|
1940s
|
|
|
January 1, 1940 Monthly
benefits first became payable under old-age and survivor's insurance
to aged retired workers and their dependents and to survivors of deceased
insured workers. The Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust
Fund was established as a separate account in the United States Treasury
to hold the amounts accumulated under the old-age and survivors insurance
program. Basic provisions for hearing and review instituted by the
Social Security Board under authority to establish procedures, hold
hearings, and take testimony in relation to determination of rights
to old-age and survivors insurance benefits (Office of Appeals Council).
January 18-20, 1940 The White House Conference
on Children in a Democracy was held; Aid to Dependent Children was
discussed.
January 31, 1940 Ida M. Fuller became the
first person to receive an old-age monthly benefit check under the
new Social Security law. She paid in $24.75 between 1937 and 1939
on an income of $2,484. Her first check, dated January 31, was for
$22.54.
February 13, 1940 An Appeals Council, consisting
of three members, was appointed by the Social Security Board to direct
and supervise the holding of hearings on claims for old-age and survivors
insurance benefits and to review decisions of referees, subject to
review by the courts. Joseph McElvain was appointed the director.
The staff of the Appeals Council included a Consulting Referee for
the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance program as a whole and a Hearing
Referee for each of the twelve regions.
May 17, 1940 The Social Security Board established
regulations relative to entitlement to and computation of benefits,
adjustment of overpayments and underpayments, procedures and penalties.
June 1940 All States, the District of Columbia,
Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico were actively participating in programs
providing child welfare services under the Social Security Act.
June 30, 1940 The Federal Security Agency
under the President's Reorganization Plan No. IV was enlarged to include
the Food and Drug Administration, transferred from the Department
of Agriculture, and St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Freedman's Hospital,
Columbia Institution for the Deaf, and Howard University, transferred
from the Department of the Interior.
July 1940 The Report on Migratory Labor,
presented to the President by the Interdepartmental Committee to Coordinate
Health and Welfare Activities, recommended the extension of social
insurance programs to agricultural labor.
July 2, 1940 The Railroad Unemployment Insurance
Act was amended. One amendment was extended to July 1, 1942, the final
date on which action could be taken by certain States to transfer
from their accounts in unemployment trust fund to railroad unemployment
insurance account amounts provided under Section 13(d) of the Railroad
Unemployment Insurance Act. Under this amendment, the Social Security
Board was enabled to continue payment of administrative expenses for
unemployment compensation in any State whose highest court had declared
unconstitutional State legislation authorizing the transfer of funds.
July 11, 1940 The Bureau of Employment Security
was designated a defense agency.
August 13, 1940 The Coal Mining Coverage
Act was approved. It provided for more uniform coverage of certain
persons employed in coal mining operations with respect to social
insurance benefits under the Social Security Act.
September 5, 1940 Isidore S. Falk was named
the Director of the Bureau of Research and Statistics, replacing Ewan
Clague who had served since 1937.
September 14, 1940 The President recommended
to Congress legislation designed to protect the social insurance rights
of workers called into military service.
October 8, 1940 The Federal Unemployment
Tax Act was amended by the Second Revenue Act of 1940 to permit employers
to credit, against that tax for 1936, 1937, 1938 or 1939, contributions
paid by them under State unemployment compensation laws at any time
within 60 days after date of enactment.
October 8, 1940 The Social Security Board
established regulations relative to determinations and decisions,
hearing and review of matters affecting payments and revision of wage
records, certification of payments, and representation of parties.
October 10, 1940 The Railroad Unemployment
Insurance Act was amended to change the benefit structure, definitions
of employment and benefit year, disqualification provisions, and administrative
procedures.
October 21, 1940 The Appeals Council of the
Social Security Board, after reviewing an appealed referee decision
relating to a claim for old-age and survivors benefits, handed down
its first decision.
November 28, 1940 The National Defense Council,
with the approval of the President, designated the Federal Security
Administrator as coordinator of all health, medical, welfare, nutrition,
recreation, and related fields of activity affecting the national
defense. The Health and Medical Committee was transferred to the Federal
Security Agency.
December 8-11, 1940 Arthur J. Altmeyer went
to Lima, Peru to develop Pan American cooperation in Social Security.
Following the meeting, a temporary Inter-American Committee on Social
Security was formed.
December 23, 1940 Public Assistance principles
and standards for fair hearing procedure were adopted by the Social
Security Board to attain uniform interpretation of the Social Security
Act's requirement that opportunity for fair hearing to dissatisfied
applicants or recipients be provided under approved State plans, and
to assist State agencies in clarifying and revising procedures.
1940 During the year, the first United States
Social Security payments were made to 100 beneficiaries living abroad.
January 6, 1941 The President's State of
the Union message recommended that coverage of the two social insurance
programs be extended, opportunities for medical care be widened and
plans made for a better employment system to assure work for persons
needing gainful employment.
January 14, 1941 The Social Security Board
adopted revised minimum standards for partial unemployment benefits,
effective June 1, 1941, for administration by State employment security
agencies.
February 4, 1941 The Social Security Board
approved a statement of policy, relating to the consideration of income
and resources in the determination of the need of an applicant for
public assistance and to guide State agencies in conforming to the
requirements called for by amendments to the Social Security Act.
February 7, 1941 The Rehabilitation Coordinating
Committee was established within the Federal Security Agency, by order
of the Administrator. It was charged with continuing the development
of a program of coordination among the various Federal services engaged
cooperatively with State governments in the general field of service
to the disabled.
February 11, 1941 The appointment of The
Interdepartmental Advisory Committee was announced by the Administration
of the Federal Security Agency to assist and advise him in his capacity
as Coordinator of Health, Welfare and Related Defense Activities.
Regional directors of the Social Security Board have named as regional
defense coordinators to act as chairmen of 12 regional advisory councils,
each composed of regional representatives of all Federal agencies
concerned.
February 12, 1941 The Family Security Committee,
under the chairmanship of the Director of the Bureau of Public Assistance
of the Social Security Board, was established by the Coordinator of
Health, Welfare and Related Defense Activities to act in an advisory
capacity to the Coordinator.
February 26, 1941 The Bureau of Public Assistance
was designated a defense agency.
March 17, 1941 The Report of the National
Resources Planning Board was submitted to the President.
April 11, 1941 The Social Security Board
was designated a defense agency.
April 25, 1941 The Social Security Board
adopted a statement of standards for safeguarding information concerning
applicants and recipients of public assistance, for guidance of State
agencies.
June 1,1941 Revised minimum standards for
the administration of partial unemployment benefits was adopted by
the Social Security Board and became effective this date.
June 20, 1941 A special Senate Committee
to Investigate the Old-Age Pension System was authorized to make a
full study of old-age assistance and old-age and survivors insurance
provisions of the Social Security Act, as amended, and of ways and
means for bringing about the early realization of a minimum pension
for all aged persons who were not gainfully employed.
July 1,1941 The provisions of the Social
Security Act Amendments of 1939 became effective, requiring that a
State agency which administers the program shall, in determining need,
take into consideration any other income and resources of an applicant
for assistance, and provide safeguards to restrict the use or disclosure
of information concerning applicants and recipients to purposes directly
connected with administration of the program. Also effective this
date were the provisions requiring that State laws include a provision
that Federal funds received as administrative grants be expended solely
for the purposes and in the amounts found necessary by the Social
Security Board for proper and efficient administration, and that funds
lost or expended for purposes other than, or in amounts in excess
of, those found necessary by the Board be replaced within a reasonable
time.
