President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935.
“It is America’s biggest social program, providing benefits to over 52 million people. It is one of the largest single items in the federal budget, representing
over 20 percent of all spending. And, this year, as we mark its 75th anniversary, its future commands national attention. It is Social Security.
The crown jewel of the New Deal, Social Security is FDR’s greatest legacy to the nation. Roosevelt called it “our plain duty”—a basic obligation Americans owe to one another. “He always regarded the Social Security Act as the cornerstone of his administration,” Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins recalled, “and . . . took greater satisfaction from it than from anything else he achieved on the domestic front.”
–from the exhibit guide to “Our Plain Duty”: FDR and America’s Social Security, at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
The National Archives has a copy of the signed Social Security Act on its website.
The Social Security Administration’ website includes links to stories, history, and a video contest (entries will be accepted until Friday, August 27 at 3:00 p.m. PST).
The Historical Background and Development of Social Security page has a bibliography at the end of the article.
The SFSU Library has many books on Social Security. Use the Subject Heading “Social Security”. We also have a large selection of government documents on the subject of Social Security. Some recent documents include:
Social Security modernization [electronic resource] : options to address solvency and benefit adequacy : report of the Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate. May 13, 2010.
Social security [electronic resource] : keeping the promise in the 21st century : hearing before the Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, first session, Washington, DC, June 17, 2009.
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