some 70 million Americans from total destitution. Maybe we
as a society have forgotten the horrors the elderly and disabled faced prior to
Social Security. Hopefully, society will keep this social safety net so that those
who can not work have a system to catch them from slamming into the ground of
pre-New Deal destitution.
Photo above: President Franklin Roosevelt signing the Social Security Act, 1935, Courtesy Library of Congress via Wikipedia Commons. Below: Cardpunch operations at U.S. Social Security Administration, 1930/1940's, U.S. Government. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons. Info Source: Smith, William, LLD, Wayte, William, Marindin, G.E., “Frumenta Riae Leges” ‘A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890)’; “Past Special Exhibition: “Our Plain Duty”: FDR and America’s Social Security” FDR Presidential Library & Museum; Dimberg, Kelsey, “This Is What Groceries Cost the Year You Were Born," tasteofhome.com; “Prices and Wages by Decade: 1930-1939,” University of Missouri; “The Income Of The American Family” US Census. HathiTrust.org; “Max Weber and the Protestant Work Ethic” BBC Radio 4, March 2015; Bernardo, Allan B.I., Levy, Sheri R, Lytle, Ashly E. “Culturally Relevant Meanings of the Protestant Work Ethic and Attitudes towards Poor Persons,” Stevens Institute Of Technology Abstract; Hansan,John E PH.D., “Poor Relief in the Early America”, VCU Social Welfare History Project; Fleming, Kevin C M.D., Evans, Jonathan M. MD, Chutka, Darryl S MD, “A Cultural and Economic History of Old Age in America,” Mayo Clinic Proceedings abstract; Wagner, David Dr., “Poor Relief and the Almshouse”, VCU Social Welfare History Project; “President Hoover’s Response,” OpenStaxCollege, University of Hawaii; “The Depths of the Great Depression,” OpenStaxCollege, University of Hawaii; Waggoner, John, Markowitz. “Key Moments in the History of Social Security,” AARP; “Understanding the Benefits 2024,” ssa.gov; “1932 Electoral College Results,” National Archives; “How Did Older Americans Get By Before Social Security?” 11 April 2018, AARP; “Hoovervilles and Hoovervilles”, University of Washington.
History Photo Bomb
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who served four terms as
President. Courtesy National Archives.
Out of work workers during the Great Depression. Courtesy National Archives.
Timeline Book
During the decade of the 1930's, World's Fairs of various sizes were held throughout the United States to stimulate the local economies as public works projects to pull the country out of depression. They were also used a public confidence projects to buoy the spirit of a nation in economic turmoil.
Chicago 1933-4
San Diego 1935-6
Cleveland 1936-7
Dallas 1936-7
New York 1939-40
San Francisco 1939-40
ABH Travel Tip
Take the time to listen, not only to the guides at the various historic sites you visit, but also to the ambiance around the sites themselves. Imagine yourself back in time. It's easier to do in the early morning or evening when crowds are low and the bustle lessened, but it can be a wonderful experience to imagine for yourself the past that happened on the ground where you stand. Above photo, the salient at Spotsylvania Battlefield, Virginia.
Night view of the Trylon and Perisphere at the New York World's Fair of 1939-40, 1939, New York Daily News, Courtesy Pinterest. During the first year of the fair, World War II would start.
Official Souvenirs
America's Best History
Buy Chronology
Great Book for the History Fan with Fifty Short Essays Telling the Story of American History.
A shadow has hung over the United States since its inception. That shadow is how society cares for its elders and those with disabilities. Some people held the old aged among them in high regard and cared for them, while others were pushed aside into poverty and destitution. These options were the state of affairs in the United States until the Social Security Act was enacted in 1935. The Act changed American society forever.