July 2, 1941 The Social Security Board approved
an amendment of Section 403 702 (b) of Regulation No. 3 concerning
evidence of the age of an applicant for old-age and survivors insurance
benefits. Under this amendment, secondary evidence of age was declared
admissible by a mere showing that primary evidence was not readily
available.
July 21, 1941 The operation of Arizona's
employment service offices was taken over by the Social Security Board
under arrangement between the Board and the Arizona Employment Security
Commission. Thus, the State Commission was to pay unemployment compensation
benefits through employment service offices operated by the Board.
July 29,1941 The Social Security Board approved
a draft copy of a reciprocal arrangement with the Dominion of Canada
for handling unemployment contributions and benefits and also procedures
for the transmittal of the agreement and the official adoption by
both Governments.
August 7, 1941 The reappointment of George
E. Bigge as a member of the Social Security Board was confirmed by
the Senate for a term ending August 13, 1947.
August 14, 1941 In the Atlantic Charter,
Roosevelt and Churchill included among the common principles in national
policies of the two countries the desire "to bring about the
fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with
the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic
advancement and Social Security."
September 3, 1941 The Office of Defense,
Health and Welfare Services was established by the President to supersede
the Office of Coordinator of Health, Welfare, and Related Defense
Activities (November 28, 1940).
September 15, 1941 The program for making
a substantial decentralization of adjudicative functions of the Bureau
of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance became effective. Field offices
assumed full responsibility for the reconciliation of wages, the development
of claims, and the computation of benefit amounts; their determinations
were subject to review in central office.
September 20, 1941 The Federal Unemployment
Tax Act and the Social Security Act were amended by the Revenue Act
of 1941 to permit employers to credit against Federal unemployment
tax for the calendar years 1936-1940, contributions, paid by them,
under State unemployment compensation laws, before the 60th day after
the date of enactment of the Revenue Act of 1941, if such claim was
made within six months of that date.
September 23, 1941 The Social Security Board
approved amendments to Sections 403.601 and 403.811 of Regulations
No. 3 providing (1) that a penalty deduction from benefits which has
not been made at the time of termination of benefits will not be considered
an overpayment and need not require deduction from survivor benefits
or restitution from the beneficiary's estate; and (2) that persons
employed by partnerships composed wholly of relatives designated in
the family employment exception of the Social Security Act were to
be excluded from coverage when the individual's relationship to each
partner was as designated in the exception.
September 30, 1941 The Social Security Board
approved a revision of Section 403.834(c) of Regulations No. 3, to
the effect that, when the husband has been ordered by any court of
competent jurisdiction to contribute to his wife's support, such order
shall be considered as in full force and effect unless it has expired
or has been vacated.
November 4, 1941 The Social Security Board
adopted a policy permitting Federal financial participation in payments
based on State plans that include grants enabling a recipient to meet
the cost of care in a public hospital, provided that such care is
not available to recipients of public assistance without charge, payments
are not conditional, and care is not expected to extend beyond 90
days.
November 7, 1941 The Social Security Board
ruled that wages paid for employment during 1937, with a State chartered
member of the Federal Home Loan Bank System or State member banks
of Federal Reserve System, be included in determining insured status
and the amount of benefits in all pending and future claims for benefits.
November 24, 1941 The United States Supreme
Court held unconstitutional the California legislation prohibiting
any individual from assisting nonresident indigent persons to come
into the State.
December 1, 1941 Oscar C. Pogge was named
the Acting Director of the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance.
He succeeded John J. Corson, who was appointed to the newly-created
position of Director of the United States Employment Service.
December 4, 1941 The Committee on Long Range
Work and Relief Policies of the National Resources Planning Board
transmitted to the President a comprehensive report "Security,
Work and Relief Policies." This report advocated the addition
of an insurance system that would provide disability and sickness
benefits.
December 8, 1941 The work week was extended
to 48 hours, after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
December 19, 1941 The national operation
of the United States Employment service, effective January 1, 1942,
was requested by the President. Telegrams were sent to the governor
of each State and Territory declaring that the war program necessitated
the establishment of a single centrally-directed organization to ensure
effective utilization of all labor resources.
December 31, 1941 The Social Security Board
approved amendments to Section 403.702(b), (a), and (d) of Regulations
No. 3 concerning certification of records by Board employees. Under
this amendment, designated field office employees of the Board were
authorized,in specified instances, to certify to the contents of records
in situations in which such certification might be made by the custodian
of such records.
December 31, 1941 The Social Security Board
certified to the Secretary of the Treasury all 51 jurisdictions as
having approved unemployment compensation laws permitting employers
to credit against 90 percent of the Federal unemployment tax for taxable
year 1941 amounts paid as contributions under State laws.
1941 The Social Security Board first recommended
the addition of disability benefits in its "Annual Report to
Congress for 1941."
January 1, 1942 The States turned over to
the Social Security Board the operation of the State-administered
employment offices to effect the fullest utilization of the nation's
labor supply.
January 5, 1942 The constitutionality of
coverage under Pennsylvania's unemployment compensation law of employers
engaged in interstate commerce was upheld by the United States Supreme
Court, since such coverage did not trespass on Federal jurisdiction
but was authorized by Federal law.
January 12, 1942 Executive Order No. 9017
established the War Labor Board to minimize strikes and lockouts.
January 13, 1942 The Social Security Board
agreed to share administrative expenses of State public assistance
agencies incurred in services of an exploratory and organizational
nature for war or defense purposes, even though such activity may
not have been concerned directly with the assistance program on which
the employee normally worked.
February 6, 1942 The Social Security Board
approved an amendment of Section 403.831 of Regulations No. 3 to permit
a claimant to qualify for widow's insurance benefits, if she is the
mother of an insured wage earner's child or was married to a wage
earner a year before his death, without requiring also that she meet
the added requirements of "wife" as defined elsewhere in
the law.
February 6, 1942 President Roosevelt issued
an order to the Federal Security Agency to create the Civilian War
Benefits and Civilian War Assistance programs and for aid to enemy
aliens (principally, to remove them to internment sites). The President's
order allocated $5,000,000 from the President's Emergency Fund for
these purposes. The Social Security Board was delegated this responsibility
by the FSA.
February 9, 1942 The Social Security Board
was given certain responsibilities in the program for aid to enemy
aliens removed from the West Coast.
February 10, 1942 The Social Security Board
authorized State public assistance agencies to release to selective
service boards information relevant to dependency obtained from the
Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance.
February 26, 1942 The Social Security Board
was authorized to administer monthly benefits, assistance, and services
to civilians affected by enemy action; hospitalization and medical
care were made the responsibility of the Public Health Service.
March 3, 1942 The Social Security Board delegated
to the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance responsibility for
administering a temporary system to provide monthly benefit payments
to dependents residing in continental United States or civilians affected
by enemy action occurring outside the continental United States.
March 11, 1942 The Federal Security Administrator
authorized the Social Security Board to utilize funds for assistance
payments to needy civilians evacuated from Hawaii or Alaska.
March 17, 1942 The Social Security Board
ruled: (1) that original determination of benefit awards, when based
upon an obvious mistake of fact or law, shall be reopened retroactively
and payments already made recovered or adjusted unless recovery or
adjustment is waived under Section 204(b); and (2) that original determination
of benefit awards, when not based upon obvious mistake of fact or
law and not wholly arbitrary or unreasonable but no longer representing
the position of the Board, shall in any event be reopened prospectively
only and shall not be reopened at all if the beneficiary, who relied
upon original determination, would be irreparably damaged by such
reopening.
