Tuesday morning, August 14, 2012, a National Birthday Party for Social Security was held at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Lynn Bassanese, acting library director, welcomed a gathering of visitors and stressed the vital role Social Security has played in the lives of senior citizens once they no longer are earning a paycheck. She talked about the prospect faced by such seniors before FDR signed the Social Security Act into law Aug. 14, 1935. “They were dependent upon family, savings and charity to survive,” Bassanese said. Since 1935, the program has provided not only old-age pensions, but unemployment insurance, guaranteed income for those unable to work due to disabilities and financial aid to parents with dependent children. Christopher Breiseth, past president of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, said Social Security, one of FDR’s New Deal programs, established a special bond between the American people and their government in Washington. “The people are what matter to government, and government should aim to provide all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life,” he said.
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