How Social Security Began
A community includes people at many stages of life: workers earning wages, children growing up, and older adults who may no longer be able to work. What happens when a worker loses a job or reaches old age without enough savings? During the Great Depression, that question became urgent for millions of Americans.
On August 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. The law created several programs intended to provide financial protection against hardships such as unemployment and old age. It did not solve every problem, and its protections did not reach everyone equally. Still, it established a lasting role for the federal government in helping people meet certain economic risks.
A crisis exposes the risks
The Great Depression began after the stock market crash of 1929 and continued through much of the 1930s. Businesses closed, banks failed, and unemployment soared. Families that had relied on wages or savings could suddenly find themselves without either. Older people faced particular challenges: many had stopped working or could not find jobs, and retirement savings were often limited.
- hardships:
- Difficult conditions that cause suffering or trouble.
- unemployment:
- The condition of being without a job.
- pension:
- A payment that helps support a person who is no longer working.
- federal:
- Related to the national government.
- eligible:
- Meeting the requirements to receive or do something.
- administered:
- Managed or put into operation.
- exclusions:
- Instances of leaving people or things out.
- financing:
- The process of providing money for something.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1Why did the Great Depression make existing sources of assistance insufficient?
- 2How did the Social Security Act address more than one kind of economic hardship?
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About this explanatory article passage for Middle School
“How Social Security Began” is a explanatory article reading passage about Social Security, written for Middle School. It takes about 6 minutes to read (863 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.