FDR and the Social Security Act
It was on August 14, 1935 (78 years ago today) that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, which guaranteed an income for the unemployed and retirees. Social Security was initially created to combat unemployment, but it became a type of safety net for retirees and the disabled. It has remained relatively unchanged for 75 years. Social Security is funded mostly through payroll taxes called Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax (designated by the acronym FICA).
When FDR launched Social Security, the United States was in the midst of the Great Depression, and poverty rates among senior citizens were estimated to be over 50 percent. Social Security was attacked by FDR's critics, who called it socialism. When he signed the Social Security Act into law, FDR said "We can never insure 100 percent of the population against 100 percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-stricken old age."
In 1937, Social Security paid out $1.28 million to 53,236 recipients. Today, nearly 52 million recipients receive some $730 billion — an average of $14,160 each per year. Some analysts warn the future of Social Security is uncertain. They point out that when the program began in 1935, average life expectancy was about 62; today it is 78.7.
In the mid 1930s, the Supreme Court of the United States had struck down a number of pieces of New Deal legislation, leading to FDR's ill-fated "court packing plan." Chief Justice Charles Evan Hughes played a leading role in defeating the court-packing scheme by lobbying the court's majority to uphold a number of piece of legislation. In March 1937, Associate Justice Owen Roberts, who had previously sided with the court's four conservative justices, surprised court watchers by changing sides from the conservative wing and joining with the court's three liberal justices in a number of decisions. His decision to reverse his previous vote would become known as the switch in time that saved nine. Roberts agreed to join the court's majority in upholding the Social Security Act, during the spring of 1937.
When FDR launched Social Security, the United States was in the midst of the Great Depression, and poverty rates among senior citizens were estimated to be over 50 percent. Social Security was attacked by FDR's critics, who called it socialism. When he signed the Social Security Act into law, FDR said "We can never insure 100 percent of the population against 100 percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-stricken old age."
In 1937, Social Security paid out $1.28 million to 53,236 recipients. Today, nearly 52 million recipients receive some $730 billion — an average of $14,160 each per year. Some analysts warn the future of Social Security is uncertain. They point out that when the program began in 1935, average life expectancy was about 62; today it is 78.7.
In the mid 1930s, the Supreme Court of the United States had struck down a number of pieces of New Deal legislation, leading to FDR's ill-fated "court packing plan." Chief Justice Charles Evan Hughes played a leading role in defeating the court-packing scheme by lobbying the court's majority to uphold a number of piece of legislation. In March 1937, Associate Justice Owen Roberts, who had previously sided with the court's four conservative justices, surprised court watchers by changing sides from the conservative wing and joining with the court's three liberal justices in a number of decisions. His decision to reverse his previous vote would become known as the switch in time that saved nine. Roberts agreed to join the court's majority in upholding the Social Security Act, during the spring of 1937.