90 Years of Social Security: A Time for Celebration and Action

Social Security turns 90 years old this week! President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the program into law on August 14, 1935, as insurance against what he called the “hazards and vicissitudes” of life. For a federal program to endure for 90 years and maintain an extremely high level of popularity among the American people is truly extraordinary.

As FDR’s grandson, Jim Roosevelt, put it, “A cake with 90 candles on it would probably be dangerous, but the 90-year success of Social Security should be celebrated in any way possible.”

While we wish we could do nothing but celebrate, the history of Social Security shows that we must always defend the program from those who would privatize or outright eliminate it. These forces have been at work ever since Social Security was enacted. President Roosevelt’s Republican opponent in the 1936 elections, Alf Landon, called Social Security “a fraud on the working man.” Some things never change.

This year, we already have seen unprecedented interference from the Trump administration in the workings of the Social Security Administration (SSA) as part of a phony campaign against “fraud.“ Severe cutbacks in SSA staff and reckless policy changes have made it harder for Americans to access their earned benefits, giving rise to a grassroots ‘Hands Off Social Security’ movement.

The only scheming around Social Security is coming from the White House and its allies in Congress.

Trump’s Treasury secretary revealed the administration’s real agenda when he said that savings accounts for children contained in the president’s Unfair, Ugly Bill were a “backdoor for privatizing Social Security.“

Rampant misinformation and myths about Social Security (spread mainly by the political right) are designed to undermine public support for the program. Both US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme.” This is the same team who told us that 150 year olds and 300 year olds are somehow collecting benefits. The only scheming around Social Security is coming from the White House and its allies in Congress.

Fortunately, knowledge is power. That is why we produced a new documentary film about the 90-year history of Social Security, a program born in the Great Depression that is equally crucial today as a lifeline for seniors, people with disabilities, and their families.

The documentary, Social Security: 90 Years Strong, was produced through a grant from AARP and is available for download by advocates and community members who would like to hold their own screenings. As the film reveals, Social Security came into being—and lives on—for a reason: It is part of the fabric of American life and must be preserved for the future.

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“Social security is an earned benefit,” says Tracey Gronniger of Justice in Aging, one of the key interviewees in the film. “People work for their entire lives and pay into this program—and we have to make sure that it’s there for them when they are ready to retire or they become disabled.”

Former Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) closes out the documentary with the powerful plea: “We have to save Social Security. We have to secure it. We have to make it live for future generations.”

The film features appearances by several other notables, including Jim Roosevelt, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), Nancy Altman (Social Security Works), Bill Arnone (formerly of National Academy of Social Insurance), Kathryn Edwards (Labor Economist), and Giovanna Gray Lockhart (Former Director, Frances Perkins Center).

FDR’s Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, who was a prime mover in the creation of the program, probably said it best: “Social security is so firmly embedded in the American psychology today that no politician, no political party, could possibly destroy this act and still maintain our democratic system.” Food for thought, indeed.