“Where Is the Money Coming From?”. The Reconstruction of Social Security Finance, 1939–1950

Journal of Policy History

Volumn 9, Issue 4, 1997, Pages 399-424

  Zelizer, Julian Emmanuel ^a  

^a STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0005714295     PISSN: 08980306     EISSN: 15284190     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0898030600006151     Document Type: Article

References (240)

1. This quotation comes from Representative Noah Mason (R-I1I.), who was describing the key issue behind any decision on social welfare. U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Social Security Legislation: Hearings, 85thCongress, 2d sess., 1958, 56. The following abbreviations are used in these endnotes: COHP, Columbia University Oral History Project (New York, New York)
2. NA, National Archives: Papers of Ways and Means and the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation (Washington, D.C.)
3. NAS, National Archives: Records of the Social Security Administration (College Park, Md.)
4. NAT, National Archives: General Records of the Department of Treasury (College Park, Md.)
5. RMP, Robert J. Myers Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison)
6. WCP, Wilbur J. Cohen Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison)
7. WMPC, Wilbur D. Mills Paper Collection (Conway, Arkansas)
8. HTL, Harry S. Truman Library (Independence, Missouri)
9. DEL, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library (Abilene, Kansas).
10. Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform, Final Report to the President, Washington, D.C., January 1995, 8.
11. W. Elliot Brownlee, “Reflections on the History of Taxation,” in Funding the Modem American State, 1941–1995: The Rise and Fall of the Era of Easy Finance, ed. W. Elliot Brownlee (Cambridge, 1996), 3–36.
12. Much of the recent historiography about Social Security has focused on the racial and gendered exclusions that were embedded, according to their analyses, in the policies. See, for example, Gwendolyn Mink, The Wages of Motherhood: Inequality in the Welfare State,1917–1942 (Ithaca, 1995)
13. Linda Gordon, Pitied But Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare (New York, 1994)
14. Nancy Fraser and Linda Gordon, “‘Dependency’ Demystified: Inscriptions of Power in a Keyword of the Welfare State,” Social Politics 1 (Spring 1994): 12–14
15. Jill Quadagno, The Color of Welfare: How Racism Undermined The War on Poverty (New York, 1994)
16. idem, The Transformation of Old Age Security: Class And Politics in the American Welfare State (Chicago, 1988)
17. Rickie Solinger, Wake Up little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe v. Wade (New York, 1992)
18. Michael Katz, The Undeserving Poor: From the War on Poverty to the War on Welfare (New York, 1989)
19. James T. Patterson, America's Struggle Against Poverty, 1900–1985 (Cambridge, Mass., 1981).
20. For a discussion of the historical relationship between this antistatist tradition and public policy, see the following: Morton Keller, Affairs of State: Public life in Late Nineteenth-Century America (Cambridge, Mass., 1977)
21. Ellis W. Hawley, “Social Policy and the Liberal State in Twentieth-Century America,” in Federal Social Policy: The Historical Dimension, ed. Donald T. Critchlow and Ellis W. Hawley (University Park, Pa., 1988), 117–141
22. Barry D. Karl, The Uneasy State: The United States from 1915 to 1945 (Chicago, 1983).
23. Gordon, Pitied But Not Entitled, chap. 6
24. Theda Skocpol, Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States (Cambridge, Mass., 1992), chap. 3
25. Peter Baldwin, The Politics of Social Solidarity: Class Bases of the European Welfare State, 1875–1975 (Cambridge, 1990).
26. Ranjit S. Teja and Barry Bracewell-Milnes, The Case for Earmarked Taxes: Government Spending and Public Choice (London, 1991), 11.
27. Skocpol, Protecting Soldiers and Mothers.
28. The main exception involves the debates over a negative income tax between 1964 and 1971. See Daniel P. Moynihan, The Politics of a Guaranteed Income: The Nixon Administration and the Family Assistance Plan (New York, 1973)
29. Quadagno, The Color of Welfare, 117–134.
30. See, for example, Felicity Skidmore, ed., Social Security Financing (Cambridge, Mass., 1981)
31. Colin D. Campell, ed., Financing Social Security: A Conference Sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (Washington, D.C, 1979). In this article, 1 discuss only Old-Age Insurance. The Unemployment Compensation program, which also included an earmarked tax system, offers another important area of study that followed a different trajectory than Old-Age Insurance or Public Assistance.
