Once again, NPRadio has raised my consciousness, as it talks
about Social Security being just 70yrs old. It's a relatively new
program, this Ponzi scheme that appears about to topple as it
relies on each retired person being supported by earnings from
a greater number of active workers supplying the monies that
are paid out (not saved for each worker paying into the system).
As the plan struggles to survive, perhaps it's time we all take a
look at how it came into being. I was not aware of its beginnings
and I suspect y'all might be interested to hear what I've learned.

Amazing, the work done by Frances Perkins under FDR! She
was the first woman at cabinet level, having worked with FDR
when he was governor. Frances Perkins (1880-1965) had a
mission since her youth, when she noticed a friend living in
abject poverty and asked her parents to explain this to her. She
was not satisfied with their standard explanation that poor folk
were disinclined to work or were given to bad habits. She
believed that in order for a civilized society to survive it must have
a care for its least members. She spent her life working for
social justice, social security. That is why we have SSA today!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4795737
offers a brief history of how Frances Perkins saw her vision of
"social security" for citizens become a reality. There is also an
audio of NPR's program. Fascinating!
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Social Security Milestones (Source: Social Security Admin.)
* Aug. 14, 1935: Social Security Act signed into law
* November 1936: First Social Security numbers issued
* January 1937: Social Security taxes collected for the first time
* 1939: Law changed to provide survivor benefits, benefits for
retiree's spouse and children
* January 1940: Payment of regular monthly benefits begins
* 1956: Disability benefits added <==HOW RECENT THIS IS!
* 1975: Cost of Living Allowances (COLAs) first paid
* 1984: Congress, the president and vice president, federal
judges, many federal employees and most political appointees
begin paying into the program
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http://www.ssa.gov/history/ offers much more information on
SSA's history.
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Remembering Social Security's Forgotten Shepherd (NPR,
Aug.12,2005)
The Social Security program is one of President Franklin
Roosevelt's most enduring legacies. On August 14 it will be 70
years since he signed the bill that brought Social Security to life.
Standing right behind him that day was Frances Perkins, the
secretary of labor and the first woman to hold a Cabinet-level
post. She was more than just window dressing for the
ceremony.
Perkins was the driving force behind this landmark legislation.
Biographer Penny Colman says Perkins -- little-remembered
today -- loomed large in the political struggle to make Social
Security a reality. Perkins led the working team that created the
Social Security plan, and steered the bill through Washington's
treacherous political waters.
She was born on April 10, 1880, in Boston, Mass. She was
educated at Mount Holyoke College and Columbia University,
earning degrees in 1902 and 1910. Her masters from Columbia
was in sociology.
She spent her life fighting for social reform and workers' rights.
After a number of positions in New York, including working for
then-Gov. Roosevelt, she was appointed secretary of labor in
1933. Perkins served 12 years, longer than other secretary of
labor. She followed her Cabinet years with a stint on the United
States Civil Service Commission. She resigned in 1952, after the
death of her husband.
Frances Perkins died 13 years later, in 1965.
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"A Woman Unafraid: The Achievements of Frances Perkins" by
Penny Colman (New York: Atheneum,1993; ISBN:0689318537)

http://www.pennycolman.com/awoman1.htm ~ "Penny Colman
…is…thorough, fair and candid in her treatment of Frances
Perkins. ….readers will learn…of the immense power that can
be brought to bear against anyone in our society -- especially,
perhaps, against women who dare to demand that our politics
advance a common good, that it be rooted in morality and not in
self-interest." (New York Times Book Review)