American society's relationship with those in need has always been influenced by the country's past. Being a former English colony, we have approached this issue through the lens of the English Poor Laws and the philosophy of the Protestant Work Ethic. The English Poor Laws placed three basic groupings: the vagrants, involuntarily unemployed, and the helpless. At its most basic, people in need were broken down into "worthy" and "unworthy" classes. The elderly, widows, orphans, and the handicapped were all "worthy. On the other hand, there were people the state had decided were "unworthy," such as drug addicts and alcoholics and people deemed to be lazy and unenterprising. These regulations also set forth what aid is to be provided to each type of person. The law also mandated the local government or parish as the administrator of aid. As the administrating entity, the parish was authorized to "raise taxes as needed and use the funds to build and manage almshouses; to supply food and sustenance in their own homes for the aged and the handicapped (e.g., blind, "crippled"); and to purchase materials necessary to put the able-bodied to work. If vagrants or able-bodied persons refused to work they could be put in jail. The poor laws were enacted in 1594 and 1601. The law of Settlement and Removal of 1662 would complete the trifecta. This law resulted from the previous two laws. These two previous provisions created a situation where the poor moved to areas where the aid was superior. As a result of this development, the law provided the parish authorities with the authority to remove non-local needy people and send them back to their home areas.
These laws formed the legal framework for caring for the poor in early America. They were brought about as a result of society's indoctrination with the Protestant Work Ethic. The Protestant Work Ethic is a philosophy that hard work leads to success. Thus, the poor have put themselves in their position by not having worked hard enough. These statutes and attitudes have shaped the predominant view that has been spread throughout American society. Throughout the pre-depression era in America, the state provided aid through the feared and loathed workhouses and poorhouses. Many of the people were left with no choice but to become an "inmate" of such places. The high mortality rate among the elderly in these institutions that society saw them as places one goes to die. This feeling had so saturated the fabric of the American social conscience that in 1872 Will Carleton penned "a ballad "Over the Hill to the Poorhouse" that became a major musical hit. It went, in part, ...
I a woman of 70 and only a trifle gray—
I, who am smart an' chipper, for all the years I've told,
As many another woman that's only half as old ...
What is the use of heapin' on me a pauper's shame?
Am I lazy or crazy? Am I blind or lame?
True, I am not so supple, nor yet so awful stout:
But charity ain't no favor, If one can live without
Over the hill to the poorhouse—my child'rn dear, goodbye!
Many a night I've watched you when only God was nigh:
And God'll judge between us; but I will always pray
That you shall never suffer the half I do today. (Carleton, 1882)"
"My own research found that well into the mid-twentieth century, officials in many towns and cities complained that men and women came in and out at will and gave not the least respect to their betters. New Hampshire counties had "county homes" (still another name for the poorhouses) into the 1960s. I interviewed people who also went seasonally into these homes for companionship."
Dr. Wagner continues ... "In some ways, the story of the Tewksbury Almshouse differs from local almshouses due to its size and state sponsorship. (Rhode Island was the only other state to erect state almshouses.) However, generally speaking, we need to keep in mind both the terror and stigma of the "House" and the fact that the inmates (as they were called in some areas until the 1960s) did routinely use the poorhouses for their own ends."
A portion of the aid the poor and elderly received came from organizations such as the church or those expressly set up to help the poor. One of these groups was the "Committee on Relief of the Poor" of Richmond, Virginia. These groups were funded by public donations and, in some cases, a wealthy philanthropic benefactor.
The patchwork of support was not perfect, but it was all that was available. The system was not robust enough to survive the coming cyclone, the Great Depression, which overwhelmed that patchwork of support. As this outside support fell apart, the elderly and handicapped were hit the hardest. Many lost their personal support network as families were separated as they migrated across the country in an effort to find work.
As the mass suffering of American society started setting in, many people looked to their government for help. The help that then-president Herbert Hoover signed off on was woefully inadequate for the scale of the disaster unfolding. Hoover's response resulted from his overarching belief that hard work brought its own rewards or American Individualism. Two cases that illustrate his views were when the 71st Congress endeavored to pass a $60 million ($1,124,191,616 in 2024) bill for drought relief that included food, livestock feed, and fertilizers. The bill the president agreed to sign was only $47 million (880,616,766 in 2024) and did not provide food to people but to livestock instead. The second case is when, in 1931, congress introduced the "Federal Emergency Relief Bill". The legislation allocated $375 million ($7.72 billion in 2024) for relief for the homeless. The states would have administered these funds to provide food, clothing, and shelter. President Hoover was opposed to the bill on the grounds that it was an overreach of the federal government. In the end, the vote on the measure fell only fourteen votes short.