March 20, 1942 The Social Security Board
certified the first civilian war benefits-chiefly for dependents of
workers on Guam and Wake Island.
April 6, 1942 The United States Supreme Court
upheld the validity of the "common control" provision of
Mississippi's unemployment compensation law by dismissing the appeal
of a Mississippi employer from a decision by the Mississippi Supreme
Court which had held an employer liable for contributions under the
State unemployment compensation law because he had exercised control
of two businesses with a total of ten employees.
April 12, 1942 An agreement became effective
between the United States and Canada for coordinating and integrating
the unemployment insurance of the two countries to avoid duplicating
contributions and benefits.
April 18, 1942 The War Manpower Commission
was established by Executive Order with the Federal Security Administrator
as Chairman.
April 28, 1942 The Social Security Board
approved the release of information for war related purposes by State
public assistance agencies under proper safeguards and in consideration
of their own laws and standards.
April 29, 1942 Rhode Island became the first
State to enact a sickness compensation law, providing cash sickness
benefits for workers covered by the State Unemployment Compensation
law.
May 5, 1942 Arthur J. Altmeyer, Chairman
of the Social Security Board, was appointed Executive Director of
the War Manpower Commission. He continued his duties on the Social
Security Board.
May 16, 1942 The administration of Federal
Credit Unions was transferred by Executive Order of the President
from the Farm Credit Administration to the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation.
May 22, 1942 The Social Security Board amended
Section 403.202 or Regulations No. 3; in determining old age and survivors
insurance benefit rights, each quarter for which a person was paid
wages of not less than $50 in covered employment would be counted
for purposes of determining "currently insured" status,
notwithstanding the $3,000 limitation.
June 1, 1942 The central office of the Bureau
of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance moved from Washington, D.C., to
Baltimore, Maryland; decentralization of claims adjudication review
and benefit payment operations was inaugurated with the opening of
the first area office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A Bureau Personnel
Office was established as an incident to the war time decentralization
of the Bureau to Baltimore.
June 5, 1942 In cases involving a question
of coverage under the Railroad Retirement Act or the old-age and survivors
insurance program, the Social Security Board decided to pay monthly
old-age and survivors insurance benefits unless the Railroad Retirement
Board was making a current payment on the basis of the same wage record.
Lump-sum payments would be made only if the Railroad Retirement Board
was not making such a payment.
June 23,1942 The Servicemen's Dependents
Allowance Act of 1942 was approved. It provided family allowances
for dependents of enlisted men of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and
the Coast Guard.
June 26, 1942
The Social Security Board agreed to a Treasury Department request
to shift the payment date for Social Security checks from the first
of the month to the fifth. This was a war-mobilization action designed
to reduce government demands on the Federal Reserve system at a time
when it was trying to cope with many new demands for war-related payments.
July 1, 1942 The Social Security Board authorized
continuing assistance, when necessary, on a month-to-month basis,
for persons receiving temporary aid under temporary civilian assistance
and enemy-alien allocations.
July 1, 1942 The Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors
Insurance opened an area office in New York City.
July 3,1942 The Social Security Board approved
a formula which would charge to programs other than those under Titles
I, IV and X of the Social Security Act that portion of merit system
costs incurred in connection with holding examinations, establishing
and maintaining eligible registers and certifying persons from such
registers which was attributable to employees working full time on
such programs.
July 14, 1942 The Social Security Board approved
an interpretation of residence requirements under public assistance
programs indicating that the Social Security Act referred to residence
only, and not to settlement or domicile, insofar as such terms are
more restrictive than residence. The Board ruled that a State may
not discontinue assistance because a recipient was temporarily absent
from a State or because a recipient moved from one locality to another
within a State.
July 24, 1942 The first field office of the
War Manpower Commission opened in Baltimore, a critical labor supply
area.
August 1, 1942 The Bureau of Old-Age and
Survivors Insurance opened an area office in Chicago, Illinois.
August 1, 1942 Oscar C. Pogge was named the
Director of the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance.
August 28, 1942 Emergency grants to States
was authorized for programs for day care for children of working mothers
under plans approved by the Children's Bureau and the Office of Education,
administered by the Works Projects Administration.
September 1, 1942 The Bureau of Old-Age and
Survivors Insurance opened area offices in New Orleans, Louisiana,
and San Francisco, California. The Social Security Board directed
the transfer of the Regional Office for Region VII from Birmingham,
Alabama, to Atlanta, Georgia, effective October 1, 1942; it also authorized
the transfer of the State of Arizona from Region XI to Region XII.
September 4, 1942 A Women's Policy Committee
was created to assist the War Manpower Commission.
September 10, 1942 The Inter-American Conference
on Social Security opened in Santiago, Chile, under auspices of the
Chilean government, with the Chairman of the Social Security Board,
Arthur J. Altmeyer, as Chairman of the United States delegation. A
permanent Inter-American Committee on Social Security was created.
September 17, 1942 The Chairman of the War
Manpower Commission announced the appointment of three new regional
directors. The former regional director of the Social Security Board's
Region II, was appointed regional director for the Commission for
the analogous region, New York State. The other two directors were
appointed for Region I--New England, and Region X--Texas, New Mexico
and Louisiana.
September 17, 1942 The United States Employment
Service, National Youth Administration, apprenticeship training service,
and training-within-industry service were transferred to the War Manpower
Commission, by Executive Order, thus consolidating all authority over
employment and employment training within the Commission.
September 1942 The headquarters of Region
VII were moved from Birmingham to Atlanta to coincide with the War
Manpower Commission headquarters. Also, Arizona was transferred from
Region XI to Region XII.
October 3, 1942 Executive Order No. 9250
assigned administration of the wage stabilization program to the War
Labor Board.
October 5, 1942 President Roosevelt expands
the Civilian War Benefits programs to include civil defense and related
workers residing in the United States.
October 9, 1942 The President asked Congress
to establish within the Federal Security Agency a single rehabilitation
service as central authority to coordinate and expand State and Federal
services for rehabilitation of civilians and military personnel.
October 15, 1942 Arkansas inaugurated a plan
for services to children of working mothers. (By December 31, similar
programs were in operation in seven other States.
October 21, 1942 The Revenue Act of 1942
postponed the increase in the rate of contributions scheduled for
1943 under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act-(the rate was frozen
at one percent through 1943.)
November 5, 1942 In accord with the President's
request, the Federal Security Administrator authorized the Social
Security Board (1) to pay disability benefits to civilians who had
been injured in the performance of certain civilian defense activities
or who had sustained injuries as a result of enemy action occurring
after December 6, 1941, (survivor benefits were to be paid to survivors
of such defense workers and other civilians who died from such injuries),
and (2) to expand the temporary civilian war assistance program.
November 25, 1942 The Social Security Board
approved the following recommendations for treating the income of
employed recipients: That the States be encouraged (1) to determine,
upon a reasonable basis, the minimum amount which any recipient of
public assistance who is an actual or potential worker may be considered
to need to cover expenses incident to employment; (2) to include the
amount so determined in requirements of all employed or potential
workers who are recipients of public assistance; and (3) to make additional
provision for the needs incident to employment that may exceed the
minimum.