32. On the debates over the payroll tax during the New Deal, see Mark Leff, The Limits of Symbolic Reform: The New Deal and Taxation, 1933–39 (Cambridge, 1984), chap. 1
33. Edward D. Berkowitz, America's Welfare State: From Roosevelt to Reagan (Baltimore, 1991), 13–65
34. Robert J. Myers, “Pay-As-You-Go Financing for Social Security Is the Only Way to Go,” Journal of the American Society of CLU & CHFC (January 1991): 52–58
35. Ann Shola Orloff, The Politics of Pensions: A Comparative Analysis of Britain, Canada, and the United States, 1880–1940 (Madison, Wis., 1993)
36. Richards, Closing the Door to Destitution, chaps. 2, 5, and 6
37. Robert M. Ball, Social Security Today and Tomorrow (New York, 1978)
38. Otto Eckstein, “Financing the System of Social Insurance,”
39. Joseph A. Pechman, “Discussion of the Paper by Otto Eckstein,” in The Princeton Symposium on the American System of Social Insurance: Its Philosophy, Impact, and Future Development (New York, 1968), 47–73.
40. For the best analysis of the corporate interests and influence behind this legislation, see Colin Gordon, New Deals: Business, Labor, and Politics in America, 1920–1935 (Cambridge, 1994), chap. 7.
41. Jerry Cates, Insuring Inequality: Administrative Leadership in Social Security, 1935- 1954 (Ann Arbor, 1983)
42. Martha Derthick, Policymaking for Social Security (Washington, D.C, 1979), chaps. 12, 13, and 17
43. W. Andrew Achenbaum, Social Security: Visions and Revisions (Cambridge, 1986).
44. Cheryl Zollars and Theda Skocpol, “Cultural Mythmaking as a Policy Tool: The Social Security Board and the Construction of a Social Citizenship of Self-Interest,” in Political Culture and Political Structure: Theoretical and Empirical Studies, ed. Frederick D. Weil for Research on Democracy and Society 2 (1994): 381–408
45. Brian Balogh, “Securing Support: The Emergence of the Social Security Board as a Political Actor, 1935–1939,” in Federal Social Policy: The Historical Dimension, ed. Donald T. Critchlow and Ellis W. Hawley (University Park, Pa., 1988), 55–78.
46. G. John Ikenberry and Theda Skocpol, “Expanding Social Benefits: The Role of Social Security,” Political Science Quarterly 102 (Fall 1987): 404–407
47. Robert J. Myers, “Estimates of the Reserves Under the Old-Age Insurance System in the United States,” 18 September 1950, NAS, RG 47, Office of the Actuary, Box 37, File: 705,1950.
48. Ralph T. Compton, Social Security Payroll Taxes (New York, 1940), 31.
49. Robert J. Myers, “Methodology Involved in Developing Long-Range Cost Estimates for the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance System,” May 1959, Actuarial Study No. 49, RMP, Unprocessed, 48–49
50. idem, “Actuarial Aspects of Financing Old-Age and Survivors Insurance,” Social Security Bulletin 16 Quae 1953): 7
51. Myers to Wilbur Cohen, 11 January 1950, WCP, Box 33, Folder 3.
52. Social Security Administration, “Facts About the Trust Fund of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance System,” January 1950, NAS, Office of the Actuary, Box 37, File: 705,1950.
53. Carolyn L Weaver, The Crisis in Social Security: Economic and Political Origins (Durham, N.C., 1982), chap. 6
54. Berkowitz, “The First Advisory Council and the 1939 Amendments,” in Social Security After Fifty: Successes And Failures, ed. Edward D. Berkowitz (New York, 1987), 55–78
55. Cates, Insuring Inequality.
56. Wilbur Cohen to Myer Jacobstein, 31 August 1948, WCP, Box 28, Folder 4.
57. For the best institutional analysis of the Social Security trust fund, see Eric M. Patashnik, “Credible Commitments? The Politics of Federal Government Trust Funds” (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1996).
58. Myers, “Actuarial Aspects of Financing Old-Age and Survivors Insurance”
59. idem, “Old- Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Provisions: Summary of Legislation, 1935–1956,” Social Security Bulletin 20, (July 1957): 3–8
60. James S. Parker, “Financial Policy in Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, 1935–1950,” Social Security Bulletin 14 (June 1951): 3–10
61. Myers to Cohen, 11 January 1950, WCP, Box 33, Folder 3.
62. U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Social Security Act Amend’ merits of 1939, 76th Congress, 1st sess., 1939
63. Weaver, The Crisis in Social Security, 118–119.
64. U.S. Department of Treasury, Division of Tax Research, “The Extetision of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance to the Self-Employed,” 5 December 1945, HTL, Papers of Fred Vinson, Roll 19.