American Individualism works when there is work to do. The problem with this is that the Great Depression made the main tenant of this belief, work, impossible for millions. The elderly and disabled, who were able to work, faced a wall of discrimination. Discrimination led to an inability to secure employment, which, combined with the government's inaction, meant that many elderly and children starved to death. Hoover had said that if he saw starvation, he would provide relief.
Hoover's inaction led to his popularity crashing. There is a glaring example of what the average person thought of President Hoover, Hoovervilles. Hoovervilles were the collection of shanty towns and slums that popped up when people had nowhere else to go. One of the largest Hoovervilles in the nation was in Seattle. These shelters were thrown together with whatever was at hand and were laid out in a haphazard manner. Slum conditions are not conducive to good health for anyone, but especially the elderly and disabled. Change was on the horizon.
Buy Chronology
Like many other laws, the Social Security Act would grow and change over the coming years in order to fit the realities of Americans' changing needs as a society. Listed below are the major milestones thus showing the many adaptations that have taken place all the way up to 2024 (AARP): 10 August, 1939: Program broadened to include benefits for workers' dependents and survivors.
October 1950: Congress authorized the first cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), an increase of 77 percent.
1 August 1956, the program expanded again when workers with disabilities ages 50 to 64 and adults with disabilities dating to childhood, and to allow women to take early retirement at age 62, albeit at a reduced Social Security benefit. Previously, no one could claim retirement benefits until age 65.
September 1960: President Dwight Eisenhower signed a law amending the disability rules to permit payment of benefits to workers with disabilities of any age and to their dependents.
30 June, 1961: Social Security Act amended to reduce the minimum eligibility age for retirement benefits to 62 for all workers, regardless of gender.
30 October, 1972: Congress established Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a national benefit program administered by Social Security that provides monthly cash payments to people who are 65 or older, blind, or have a disability and have very low incomes and limited assets.
July 1975: The first annual automatic COLA kicked in, boosting benefits by 8 percent. Before 1975, congressional authorization was required to adjust benefits for inflation.
July 1980: Beneficiaries received the highest annual COLA increase ever — 14.3 percent. The inflation rate in 1980 was 12.5 percent.
20 April 1983: President Ronald Reagan signed into law sweeping changes to Social Security, based on recommendations of the National Commission on Social Security Reform (also known as the Greenspan Commission) aimed at shoring up the program's shaky financial footing. These included increasing the payroll taxes that fund Social Security; gradually raising the full retirement age (FRA) from 65 to 67; and making 50 percent of Social Security benefit income taxable for recipients with overall incomes above $25,000 for an individual and $32,000 for a married couple filing jointly.
1 October 1988: A nationwide toll-free number was implemented for people to contact the Social Security Administration (SSA).
10 August, 1993: President Bill Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, a massive package of tax increases and spending cuts that included a provision raising the share of Social Security benefits subject to income tax from 50 percent to 85 percent for beneficiaries with incomes above $34,000 (single) or $44,000 (couple).
17 May, 1994: The SSA official website was launched.
1 October, 1999: Annual mailings of Social Security statements began. About 125 million workers ages 25 and older were sent statements showing their earnings history and projected benefits.
7 April 2000: The Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act of 2000 was signed into law, eliminating the Retirement Earnings Test (RET) for beneficiaries at or above full retirement age. (The earnings test still applies to those who claim retirement benefits before reaching their FRA.) The RET was an original feature of the Social Security Act.
12 February 2008: Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, the first baby boomer to apply for Social Security retirement benefits, received her first monthly benefit payment.
1 May, 2012: The Social Security statement became available online. The SSA largely ceased sending out paper statements in 2011. Today, paper statements are automatically mailed only to workers 60 and over who are not yet collecting benefits and who have not set up an online My Social Security account.
17 March 2020: Social Security field offices shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several months later, they began offering in-person appointments in rare, "dire need" situations, but most services were offered only online or by phone.