December 1, 1942 The United States Employment
Service was transferred to the War Manpower Commission
December 1, 1942 Sir William Beveridge's
report, "Social Insurance and Allied Services," was submitted
to Parliament on December 1, 1942. It called for: (1) a scheme of
all-in social insurance for cash benefits; (2) a general scheme of
children's allowances both where the responsible parent was earning
an income and where he or she was not earning an income; and (3) an
all-in scheme of medical treatment of every kind for everybody.
December 2, 1942 Public Law No. 784 enacted
which codified and amended the Civilian War Benefits programs.
December 4, 1942 President Roosevelt ordered
the liquidation of the W.P.A., and termination of project operations
by February 1, 1943, or as soon thereafter as feasible.
December 7, 1942 Arthur J. Altmeyer resigned
as Executive Director of the War Manpower Commission and assumed the
position of a member representing the Federal Security Agency.
December 18, 1942 The Social Security Board
amended Section 403.711(a) and (b) of Regulations No. 3 to authorize
referees of the Appeals Council to extend the time within which a
request for a hearing could be filed; and to authorize referees to
revise their own decisions when it clearly appeared that there was
an error of fact or law in a decision or that a decision was procured
by fraud or misrepresentation.
January 7, 1943 A post-war world which would
furnish "assurance against the evils of all major economic hazards
- assurance that will extend from the cradle to the grave" was
envisioned by President Roosevelt in his message on the State of the
Union, as one of two broad aims beyond the winning of the war.
March 10, 1943 A proposal for Social Security
coverage for the armed forces and for a comprehensive post-war system
of Social Security was sent to Congress by President Roosevelt.
March 26, 1943 The first disability payment
under the Civilian War Benefits Program was made to a civilian defense
worker.
January 18, 1943 The Supreme Court, upholding
the conviction of American Medical Association and the District of
Columbia Medical Society for violation of the Sherman antitrust law,
declared that a cooperative enterprise organized to procure medical
services for its members is engaged in business or trade and that
professional bodies may be prosecuted for obstructing such business.
January 19, 1943 Mexico's Social Insurance
Act was promulgated. It authorized a program of compulsory insurance
against the risks of occupational accidents and disease, sickness,
maternity, invalidity, old age, and death for all workers employed
in the mining industry, transportation and commerce, and their dependents.
Non-covered workers could insure on a voluntary basis, and all workers
could contribute toward supplementary insurance.
January 20, 1943 In Uruguay, insurance coverage
against risks of old age, unemployment, disability, and death of the
wage earner was extended to all agricultural workers, including employers.
March 1, 1943 A ruling was issued that a
company ordered by the National Labor Relations Board to reinstate
employees with back pay could not deduct unemployment benefits received
by the employees while idle.
March 10, 1943 A proposal for social security
coverage for the armed forces and for a comprehensive post-war system
of social security was sent to Congress by President Roosevelt.
March 16, 1943 Two comprehensive proposals
for social security in Canada were submitted to a special committee
of the House of Commons by Ian McKenzie, Pensions Minister. The first
was a draft measure to provide a compulsory nationwide system of health
insurance; the other, a report on a comprehensive system of social
security to assure a minimum standard income to every family.
March 18, 1943 A program of medical and hospital
care for wives and infants of enlisted men in the four lowest grades
of the armed forces was authorized to be administered by the Children's
Bureau, through Federal grants to State health departments.
March 20, 1943 A Commonwealth Act establishing
a National Welfare Fund was assented to in Australia. The Act provided
that moneys in the fund be used for health services, unemployment
or sickness benefits, family allowances or other social services,
including maternity allowances and funeral benefit for pensioners.
March 24, 1943 An act was passed to permit
the War Shipping Administration, as the employer of seamen serving
on vessels owned or chartered to the United States, to pay the employer's
payroll tax for old-age benefits without regard to the $3,000 limitation
placed upon the amount of wages subject to that tax.
March 26, 1943 The first disability payment
under the Civilian War Benefits Program was made to a civilian defense
worker.
April 29, 1943 The Office of Defense, Health,
and Welfare Services was abolished by Executive Order No. 9338. Its
functions, duties and powers were transferred to the Federal Security
Agency. Under this Order, the Federal Security Administrator established
within his office an Office of Community War Services and a Committee
on Physical Fitness.
May 24, 1943 Oscar C. Pogge resigned as Director,
Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, when John J. Corson was
reappointed to the position.
June 3, 1943 The first "Wagner-Murray-Dingell"
bill was introduced. The bill provided for major changes in the Social
Security Act, including disability benefits, and creation of a compulsory
national health insurance program for all people. The program was
to have been financed through a payroll tax. Congress took no action
on the proposal.
June 9,1943 Legislation enacted permitting
States to continue payments to old age assistance recipients at the
rate paid in July 1943, without regard to any increase in resources
from wages earned in agricultural employment.
June 9,1943 The American Medical Association
created the Council on Medical Services and Public Relations to study
the economic aspects of health on a national scale and to develop
alternative plans to the compulsory health insurance plans being introduced
into the Congress.
June 30,1943 With liquidation of projects
of the W.P.A. and student work program of the National Youth Administration,
Federal financial participation in public aid limited to public assistance
under the Social Security Act.
July 5, 1943 Reappointment of Mrs. Ellen
S. Woodward of Mississippi as a member of the Social Security Board
confirmed by the Senate for the term expiring August 13, 1949.
July 6,1943 Amendments to the Vocational
Rehabilitation Act established the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation
in the Federal Security Agency.
July 6,1943 The existing Vocational Rehabilitation
program was greatly expanded to include operation under State principles
approved by the Federal Security Administrator. Federal grants to
States were to cover all administrative costs, costs of all services
for war disabled civilians, and half the costs of services to other
civilians.
July 8,1943 Regulations issued by the Treasury
Department for preferential income tax treatment of employees' pension,
stock bonus, and profit sharing trusts provided that plans which differentiate
between employees above and below a given level of earnings had to
be integrated with the social security system to prevent disproportionate
benefits to the higher-paid employees.
July 12,1943 A Social Security Board ruling
was issued that stated: when a State agency operated under a State
merit system established by legislative enactment, the moneys appropriated
under the Social Security Act for grants to the States for the fiscal
year 1943-1944 could not be withheld by the Social Security Board
for the Children's Bureau because those agencies disapproved of the
personnel of the State agency, the manner of their selection, or their
rates of pay.
July 25, 1943 A new law became effective
in Ecuador making social insurance obligatory for all public and private
employees. The risks covered included sickness, maternity, invalidity,
survivorship, old age, industrial accident and occupational disease.
September 4, 1943 The establishment of an
Office of Vocational Rehabilitation in the Federal Security Agency
was announced.
September 13, 1943 Hugh F. McKenna named
Assistant Director of the Division of Field Operations, Bureau of
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance.
October 1, 1943 Regions II and III of the
Social Security Board were consolidated in New York City. The action
was in line with the Social Security Board's effort to effect all
possible savings in administrative costs.
October 25, 1943 The Social Security Board's
Chairman outlined the principles and policies to be considered in
including servicemen under old-age and survivors insurance and establishing
a system of demobilization unemployment allowances.
November 9, 1943 An agreement establishing
the U.N. Relief and Rehabilitation Administration was signed by 44
representatives of the United Nations and other affiliated nations.