65. See also Wilbur Cohen to Professor Milton Handler, 12 October 1949, WCP, Box 29, Folder 4.
66. Marion Folsom, “Greater Security for Your Old Age,” 21 December 1948, NAS, RG 47, Office of the Actuary, Box 26, File: Folsom.
67. Robert J. Myers, “Estimates of the Reserves Under the Old-Age Insurance System in the United States,” 18 September 1950, NAS, RG 47, Office of the Actuary, Box 37, File: 705,1950.
68. Technical Staff of the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury, “Questions and Answers on Social Security,” 11 March 1949, HTL, Papers of John W. Snyder, Box 85, Folder Questions and Answers on Social Security.
69. Robert Myers to Wilbur Cohen, 11 January 1950, WCP, Box 33, Folder 3
70. Myers, “The Financial Principle of Self-Support in the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance System,” April 1955, Actuarial Study No. 40, RMP, Unprocessed.
71. Roy Blough to Secretary Vinson, 28 February 1946, HTL, Papers of Fred Vinson, Roll 19.
72. Mark H. Leff, “Speculating in Social Security Futures: The Perils of Payroll Tax Financing, 1939–1950,” in Social Security: The First Half-Century, ed. Gerald D. Nash, Noel H. Pugach, and Richard F. Tomasson (Albuquerque, 1988), 243–278
73. The American Forum of the Air, “Should We Freeze the Social Security Taxr 5 December 1944, NAT, RG 56, Office of Tax Policy, Box 40, File: Social Security Finance.
74. Robert Myers to Mr. Williamson, 24 October 1946, NAS, Office of the Actuary, Box 40, File: 750.
75. Robert Myers to G. W. Calvert, 10 July 1947, NAS, Office of the Actuary, Box 26, File: C.
76. U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Social Security Amendments of 1949: Report Number 1300, 81st Congress, 1st sess., 1949, 4.
77. For a brief scholarly discussion of the Murray amendment, see F. J. Crowley, “Financing the Social Security Program-Then and Now,” U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Subcommittee on Fiscal Policy, Studies in Public Welfare: Paper No. 18, 93d Congress, 2d sess., 1974,29–32
78. Wilbur Cohen, “Financing,” 1960, WCP, Box 72, Folder 6
79. Derthick, Policymaking for Social Security, 240–241
80. Leff, “Speculating in Social Security Futures,” 243–279
81. Leff, “Historical Perspectives on Old-Age Insurance: The State of the Art on the Art of the State,” in Social Security After Fifty, 29–55.
82. Wilbur J. Cohen, “Cost Factors Under the Wagner-Murray and Dingell Bills,” 26 July 1943, WCP, Box 40, Folder 2
83. Robert Myers to Robert Ball, 17 June 1949, NAS, RG 47, Office of the Actuary, Box 38, File: 710
84. Myers, “Estimates of the Reserves Under the Old-Age Insurance System in the United States,” 18 September 1950, NAS, RG 47, Office of the Actuary, Box 37, File: 705, 1950.
85. Technical Staff of the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury, “Questions and Answers on Social Security,” 11 March 1949, HTL, Papers of John W. Snyder, Box 85, Folder Questions and Answers on Social Security.
86. See also J. S. Parker to Daniel Gerig, 23 April 1946, NAS, RG 47, Office of the Actuary, Box 1, File: Ways and Means Committee (1946).
87. Robert Myers, “Estimates of the Reserves Under the Old-Age Insurance System in the United States,” 18 September 1950, NAS, RG 47, Office of the Actuary, Box 37, File: 705,1950.
88. Robert Myers, “Material for the Meeting of the Advisory Council on Social Security,” 12–13 March 1948, NAS, RG 47, Office of the Actuary, Box 5
89. U.S. Department of Treasury, “Comments on Congressman Reed's Statement on the Old-Age Insurance System,” 29 March 1939, NAT, RG 56, Office of Tax Policy, Box 36, File: Social Security and Relief.
90. In 1940, for example, there were only 222,000 people, less than one percent of the elderly population, receiving Social Security benefits. Weaver, The Crisis in Social Security, 126.
