rcj1 (01/28/83)
This article appeared in Chicago Sun-Times today, and is being reprinted here without their permission... The great depression affected everyone, but older people were especially hit hard. In response, Dr. Francis E. Townsend formed Townsend Clubs to promote his program demanding a monthly pension for everyone older then 60. Five Million people joined. Townsend, an elderly physician in *SOUTH DAKOTA'S* Black Hills, pondered why older people should find themselves unprotected after a lifetime of work. He wrote a pamphlet for his neighbors outlining his old-age security plan. The idea caught on and spread nationally. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set up a committee to consider the idea. Congress enacted the Social Security Act the next year. The act established a national old age pension system through employer and employee contributions. Later, the program was extended to dependents, the disabled and others. Although the social-security act did use some of his ideas, Townsend called the program unfair because he felt it didn't help those who needed it the most. Townsend, who died in 1960, waited until he was 83 to collect his share. I wish I could cancel my subscription to SS.......