November 22, 1943 Federal agencies were ordered
to use Social Security account numbers for identifying Government
workers whenever they established a new permanent system of numerical
identification of employees. (Executive Order No. 9397.)
December 22, 1943 Congress postponed for
60 days the increase in Federal Insurance Contributions scheduled
for January 1, 1944.
January 1, 1944 The Mexican social insurance
act went into operation in the Federal District, It established a
system of compulsory insurance covering risks of industrial accident
and occupational disease, sickness and maternity, invalidity, old
age and death, as well as providing for voluntary insurance of certain
groups not included under the compulsory system.
January 11, 1944 President Roosevelt outlined
in his State of the Union Message, an "economic bill of rights,"
which included "the right to adequate medical care and the opportunity
to achieve and enjoy good health." However, he did not make any
subsequent proposal for health insurance.
January 19, 1944 The Social Security Board,
in its Eighth Annual Report to Congress, specifically called
for compulsory national health insurance program to be incorporated
into the Social Security system.
February 14, 1944 An amendment to Title I
of the Social Security Act provided that the States could continue
to pay, with Federal participation, old-age assistance at the rate
paid in July 1943 without considering additional income derived by
recipients performing agricultural labor as part of their resources
in determining need.
February 17, 1944 A government White Paper
on National Health Service recommended a comprehensive health program
for Great Britain, including services of general practitioners, specialists,
hospitals, and clinics, to provide all medical advice, treatment and
care required by the British population.
February 23, 1944 A program providing for
family allowances on a noncontributory basis was begun in Ireland.
February 24, 1944 A Retraining and Reemployment
Administration was established in the Office of War Mobilization.
February 25, 1944 The Revenue Act of 1943
extended throughout 1944 the postponement of the scheduled increase
in the contribution rates under the old-age and Survivors insurance
program. Title II of the Social Security Act was amended to authorize
appropriation from general revenues to the trust fund of any additional
amounts required to finance benefits. (This, the Vandenberg-Murray
Amendment, was in effect until 1950.)
April 1, 1944 Pensions were authorized for
all physically or mentally helpless children of deceased veterans
regardless of the age of the child at the date the claim was filed
or at the time of the veteran's death, provided the child was disabled
at age 16 and the disability continued to the date of the claim.
April 4, 1944 The Foreign War Shipping Crews
Exclusion Act was approved (P.L. 17, 78th Congress). It amended Title
II of the Social Security Act, providing coverage for officers and
crew members who were employed on behalf of the United States through
the War Shipping Administration.
April 5, 1944 The United States District
Court, Eastern District of Michigan, held that money paid to a widow,
after the death of her wage-earner husband pursuant to a back-pay
award by the National Labor Relations Board entered after the wage
earner's death, did not constitute wages as defined in the original
Social Security Act because it was not remuneration for employment.
April 13, 1944 Elizabeth A. Mulholland assumed
the position of Personnel Director of the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors
Insurance.
April 24, 1944 In ruling that newsboys are
employees within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act,
the United States Supreme Court declared that the meaning of "employee"
as used in the act must, in doubtful situations, be determined broadly
by underlying economic facts rather than technically and exclusively
by previously established legal classifications. If the Court ruled
that the result of applying wholesale the traditional common-law conceptions
as exclusively controlling limitations on the scope of the statutes
effectiveness would hardly be consistent with the statute's broad
terms and purposes.
May 11, 1944 An amendment to Veterans Regulation
Number I (a) authorized that pensionable status existed for persons
and dependents of persons who incurred disability or death in line
of duty prior to final induction or acceptance for active military
or naval service during the period from August 27, 1940 would continue
until termination of the war.
May 22,1944 Oscar C. Pogge was named Director
of the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, replacing John J.
Corson.
May 26,1944 A British Government White Paper
on Employment Policy outlined a program for maintaining a high and
stable level of postwar employment through the maintenance of the
total expenditure for goods and services, stability of prices and
wages, and mobility of labor between occupations and localities.
May 27,1944 The provisions for pensions for
widows and children of veterans of World War I, who had a service-connected
disability at the time of death, were extended to widows and children
of World War II veterans; and pensions or compensation for service-connected
disability were increased by 15 percent for World War I, World War
II, and certain peacetime cases.
May 29,1944 Michigan added a provision for
dependents' allowances to its State unemployment insurance law; only
one other jurisdiction (D.C.) had included such provision in its original
law.
June 7, 1944 The Eighth Circuit Court of
Appeals held that a beneficiary who served as a member of the executive
committee of a corporation was an employee and that his benefits were
subject to deductions when his wages exceeded $14.99 monthly.
June 22, 1944 The G.I. Bill of Rights, the
Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944, was approved. It included provisions
for education and training allowances, special placement services
and readjustment allowances while the veteran was finding employment.
June 27, 1944 The Social Security Board revised
its policy in connection with reopening the determinations of benefit
awards, and limited the conditions under which favorable determinations
could be reopened and corrected retroactively.
July 1, 1944 Title VI of the Social Security
Act was repealed by the Public Health Service Act, which also expanded
Federal-State public health programs, and raised the annual amount
for grants for public health services.
August 1, 1944 Canada enacted the Family
Allowances Act of 1944. The law, which became effective on July 1,
1945, provided family allowances for all dependent children under
age 17, to be paid from general revenues and without a means test.
This was the first of the comprehensive social security proposals
for an extended program to be established.
August 14, 1944 One million old-age insurance
benefits were in force.
September 25, 1944 The British Government
published a White Paper on Social Insurance. The program, which represented
the Government's recommendations for effecting most of the proposals
set forth in the Beveridge Plan, would extend the scope of the existing
system by increasing all existing types of benefits and by covering
on a compulsory basis, the entire population. The Government offered
a comprehensive program of social insurance, supplemented by family
allowances, and an allied system to cover the risks of disablement
and death through industrial injury.
October 3, 1944 The War Mobilization and
Reconversion Act of 1944 amended the Social Security Act by establishing
a Federal unemployment account in the Unemployment Trust Fund and
added Title XII, providing for advances to State unemployment funds
when the funds approached insolvency.
October 9, 1944 Venezuela's program of health,
maternity, and work accident insurance began operations.
October 31, 1944 The Social Security Board
authorized the recalculation of the average monthly wage after adjudication,
at the request of a primary beneficiary, to include additional wages
for services performed subsequent to the original award.
November 14, 1944 The Ministry of the National
Insurance Act, 1944, became law in Great Britain. It provided for
the transfer to a minister of national insurance of "The Functions
of the Minister of Health and of the Secretary of State with respect
to national health insurance, old age pensions, widows', orphans'
and old age contributory and supplementary pensions; the functions
of the Minister of Labour and National Service with respect to unemployment
insurance and unemployment assistance; and the functions of the Secretary
of State with respect to workmen's compensation."
November 22, 1944 In Argentina a law was
passed establishing old age, disability and survivors insurance for
commercial employees.
December 16, 1944 The old-age and survivors
insurance contribution rates were frozen for 1945 at one percent each
for employers and employees.
December 28, 1944 A Belgian legislative order
improved the existing social insurance system and established a compulsory
sickness and invalidity insurance system, to come into full operation
April 1, 1945.
January 6, 1945 President Roosevelt in his
State of the Union message again made reference to the right to "good
medical care" but made no specific recommendations.
January 16, 1945 The Bureau of Old-Age and
Survivors Insurance opened the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania office.
February 13, 1945 Greece initiated an experimental
unemployment insurance fund for wage earners and salaried employees
in industry.