91. This paragraph is drawn from the following works: Nelson Lichtenstein, “From Corporatism to Collective Bargaining: Organized Labor and Eclipse of Social Democracy in the Postwar Era,” in The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930–1980, ed. Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle (Princeton, 1989), 140–145
92. Beth Stevens, “Blurring the Boundaries: How the Federal Government Has Influenced Welfare Benefits in the Private Sectot,” in The Politics of Social Policy in the United States, ed. Margaret Weir, Ann Shola Orloff, and Theda Skocpol (Princeton, 1988), 123–148
93. Quadagno, The Color of Welfare, 155–173
94. Gordon, Pitied But Not Entitled, 1–3; 287–306
95. Berkowitz, “Social Security and the Financing of the American State,” in Funding the Modern American State, 1941–1995: The Rise and Fall of the Era of Easy Finance, ed. W. Elliot Brownlee (Cambridge, 1996), 148–193
96. Weaver, The Crisis in Social Security
97. Derthick, Policymalang for Social Security
98. Cates, Insuring Inequality.
99. Derthick, Policymaking for Social Security, 273
100. Berkowitz, Americas Welfare State, 55–65
101. Cates, Insuring Inequality, 104–153
102. Jules H. Berman, “State Public Assistance Legislation,” Social Security Bulletin 12 (December 1949): 3–10.
103. Quadagno, The Transformation of Old Age Security and The Color of Welfare
104. Theodore Marmot, Jerry Mashaw, and Philip Harvey, America's Misunderstood Welfare State: Persistent Myths, Enduring Realities (New York, 1990).
105. Derthick, Policymaking for Social Security, 271–274
106. Wilbur Cohen to Herbert Seibert, WCP, Box 66, Folder 5.
107. Staff Comments, “Memorandum for Mr. Murphy: Expansion and Extension of Social Security System,” 14 February 1949, WCP, Box 28, Folder 8. This document is also in HTL, Files of Charles S. Murphy, Box 27, Folder: Social Security [Folder 2].
108. See also W. Rulon Williamson to Robert Myers, 26 March 1949, RMP, Box M86-W3, Unprocessed.
109. Edward D. Berkowirz, Mr. Social Security: The Life of Wilbur J. Cohen (Lawrence, Kan., 1995), 65–67.
110. U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Social Security Act Amendments of 1949: Hearings, 81st Congress, 1st sess., 1949, 1081–83; 1221.
111. See also Arthur Altmeyer, “Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance,” Social Security Bulletin 12, no. 4 (April 1949): 3–15
112. Richard Neustadt to Gerhard Colm, 16 December 1949, HTL, Papers of Richard Neustadt, Box 1, Folder Chron. Files, 1947–1956
113. Mr. Kirby to Mr. Lynch, 9 November 1948, HTL, Papers of L. Laszlo Ecker-Racz, Box 1, Bound Book.
114. U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Social Security Act Amendments of 1949: Hearings, 81st Congress, 1st sess., 1949, 1390.
115. Wilbur Cohen to Arthur Altmeyer, 15 April 1948, WCP, Box 28, Folder 2
116. Robert Myers to M. A. Linton, 22 April 1949, RMP, Box M86-W3, Unprocessed. To improve the chances for passing this bill, Mills and the administration decided to avoid more controversial issues such as health insurance.
117. See Charles Murphy to President Truman, 14 February 1949, and Murphy for the Files, 11 February 1949, HTL, Files of Charles S. Murphy, Box 27, Folder Social Security [Folder 2].
118. U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Congressional Record, 81st Congress, 1st sess., 5 October 1949, 13905.
119. Robert Myers to Wubur Cohen, 25 February 1949, RMP, Box M83–106, Unprocessed
120. Myers to Carl Curtis, 5 May 1949, RMP, Box M86–43, Unprocessed
121. Myers, “Question Raised by Mr. Byrnes,” 5 April 1949, RMP, Box. M83–106, Unprocessed
122. Myers to Wilbur Cohen, 4 June 1947, RMP, Box M83–106, Unprocessed
123. Myers to Cohen, 24 June 1947, RMP, Box M83–106, Unprocessed. His views were seconded by an Advisory Council on Social Security, which recommended a substantial general-revenue contribution in future years.
124. See Cohen and A. J. Altmeyer, 23 March 1948, WCP, Box 28, Folder 2
125. Myers, “Actuarial Cost Estimates for Proposals of Social Security Administration and Advisory Council,” 14 January 1948, RMP, Box M83–106, Unprocessed.
126. Gerhard Colm and David Christian to Leon Keyserling, 25 January 1949, HTL, Papers of Leon Keyserling, Box 9, Folder Social Security Program.
127. Robert M. Ball, “What Contribution Rate for Old-Age and Survivors Insurance?” Social Security Bulletin 12 (July 1949): 9. Likewise, the CIO and AFL proposed a provision allowing the balance of the cost to be paid through general revenues.
128. See, for example, William Green to President Truman, 14 January 1949, HTL, Official Files 121-A, Box 665, Folder O.F. 121-A, Unemployment Insurance, Social Insurance (May 1949-February 1949).
129. Cited in Derthick, Policymaking for Social Security, 240.
130. U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Social Security Act Amendments of 1949: Hearings, 81st Congress, 1st sess., 1219.
