Old Age pensions

OLD AGE PENSIONS gggff

Old lady knitting Old-age pensions, along with mothers' pensions, were the two most wide-spread and familiar forms of social welfare benefits in the period leading up to the New Deal. Agitation for old-age pensions was, indeed, one of the primary sources of political pressure brought to bear on the New Deal encouraging the Roosevelt Administration to develop its Social Security retirement benefits program. In addition to state-provided old-age pensions, which came into widespread adoption during the 1920s, there was also, especially in the Depression, a host of schemes for what I call "alternative pension movements." These alternative pension movements were some of the most colorful and interesting policy developments on the road to the American welfare state.

reading icon Suggestions for Additional Reading:

Rubinow, I.M., Social Insurance: with Special Reference to American Conditions, New York, Henry Holt, 1913.

Epstein, Abraham, Facing Old Age, New York, Knopf, 1922.

Committee on Economic Security, Social Security in America: The Factual Background of the Social Security Act as Summarized from Staff Reports to the Committee on Economic Security, Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1937.

Chambers, Clarke, Seedtime of Reform, Greenwood Press edition, 1980.

Lubove, Roy, The Struggle for Social Security, 1900-1935, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1986.

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

Source Documents:

book icon The Depression-Era Alternative Pension Movements
In the aftermath of the economic crisis of the Great Depression there sprang from the soil of America's discontent an exotic variety of "alternative" pension movement, seeking, among other political aims, to institute some form of old-age pensions on a national basis.

book icon Letter to President Roosevelt Regarding Old-Age Pensions (1933)
This letter to the President was typical of the many the government received during the Depression. It is also an example of the many campaigns for old-age pensions that were common during the Depression-era.

book icon Speech by Eleanor Roosevelt on Old-Age Pensions (1934)
This speech in March 1934 was given three months before Franklin Roosevelt tasked the Committee on Economic Security with developing his Social Security proposals. In this speech she is suggesting the superiority of what will become Social Security benefits over traditional old-age pensions.

book icon The Problem of Old-Age, by the President's Committee on Economic Security (1934)
Article by CES Executive Director Edwin Witte on the general topic of old-age security.

Report on Old-Age Pensions by the President's Committee on Economic Security (1934)
This brief article by CES Executive Director Edwin Witte was part of the large collection of background research in support of FDR's Social Security proposals.

	Suggestions for Additional Reading:
	Rubinow, I.M., Social Insurance: with Special Reference to American Conditions, New York, Henry Holt, 1913.
	Epstein, Abraham, Facing Old Age, New York, Knopf, 1922.
	Committee on Economic Security, Social Security in America: The Factual Background of the Social Security Act as Summarized from Staff Reports to the Committee on Economic Security, Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1937.
	Chambers, Clarke, Seedtime of Reform, Greenwood Press edition, 1980.
	Lubove, Roy, The Struggle for Social Security, 1900-1935, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1986.
	Quadagno, Jill, The Transformation of Old Age Security: Class and Politics in the American Welfare State, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1988.

Source Documents:
	The Depression-Era Alternative Pension Movements In the aftermath of the economic crisis of the Great Depression there sprang from the soil of America's discontent an exotic variety of "alternative" pension movement, seeking, among other political aims, to institute some form of old-age pensions on a national basis.
	Letter to President Roosevelt Regarding Old-Age Pensions (1933) This letter to the President was typical of the many the government received during the Depression. It is also an example of the many campaigns for old-age pensions that were common during the Depression-era.
	Speech by Eleanor Roosevelt on Old-Age Pensions (1934) This speech in March 1934 was given three months before Franklin Roosevelt tasked the Committee on Economic Security with developing his Social Security proposals. In this speech she is suggesting the superiority of what will become Social Security benefits over traditional old-age pensions.
	The Problem of Old-Age, by the President's Committee on Economic Security (1934) Article by CES Executive Director Edwin Witte on the general topic of old-age security.
	Report on Old-Age Pensions by the President's Committee on Economic Security (1934) This brief article by CES Executive Director Edwin Witte was part of the large collection of background research in support of FDR's Social Security proposals.