March 26, 1945 The House Ways and Means Committee
voted funds for a study of the Social Security Act, with particular
reference to old-age and survivor's insurance and related problems
of coverage, benefits and taxes. The Ways and Means Committee appointed
a Technical Staff for the purpose of developing information looking
to a revision of the Social Security Act.
March 28, 1945 A deficiency appropriation
bill signed by the President included the Case Amendment, which provided
that certain wages paid to recipients of old age pensions should not
be deducted from their allowance, in order to allow them to engage
in part-time nursing.
April 25, 1945 A government decree regulating
the application of social insurance in Paraguay was amended to extend
medical, surgical, pharmaceutical, and hospital services, including
medical care before, during, and after childbirth, to families of
insured persons.
April 30, 1945 The Social Security Board's
Regulation No. 3 was amended to allow a primary insurance beneficiary
to have his benefits recomputed to include wages paid to him in and
after the quarter in which he became entitled.
May 7, 1945 The Organic Law of Social Services
was adopted in Brazil. It was intended to provide all persons in the
country, except public employees and members of the armed forces,
with all essential social insurance benefits and assistance services.
May 28, 1945 President Truman called on Congress
to widen the coverage of unemployment compensation to include Federal
employees, maritime workers, and other workers; their benefits to
be financed by the Federal Government but administered by the States.
Also, he recommended that Congress supplement, out of Federal funds,
existing benefit provisions up to a maximum of at least $25 for a
claimant with dependents, and for as much as 26 weeks for workers
who remained unemployed.
June 15, 1945 Payment of cash allowances
to British families "for the benefit of the family as a whole"
was assured with the enactment of the Family Allowance Act.
June 30, 1945 A presidential decree, effective
January 1, 1946, established compulsory social insurance in Colombia
for public salaried employees and wage earners.
July 1, 1945 The work day for Social Security
Board employees was reduced to 44 hours; 8 hours per day and 4 hours
overtime on Saturdays.
July 1, 1945 The Unemployment and Sickness
Benefits Act came into force in Australia.
July 3, 1945 The Labor-Federal Security Appropriation
Act, 1946, provided that jurisdiction over employment services should
be returned to the States within three months after the cessation
of hostilities.
July 18, 1945 The Senate confirmed the reappointment
of Arthur J. Altmeyer as Chairman of the Social Security Board for
a six-year term expiring August 13, 1951.
July 19, 1945 The Lord Mayor of Berlin announced
a new social insurance system for the inhabitants of Berlin with protection
against the risks of old age, invalidity, and unemployment and provision
for hospital insurance and free medicines for the insured. Both employer
and employee would contribute ten percent of the employee's earnings
to the city insurance fund.
August 1, 1945 A resolution (SJ Res. 89)
recommending formation of an international health organization was
introduced by Senators Pepper, Ball, Capper, Murray, Smith and Wagner.
August 8, 1945 A bill was signed authorizing
Federal agencies to provide minor medical and dental services to employees.
September 5, 1945 The Social Security Board
approved a proposal to terminate on June 30, 1946, the program for
aid to enemy aliens and others restricted by governmental action.
September 6, 1945 President Truman, in a
special message to Congress, proposed an Economic Bill of Rights containing
certain rights which were to be assured to every American citizen,
including the Nation's health objectives.
September 14, 1945 Paul McNutt, the administrator
of the Federal Security Agency, left to become High Commissioner of
the Philippines.
September 19, 1945 The War Manpower Commission
was terminated and all its functions were transferred to the Department
of Labor. This included the United States Employment Service.
September 20, 1945 The Veterans' regulations
were amended to provide increased rates of pension for certain service-incurred
disabilities, generally on a parity with rates payable for similar
disabilities under the World War I Veterans' Act, 1924, as amended.
October 2, 1945 The Social Security Board
approved amendments to Regulation No. 3, extending the period for
filing proof of parents' dependency under Section 202(f), for filing
a lump-sum death payment claim under Section 202(g), and for commencing
wage discrepancy proceedings under Section 205(c) in certain types
of cases in which the wage earner or claimant was a serviceman.
October 11, 1945 Watson B. Miller was confirmed
by the Senate to succeed Paul V. McNutt as Federal Security Administrator.
Mr. Miller had served as Assistant Administrator since early in 1941.
October 16, 1945 The Social Security Board
approved the establishment of an Area Office in Kansas City and agreed
to recommend redistribution of area office territory, which would
necessitate changing the location of the New Orleans office.
October 23, 1945 The Internal Revenue Code
and the Social Security Act were amended to extend coverage to all
employees of the Bonneville Power Administration who were not covered
under the Federal Civil Service Retirement Act and had no retirement
protection.
October 29, 1945 The American Military Government
announced restoration of a broad program of social insurance in Western
Germany.
November 8, 1945 The Bureau of Old-Age and
Survivors Insurance contribution rates were frozen for 1946 at one
percent each for employers and employees.
November 13, 1945 The United States Supreme
Court ruled that the Better Business Bureau (D.C.) was not exempt
from paying social security taxes.
November 19, 1945 In a special message to
Congress, President Truman proposed a comprehensive, prepaid medical
insurance plan for all people through the Social Security system.
The plan would have covered doctors, hospital, nursing, laboratory
and dental services for people covered by the Social Security program;
it would also have provided benefits financed from Federal Revenues
for needy people. A revised Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill providing for
National Health Insurance was immediately introduced.
December 21, 1945 The Civil Service Retirement
Act of 1930, as amended, was further amended to provide retirement
credit, in computing length of service, to persons who left Government
service to enter the armed forces of the United States.
December 29, 1945 The International Organizations
Exclusion Act extended certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities
to international organizations and to the officers and employees thereof.
The act amended Title II of the Social Security Act.
December 31, 1945 Executive Order No. 9672
terminated the National War Labor Board.
1946 The Committee for the Nation's Health
was organized to promote the passage of the Wagner-Murray-Dingell
Bill.
1946 The Health Insurance Council was formed
by eight trade associations in the insurance field to serve as a liaison
agency between the dispensers of health services, such as physicians
and hospitals, and the underwriters.
1946 The Association of Medical Care Plans,
with the Blue Shield as an emblem, was created as a national coordinating
agency for physician sponsored health insurance plans.
January 17, 1946 The Social Security Technical
Staff of the House Ways and Means Committee presented its report (Issues
in Social Security) on necessary amendments to the Social Security
Act. The results of this staff study were embodied in a document generally
referred to as the Calhoun Report.
February 20, 1946 The Employment Act of 1946
(later referred to as the Full Employment Act) was enacted "to
declare a continuing national policy on employment, production, and
purchasing power."
February 25, 1946 The United States Supreme
Court ruled that back pay awarded, under the National Labor Relations
Act, to an individual who was, before his discharge, an employee under
the Social Security Act must be treated as "wages" under
the act computing the individual's old age and survivors insurance
benefits.
March 5, 1946 California became the second
State to pass a law for cash sickness benefits to workers covered
by the State unemployment insurance law.
April 1, 1946 The Kansas City Area Office,
part of which was split off from New Orleans, opened.
May 3, 1946 The Taft-Smith-Ball Bill, S.
2143, authorizing grants to States for medical care to the poor was
introduced as an alternative to the administration bill. The bill
was endorsed by the American Medical Association. No action was taken
on this bill.
