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On August 14, 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. Roosevelt said at the signing that Social Security "represents a cornerstone in a structure which is being built but is by no means complete." There was little public debate in the time before the legislation passed but much ceremony at the many posed signings that took place. The Social Security Act was a comprehensive law consisting of 11 titles, or subjects. Six of the eleven titles detailed specific benefit programs, while the other five established methods of taxation to fund the programs, formed the organization of the controlling government body (the Social Security Board), and established guidelines for the creation of public health facilities. In 1937 the government began issuing Social Security identification cards to all citizens. Each card had a unique number that the government used to keep track of a persons earnings and the taxes collected from those earnings that went to finance Social Security benefits. The new program brought about a fundamental change in American culture and government that was and is, still being debated. The effects of the law reach all levels of our current and future society. The concept of a social insurance was not new but the passage of the bill brought it from academic debate into an operational reality. Prior to the passage of the bill there was no cultural provision for masses of people to retire at a certain time in their lives. One of the intentions was to foster senior inactivity in order to create new jobs for younger workers. Retirees would be penalized if they began to draw Social Security benefits and then decided they wished to earn additional money. In the middle of this depression, the idea that jobs had to be rationed was a powerful force. Unfortunately, in the 1930s there was no concept of a second career or life-long-learning. AARP was not yet on the horizon. Created/Published : Social Security Board, Washington D.C., 1935 Creator : not attributed Housed in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress Availability: Usually ships in one week Product #: ppmsca07216 |
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