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The 1970’s as Policy Watershed

In 1974 the expansive social policy system that had prevailed in the postwar era ended, and a more restrictive system that would characterize the rest of the seventies and the early eighties began to take its place.

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Cohen, Wilbur J.: Mental Retardation Legislation

On mental retardation legislation, the second major sustained effort of the Kennedy years, Cohen operated as the servant of others. Cohen worked hard on this matter, and that was because Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who was an extraordinarily driven and dedicated woman, wanted him to do so.

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Towle, Charlotte: A Perspective

Charlotte Towle came into my work accidentally and peripherally. I saw her from a variety of standpoints she didn’t share: as an historian, as a feminist, as a citizen of the Reagan era–although her experiences with McCarthyism would have given her some preparation for the last.

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Social Security: Old Age Survivors Insurance Programs

Social security is the term commonly used to describe the Old Age, Survivors Insurance program (OASI) created by Title II of the Social Security Act of 1935. The original OASDI legislation was developed as one part of the federal response to the economic vulnerabilities of workers and their families revealed by the Great Depression of the 1930s.

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