Social Security Act of 1935

U.S. #2153 was issued on the 50th anniversary of the act.

On August 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.

The Social Security Act was part of Roosevelt’s second New Deal. The initial purpose of the act was to provide income for the unemployed and retirees beginning on January 1, 1940.

U.S. #2153 FDC – Social Security Silk Cachet Combination First Day Cover.

During his public statement on the day he signed the act into law, Roosevelt stated he was concerned for “young people have come to wonder what would be their lot when they came to old age” as well as those that were employed but had no job security. Roosevelt went on to say that “we can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life,” and that he hoped the act would keep senior citizens from being impoverished.

U.S. #UX51 – Social Security Postal Card.

Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, received the first monthly retirement check. The retired legal secretary received a check in the amount of $22.54 and continued to receive payments until her death at age 100. In 1939, survivors’ benefits and payments for spouses and children were added.

Item #M85-45 – Social Security First Day Maximum Card.

Medicare was added in 1965, as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” program, and annual cost of living adjustments began in 1972. In 2004, $492 billion in benefits were distributed to 47.5 million people. Controversial at its passage, the future of Social Security is still an issue of national debate.

Click here to read the full Social Security Act.

Click here to see what else happened on This Day in History.

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4 Comments

  1. when there are more recipients, i.e. illegal aliens , fraudulent disability claimants, than there are contributors the system is doomed to fail

  2. With all it’s supposed faults, If Social Security were terminated tomorrow, then the next day the market would crash. The Social Security programs move money, and that creates revenue. The frauds mentioned are caused by poor (or corrupt) controls by some of the (corrupt?) political figures. Illegal aliens? They spend money and pay taxes. If working, they pay income taxes, and contribute to the SS. Yes, even if they have a fake Social Security number. Plus, they can’t get a TAX REFUND! The revenue keeps adding up with no claims against it. Now we have a bunch of politicians who want to shut down the Social Security program! I could go on and on, but I know that I am “talking to a WALL”!

  3. We’ve got to do something about entitlements. Hard choices are unfortunately coming. I believe we have to finally admit that a person is not necessarily “entitled” to the current group of entitlements (Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare).

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