The Social Security Act

The Social Security Act

The Social Security Act of 1935
The Social Security Act was signed in 1935 by Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his first term. He thought it would be a great way to help economic stability. The SSA was passed by congress as part of the Second New Deal. He became the first president in US history to create an assistance plan for the elderly.

The Social Security Act was created to help many people. It helped all kinds of people like the elderly, unemployed, the widows and children who have lost their fathers, and the people who were struggling to survive financially. This act gave money to states to help the elderly, people with disabilities, the unemployed, and many others that fall into these different categories. This act is still in place today, and although there have been some changes to this it is most generally the same act as when it was created back in 1935.

Before the 1930s the support for the elderly was a matter of local, state and family rather than a Federal concern. During the Great Depression there was not enough money to go around. Families could not afford food for their own family, let alone be able to feed more mouths. Local and state governments also did not have much money to assist the elderly. This was a very tough time for the entire United States of America.

This was one of the main reasons Franklin Roosevelt thought this was an important matter to take care of. The Great Depression showed how our country needed some kind of assistance to help people who could not earn enough money to survive on their own. This suffering brought support for the proposal of many different acts to help many different people. It brought light to these issues and made people think about the struggles these people went through. When the word got out about these ways of life people felt they needed to help them out. This is how the Social Security Act was created.

The main reason for this act being created was to help the elderly. Over the 79...

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