June 11, 1946 Congress passed the Administrative
Procedures Act on to provide for judicial review of the actions of
administrative agencies.
June 21, 1946 The United Nations Economic
and Social Council established a permanent Social Commission.
June 28, 1946 The Social Security Board approved
a change in the name of the Alaska and Hawaii offices from "Territorial"
to "Regional," and designated Alaska as Region XIII and
Hawaii as Region XIV.
July 3, 1946 The National Mental Health Act
authorized the establishment of a National Institute of Mental Health
and increased Federal grants to States for public health services,
with special emphasis on mental health problems.
July 16, 1946 Under the President's Reorganization
Plan No. 2 of 1946, the Social Security Board was abolished and its
functions transferred to FSA and the Social Security Administration
was established to carry on programs of the Social Security Board
and those of the Children's Bureau. The Children's Bureau (then in
the Department of Labor) was transferred (except for its child labor
functions) to the Federal Security Agency by the same plan. The Office
of the Commissioner for Social Security was established and Arthur
J. Altmeyer was named to the position. George E. Bigge, a member of
the Board, was appointed the Director of Federal-State Relations in
the Federal Security Agency. William L. Mitchell became the Deputy
Commissioner of Social Security. Ellen S. Woodward, the third member
of the Board, was appointed to head Inter-Agency Relations in the
Federal Security Agency.
July 22, 1946 The constitution of the World
Health Organization was signed by representatives of 61 nations.
July 31, 1946 The Railroad Retirement Act
and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act amendments established
monthly survivor benefits and sickness and maternity benefits for
employees in the industry. The Social Security Act, in effect, was
amended by the provision making wages in railroad employment applicable
for survivor benefits under the old-age and survivors insurance program.
August 2, 1946 The Senate Committee on Finance
was directed to make a complete study of the Social Security program
and provisions for its extension.
August 8, 1946 The Alien Property Custodian
Coverage Act was approved. It amended Title II of the Social Security
Act.
August 10, 1946 The Social Security Act was
amended to provide: monthly benefits under old age and survivors insurance
for survivors of certain World War II veterans; coverage to private
maritime employees under State unemployment insurance; temporary unemployment
benefits to seamen with wartime Federal employment. In addition, permission
was given States, with employee contributions under their unemployment
insurance laws, to use such funds for temporary disability insurance
benefits; there was to be greater Federal sharing in public assistance
payments for a specified period; and larger grants were to be provided
for maternal and child health and child welfare, as well as the extension
of these programs to the Virgin Islands. In addition, the payroll
tax rate was frozen at 1% for employers and employees for 1947.
August 13, 1946 The Hospital Survey and Construction
Act was signed. It authorized the Public Health Service to make grants
to the States for surveying their needs for hospitals and public health
centers, for planning construction of additional facilities, and for
assistance in financing such construction. The program was known as
Hill-Burton, after its two principal supporters.
October 1, 1946 Increases in Federal financial
participation of public assistance payments became effective.
November 6, 1946 Arthur J. Altmeyer was appointed
for a two-year term as the United States representative on the U.N.
Social Commission of the Social and Economic Council. (Appointment
was confirmed by the Senate on January 17, 1947.)
November 15, 1946 The public employment offices
were returned to State administration and control, as directed by
legislation enacted July 26.
December 1946 The Interdepartmental Committee
on International Social Welfare Policy was established in December
1946 by presidential order. The Commissioner for Social Security was
requested to serve as Chairman, and the Director of the Bureau of
Public Assistance as alternate chairman.
December 1946 A further step in the administrative
integration of all Bureaus within the Social Security Administration
was taken with the consolidation of the regional staffs of the Children's
Bureau with the Administration regional offices on the same basis
as the other Bureaus.
December 1, 1946 Cash sickness benefits became
payable in California.
December 23, 1946 The United States Supreme
Court ruled that a claim by the United States Government against a
company for social security taxes had priority over a State's claim
for unemployment insurance contributions.
December 26, 1946 With the adoption of Law
90 on Compulsory Social Insurance, Colombia joined the other nine
South American Nations in enacting social security legislation applicable
to commercial and industrial workers.
January 1, 1947 Grants to States for maternal
and child health and child welfare services went into effect in the
Virgin Islands.
February 10, 1947 The Birmingham Payment
Center opened as a result of the closing of the New Orleans Office,
part of which went to Kansas City and part to Birmingham, Alabama.
February 20, 1947 Arthur J. Altmeyer was
elected Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the
International Refugee Organization.
March 17, 1947 The Dominican Republic established
a system of old-age, invalidity, health and maternity insurance.
May 19, 1947 President Truman, in a special
health message to Congress, again requested a compulsory national
health program. Senate Bill 1320 was introduced by Senators Wagner
and Murray. Senator Taft's bill was also reintroduced.
May 20, 1947 A survey committee, appointed
by the Federal Security Administrator to study ways in which field
coordination might be improved, submitted its report.
June 1947 For the first time in the history
of the program, the number of children receiving aid to dependent
children passed the millionth mark.
June 30, 1947 By concurrent resolution, Congress
rejected the President's Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1947, in which
he had proposed that the United States Employment Service be made
a permanent unit in the Department of Labor.
June 30, 1947 A bill was approved extending
to July 1, 1949, the time in which income from agricultural labor
and nursing service could be disregarded in making old age assistance
payments.
June 1947 For the first time in the history
of the program, the number of children receiving aid to dependent
children passed the millionth mark.
July 6, 1947 The Swiss people approved, by
referendum, the establishment of a nationwide compulsory system of
old age and survivors insurance.
July 23, 1947 Senate Resolution 141, superseding
Senate Resolution 320 (August 2, 1946) gave the Senate Finance Committee
authorization and appropriation for investigating the Social Security
program. The Committee was authorized to appoint an Advisory Council
to assist and advise in the study.
July 25, 1947 An act was approved terminating
certain emergency and war powers, including amendments to Title II
of the Social Security Act.
July 30, 1947 Under Public Law No. 131, certain
aged recipients of assistance could continue, until July 1, 1949,
to work for wages on a farm or care for the sick without having such
wages jeopardize their assistance payment.
August 6, 1947 The Social Security Act was
amended to hold old-age and survivors insurance contribution rates
for employers and employees at one percent for 1948 and 1949 and to
schedule increases to 1.5 percent each for 1950 and 1951, and two
percent each in 1952 and thereafter.
August 7, 1947 The President vetoed a bill
that would have excluded from coverage under the insurance programs
of the Social Security Act services performed by newspapers and magazine
vendors.
August 19, 1947 Oscar R. Ewing was appointed
Federal Security Administrator. He succeeded Watson B. Miller, who
moved to the position of Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization.
September 16, 1947 The Social Security Commissioner
approved amendments to Regulation No. 3 to show July 25, 1947 as the
date of the termination of World War II for purposes of paying benefits
under Section 210 of the Social Security Act, as amended.
September 28, 1947 A seventeen-member Advisory
Council on Social Security was appointed by the Senate Committee on
Finance to study proposals for expanding the Social Security program.
October 1947 At a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland,
the International Social Insurance Conference was renamed the International
Social Security Association, (ISSA).
December 1, 1947 The United States Employment
Service was transferred to the War Manpower Commission, effective
this date.
December 16, 1947 The Senate confirmed the
nomination of Oscar R. Ewing, of New York, to head the Federal Security
Agency.
February 28, 1948 The Civil Service Retirement
Act was amended to include protection for survivors of Federal employees.
