Old Age pensions- Alternative pension movements

OLD AGE PENSIONS- ALTERNATIVE MOVEMENTS gggff

jalopy with protest sign The decade of the 1930s found America facing the worst economic crisis in its modern history. Millions of people were unemployed, two million adult men ("hobos") wandered aimlessly around the country, banks and businesses failed and the majority of the elderly in America lived in dependency. These circumstances led to many calls for change. From this economic crisis mass movements of many varieties appeared throughout the land. One of the most prominent, wide-spread, and influential was the collection of schemes and movements advocating expanded old-age pensions. These movements were impatient with the existing meager old-age pensions offered in the various states and were advocating various forms of national old-age pensions.

Three of the most interesting and significant of these pension movements are documented here.

reading icon Suggestions for Additional Reading:

Holtzman, Abraham, The Townsend Movement: A Political Study, New York, Bookman Associates, 1963.

Putnam, Jackson K., Old-Age Politics in California: From Richardson to Reagan, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1970.

Brinkley, Alan, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin and the Great Depression, New York, Vintage Books, 1983.

Quadagno, Jill, The Transformation of Old Age Security: Class and Politics in the American Welfare State, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1988.

Mitchell, Greg, The Campaign of the Century: Upton Sinclair's Race for Governor of California and the Birth of Media Politics, New York, Random House, 1992.

Mitchell, Daniel J. B., Pensions, Politics and the Elderly: Historic Social Movements and Their Lessons for Our Aging Society, New York, M.E. Sharpe, 2000.

Source Documents:

book icon The Townsend Plan
The Townsend Plan was the largest and most influential of the Depression-era alternative pension movements. It promised $200 per month to every senior citizen in the country.

Huey Long's Share the Wealth Plan
Huey Long's Share the Wealth Plan was a Depression-era scheme for a radical redistribution of wealth so that the county could spend more on social needs, including old-age pensions.

book icon Upton Sinclair's EPIC Plan
Sinclair's EPIC scheme was a 12-point program to remake the Californian economy. Point 10 of the plan was a proposal to give pensions of $50 a month to all needy persons over 60 who had lived in California for at least three years. Sinclair's pension proposal was very popular because in one fell swoop it reduced the minimum age for pensions by 10 years, almost doubled their value, and eliminated restrictive eligibility requirements.

	Suggestions for Additional Reading:
	Holtzman, Abraham, The Townsend Movement: A Political Study, New York, Bookman Associates, 1963.
	Putnam, Jackson K., Old-Age Politics in California: From Richardson to Reagan, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1970.
	Brinkley, Alan, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin and the Great Depression, New York, Vintage Books, 1983.
	Quadagno, Jill, The Transformation of Old Age Security: Class and Politics in the American Welfare State, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1988.
	Mitchell, Greg, The Campaign of the Century: Upton Sinclair's Race for Governor of California and the Birth of Media Politics, New York, Random House, 1992.
	Mitchell, Daniel J. B., Pensions, Politics and the Elderly: Historic Social Movements and Their Lessons for Our Aging Society, New York, M.E. Sharpe, 2000.

Source Documents:
	The Townsend Plan The Townsend Plan was the largest and most influential of the Depression-era alternative pension movements. It promised $200 per month to every senior citizen in the country.
	Huey Long's Share the Wealth Plan Huey Long's Share the Wealth Plan was a Depression-era scheme for a radical redistribution of wealth so that the county could spend more on social needs, including old-age pensions.
	Upton Sinclair's EPIC Plan Sinclair's EPIC scheme was a 12-point program to remake the Californian economy. Point 10 of the plan was a proposal to give pensions of $50 a month to all needy persons over 60 who had lived in California for at least three years. Sinclair's pension proposal was very popular because in one fell swoop it reduced the minimum age for pensions by 10 years, almost doubled their value, and eliminated restrictive eligibility requirements.