7 April, 2022: Field offices fully reopened after more than two years of pandemic restrictions.
6 May, 2024: Social Security's trustees released their 2024 annual report, which projects that the two trust funds from which benefits are paid will run short of reserve funds in 2035 unless Congress acts to shore up the program's finances, as it did in 1983. Absent such action, the SSA would be able to pay only about 83 percent of scheduled benefits.
Today, the Social Security program is in trouble. The trusts are losing money yearly, and some projections show that full benefits payments may run out by 2035. It has been 90 years since the enactment of the Social Security Act, and even though an argument can be made on both sides of this issue regarding what has to be done to halt the insolvency of the trusts. No matter what is done, the program keeps some 70 million Americans from total destitution. Maybe we as a society have forgotten the horrors the elderly and disabled faced prior to Social Security. Hopefully, society will keep this social safety net so that those who can not work have a system to catch them from slamming into the ground of pre-New Deal destitution.
Photo above: President Franklin Roosevelt signing the Social Security Act, 1935, Courtesy Library of Congress via Wikipedia Commons. Below: Cardpunch operations at U.S. Social Security Administration, 1930/1940's, U.S. Government. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons. Info Source: Smith, William, LLD, Wayte, William, Marindin, G.E., “Frumenta Riae Leges” ‘A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890)’; “Past Special Exhibition: “Our Plain Duty”: FDR and America’s Social Security” FDR Presidential Library & Museum; Dimberg, Kelsey, “This Is What Groceries Cost the Year You Were Born," tasteofhome.com; “Prices and Wages by Decade: 1930-1939,” University of Missouri; “The Income Of The American Family” US Census. HathiTrust.org; “Max Weber and the Protestant Work Ethic” BBC Radio 4, March 2015; Bernardo, Allan B.I., Levy, Sheri R, Lytle, Ashly E. “Culturally Relevant Meanings of the Protestant Work Ethic and Attitudes towards Poor Persons,” Stevens Institute Of Technology Abstract; Hansan,John E PH.D., “Poor Relief in the Early America”, VCU Social Welfare History Project; Fleming, Kevin C M.D., Evans, Jonathan M. MD, Chutka, Darryl S MD, “A Cultural and Economic History of Old Age in America,” Mayo Clinic Proceedings abstract; Wagner, David Dr., “Poor Relief and the Almshouse”, VCU Social Welfare History Project; “President Hoover’s Response,” OpenStaxCollege, University of Hawaii; “The Depths of the Great Depression,” OpenStaxCollege, University of Hawaii; Waggoner, John, Markowitz. “Key Moments in the History of Social Security,” AARP; “Understanding the Benefits 2024,” ssa.gov; “1932 Electoral College Results,” National Archives; “How Did Older Americans Get By Before Social Security?” 11 April 2018, AARP; “Hoovervilles and Hoovervilles”, University of Washington.
History Photo Bomb
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who served four terms as
President. Courtesy National Archives.
Out of work workers during the Great Depression. Courtesy National Archives.
Timeline Book
During the decade of the 1930's, World's Fairs of various sizes were held throughout the United States to stimulate the local economies as public works projects to pull the country out of depression. They were also used a public confidence projects to buoy the spirit of a nation in economic turmoil.
Chicago 1933-4
San Diego 1935-6
Cleveland 1936-7
Dallas 1936-7
New York 1939-40
San Francisco 1939-40
ABH Travel Tip
Take the time to listen, not only to the guides at the various historic sites you visit, but also to the ambiance around the sites themselves. Imagine yourself back in time. It's easier to do in the early morning or evening when crowds are low and the bustle lessened, but it can be a wonderful experience to imagine for yourself the past that happened on the ground where you stand. Above photo, the salient at Spotsylvania Battlefield, Virginia.
Night view of the Trylon and Perisphere at the New York World's Fair of 1939-40, 1939, New York Daily News, Courtesy Pinterest. During the first year of the fair, World War II would start.
Official Souvenirs
America's Best History
Buy Chronology
Great Book for the History Fan with Fifty Short Essays Telling the Story of American History.