March 1, 1948 Two social welfare attaches
were appointed by the Department of State to the staff of the Foreign
Service Reserve for service in Cairo and Paris. Among their functions
was handling social security matters for beneficiaries living in
those two countries.
April 5, 1948 President Truman vetoed H.R.
5052, a bill to exclude vendors of newspapers and magazines from social
security coverage.
April 8, 1948 The 1947 Advisory Council on
Social Security presented its first report, with recommendations on
old-age and survivors insurance, to the Senate Finance Committee.
April 13, 1948 Workmen's compensation legislation
became applicable nationwide, with Mississippi's enactment of such
a law.
April 20, 1948 The Social Security Act was
amended to exclude certain newspaper and magazine vendors from coverage
under old-age and survivors insurance and under the Federal Unemployment
Tax Act. Congress passed this law over the President's veto.
May 1948 The International Labor Organization
established the Committee of Social Security Experts. The Commissioner
of the Social Security Administration was a member from its inception.
May 1-4, 1948 The National Health Assembly
met in Washington, D.C., to work with the Federal Security Agency
in developing a ten-year health plan for the nation.
May 8, 1948 The Advisory Council on Social
Security presented its second report, with recommendations for an
insurance system to cover the risks of permanent and total disability,
to the Senate Finance Committee.
May 15,1948 Puerto Rico passed a law providing
unemployment insurance benefits for workers in the sugar industry.
May 1948 The American Medical Association
launched a "National Education Campaign" against National
Health Insurance proposals.
June 1, 1948 New Jersey adopted a cash insurance
law linked with unemployment insurance, but permitting the substitution
of private sickness plans for coverage under the State plan.
June 2, 1948 The Railroad Retirement Act
was amended to increase certain retirement and survivor benefits,
and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act was amended to reduce
the employer tax through a system of merit rating.
June 14, 1948 A House Joint Resolution, Number
296, was agreed to overriding the President's veto of a measure to
maintain the status quo on Social Security coverage pending action
by Congress.
June 23, 1948 Public Law 744 was approved.
It increased railroad pensions 20 percent, yet reduced taxes on payrolls.
June 24, 1948 Public Law 757 was approved.
It increased certain benefits payable under the Longshoremen's and
Harbor Workers Compensation Act.
June 30, 1948 The Appropriation Act for 1949
transferred the Field Division and Regional Offices of the Social
Security Administration to the Office of Administration, FSA, effective
July 1, 1948.
July 1, 1948 The Social Security Administration's
Region VIII with headquarters in Minneapolis was eliminated. Supervision
of the area was taken over by the offices in Chicago and Kansas City.
The State of Minnesota was transferred to the Region with headquarters
in Chicago--the new Region V. Supervision of the States of North Dakota,
South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa was transferred to the Region with
headquarters in Kansas City. These last States, together with Kansas
and Missouri, comprised the new Region VII.
July 1, 1948 Requirements relating to definite
procedural provisions for hearings under the State public assistance
plans became effective.
July 1, 1948 The United States Employment
Service was transferred from the Department of Labor to the Federal
Security Agency and then to the Social Security Administration where
it became a part of the Bureau of Employment Security.
July 2, 1948 The President used a pocket
veto on a measure to permit aid to the blind recipients to earn up
to $40 a month without becoming ineligible for aid.
July 5, 1948 The comprehensive social security
program, outlined in the Beveridge Report of 1942, went into effect
for the people of Great Britain.
July 29, 1948 The President approved Public
Law 813 which transferred the administration of the Federal Credit
Union Act from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to the Federal
Security Agency where it was placed within the Social Security Administration.
August 5, 1948 The Advisory Council on Social
Security presented its third report on recommended changes in public
assistance to the Senate Finance Committee.
September 1, 1948 The San Antonio Regional
Office was moved to new headquarters in Dallas.
October 1, 1948 Public Law 642 was approved:
an act to maintain the status quo in respect to certain employment
taxes and Social Security benefits pending action by Congress on extended
Social Security coverage.
December 28, 1948 The Advisory Committee
on Social Security presented its fourth and final report, on improving
the State-Federal system of unemployment insurance, to the Senate
Finance Committee.
1948 UAW-CIO appointed a Social Security
Advisory Committee and a Medical Care Advisory Committee.
1948 The National Labor Relations Board ruled
that pension, health and welfare plans were within the scope of collective
bargaining. These rulings were sustained by action of higher courts
in 1949.
January 5, 1949 In his State of the Union
Message, President Truman again called for compulsory national health
insurance for persons of all ages, financed by a Federal payroll tax.
January 12, 1949 The Commission on Reorganization
of the Executive Branch of the Government (the Hoover Commission)
recommended the creation of a Department to handle Social Security,
education and certain welfare services.
February 28, 1949 The House Ways and Means
Committee began hearings on H.R. 2892, an amendment to the Social
Security Act designed to aid the States in establishing more adequate
public welfare programs.
March 16, 1949 A legislative proposal for
the construction of a new building for BOASI was sent to Congress
by the acting Federal Security Administrator, J. Donald Kingsley.
April 13, 1949 The New York Disability Benefits
Law was enacted with benefit payments effective on July 1, 1950.
April 15, 1949 Public Law 42 was approved
by the President. It authorized appropriations for the Federal Security
Administrator to meet the emergency needs of crippled children for
fiscal year 1949, in addition to funds authorized under the Social
Security Act.
April 22, 1949 In another special message,
President Truman called for National Health Insurance.
May 16, 1949 The names of all organizational
units in the Social Security Administration below the divisional level
were changed. In general, the former sections became branches, units
became sections and sub-units became units.
May 31, 1949 The Flanders-Ives Bill providing
for health needs by the use of Federal subsidies to private insurance
companies was introduced in Congress.
June 20, 1949 The President signed the Reorganization
Act of 1949 under which he could reorganize agencies of Government
unless either House rejected within 60 days a specific plan submitted
to it.
June 20, 1949 President Truman sent to Congress
the Reorganization Plan No. 1, proposing to elevate the Federal Security
Agency to a Cabinet-level Department of Welfare and to vest all functions
of existing Federal Security Agency units directly under the new Secretary
of Welfare. It was not accepted by Congress.
June 30, 1949 The emergency maternity and
infant care program administered by the Children's Bureau in cooperation
with the State Health Departments came to an end.
July 16, 1949 The President signed Public
Law 174, extending for one year to June 30, 1950, reconversion and
unemployment benefits for seamen provided by Title XIII of the Social
Security Act.
August 15, 1949 H.R. 6000 (the Social Security
Act Amendments of 1950) was introduced by Representative Doughton.
August 20, 1949 The Bureau of Employment
Security (which included the United States Employment Service) was
transferred from the Social Security Administration to the Department
of Labor by Reorganization Plan No. 2.
October 25, 1949 The President signed Public
Law 376, amending the Federal Credit Union Act. Under the amended
law the permissible maximum period of loans was increased from two
years to three years, and the permissible maximum unsecured loan was
increased from $300 to $400.
November 7, 1949 Multilateral conventions
on social security and social assistance were signed by the foreign
ministers of Belgium, France, Great Britain, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
December 1, 1949 The Federal Security Agency
sent a delegation to study the educational, health and Social Security
systems in Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy and Israel.
December 1, 1949 An agreement for the reciprocal
payment of old age pensions for citizens of Denmark, Finland, Iceland,
Norway and Sweden went into effect. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|