This is a portion of Special Study #1, a lecture Dr. Bortz, the first SSA Historian, developed as part of SSA’s internal training program. It features an extensive overview of social policy developments dating from pre-history up to the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935.
Continue Reading »Written by Michael Barga. Monsignor George Higgins “The Labor Priest” (1916-2002): Worker’s Rights Advocate, Journalist
Continue Reading »Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins’ national radio broadcast, one of the earliest popular explanations of what would become the Social Security program.
Continue Reading »Michael J. Barga is a 2013 graduate of Catholic University’s MSW Program with a Clinical Health Concentration. He previously earned a B.A. in History and Music from Mount St. Mary’s University (2009). Upon graduation, he served as a Mercy Volunteer with the homeless outreach team of Project H.O.M.E. in Philadelphia until 2010. When his year of…
Continue Reading »Following WWI, a pension was promised all returning service men to be administered in 1945. As the Great Depression took shape, many WWI veterans found themselves out of work, and an estimated 17,000 traveled to Washington, D.C. in May 1932 to put pressure on Congress to pay their cash bonus immediately. The former soldiers created camps in the Nation’s capital when they did not receive their bonuses which led to their forcible removal by the Army and the bulldozing of their settlements.
Continue Reading »Abraham Epstein is credited with recommending the use of the term Social Security: Epstein, Frankel said, was in the process of “…establishing a national organization to spread the gospel of old age assistance throughout the United States. . . the proposed American Old Age Pension Association. When I heard the word pension’ it did not sit so well with me, knowing that at that moment the word had a connotation of politically radical action which challenged the established order. I told Epstein I would not use the word pension. He naturally asked me what word I would suggest. I thought for a moment and simply said: ‘security’.”
Continue Reading »Abraham Epstein (1892-1942): Economist, Advocate for Social Justice and Founder of an Influential Organization Advocating for Social Insurance: the American Association for Old Age Insurance. Introduction: Abraham Epstein was an economist who was devoted to the causes of social justice and social insurance. He was a national leader in the social welfare movement in…
Continue Reading »Mary Williams Dewson (1874-1962) — Social Reformer, Suffragist, Government Official, and Organizer of Women for the National Democratic Party. Introduction: Mary Williams Dewson, commonly known as “Molly” Dewson was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, on February 18, 1874, the youngest of six children. Because of her father’s poor health, her mother became the backbone…
Continue Reading »In 1903-4 announcement was made of the establishment in London at the initiative of Mr. C. S. Loch and the Charity Organisation Society of a “School of Sociology and Social Economics.” The same year the New York Charity Organization Society supplemented its summer school by winter courses arranged chiefly for charity workers employed during the day.
Encouraged by the demand for training, the existence of which was demonstrated by such partial advantages as had been offered, the “New York School of Philanthropy” was opened the same year with a curriculum extending through eight autumn and winter months and including a full rounded course of training, with many lines of specialized study.
Edward T. Devine (1867-1948) – Economist, Child Welfare Advocate, Educator, Author and Pioneer Social Worker Introduction: Edward Thomas Devine was born May 6, 1867 on a farm near Union, Iowa. His parents were John and Laura (nee Hall). Devine attended local schools and later enrolled in Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa where he…
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