131. Social Security Act Amendments of 1949: Hearings, 1236.
132. Julian E. Zelizer, “Learning the Ways and Means: Wilbur Mills and a Fiscal Community, 1954–1964,” in Funding the Modem American State, 1941–1995, 289–352
133. idem, “Taxing America: Wilbur Mills and the Culture of Fiscal Policy, 1949–1969” (PhD. diss., The Johns Hopkins University, 1996).
134. U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Congressional Record, 81st Congress, 1st sess., 5 October 1949, 13905.
135. Also cited in Leff, “Speculating in Social Security Futures,” 266.
136. See also Colin Stam to Wilbur Mills, 28 May 1949, WMPC, Box 38, File: HR 6000.
137. Richard Neustadt to Charles Murphy, 14 July 1950, and Murphy to Wilbur Mills, 14 July 1950, HTL, Papers of Richard Neustadt, Box 1, Folder: Chron. Files, 1947–56.
138. See also David Christian to Leon Key serling, 2 February 1949, HTL, Papers of Leon Keyserling, Box 9, Folder Social Security Program. For examples of how Myers attacked critiques of the emerging proposals
139. see Myers to M. A. Linton, 7 April 1949
140. Myers to Gordon McKinney, 11 April 1949
141. Linton to Myers, 20 April 1949
142. Myers to Reinhard Hohsus, 21 April 1949
143. Myers to Mills, 27 April 1949
144. Myers to Linton, 3 May 1949. The aforementioned documents are in RMP, Box M86–43, Unprocessed.
145. See also Derthick, Policymaking for Social Security, 55–58.
146. For a glimpse into the discourse in which Mills, Myers, and Cohen engaged, see the following documents: U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Actuarial Cost Estimates for the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance System as Modified by the Social Security Act Amendments of 1950,27 July 1950, H4488 (Committee-Print)
147. Robert Myers to Wilbur Cohen, 25 January 1950, WCP, Box 29, Folder 6
148. Myers to Cohen, 25 February 1949
149. Myers, “Question Raised by Mr. Byrnes,” 5 April 1949
150. Myers to Wilbur Cohen, 2 November 1949
151. Myers, “Actuarial Cost Estimates on H.R. 6000,” 2 November 1949. All the aforementioned documents between Mills and Myers are located in RMP, Box M83–106, Unprocessed.
152. See also Myers to Mills, 29 March 1949
153. Myers to Mills, 15 April 1949
154. Myers to Mills, 26 April 1949
155. Myers to Mills, 27 April 1949
156. Myers to MUls, 5 May 1949
157. Myers to Mills, 9 May 1949
158. Myers to M. A. Linton, 22 April 1949
159. Myers to Reinhard Hohaus, 26 April 1949
160. Myers to Gordon McKinney, 11 April 1949
161. Linton to Myers, 20 April 1949, all in RMP, Box M86–43, Unprocessed
162. Myers to Mills, 23 April 1949, NAS, RG 47, Office of the Actuary, Box 1, File: HR 2893.
163. Robert Myers to Ida Merriam, 15 July 1949, RG 47, Office of the Actuary, Box 38, File: 710.
164. Robert J. Myers, “Methodology Involved in Developing Long-Range Cost Estimates for Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance System,” May 1959, Actuarial Study No. 49, RMP, Unprocessed
165. idem, “Underlying Factors in Long-Range Actuarial Cost Estimates for OASDI System,” 8 June 1962, RMP, Box M83–106, Unprocessed
166. Myers to Wilbur Cohen, 16 December 1948, WCP, Box 28, Folder 6
167. Myers to Cohen, 21 May 1948, WCP, Box 41, Folder 3
168. Myers, interview with Peter Corning, 8 March 1967
169. COHP, Interview #1,7–8
170. Myers to Jacob Perlman, 6 May 1949
171. Perlman to Cohen, 21 April 1948, NAS, RG 47, Office of the Actuary, Box 17, File: 1950–1946.
172. Myers, “Methodology Involved in Developing Long-Range Cost Estimates for Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance System,” May 1959, Actuarial Study No. 49
173. idem, “Long-Range Cost Estimates for the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance: 1954,” Actuarial Study No. 39, RMP, Unprocessed
174. U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Social Security Act Amendments of 1949: Report Number 1300, 81st Congress, 1st sess., 1949,32
175. Myers to Wilbur Cohen, 25 February 1949, RMP, Box M83–106, Unprocessed
176. Myers to Wilbur Mills, 5 May 1949, RMP, Box M86–43, Unprocessed
177. Myers to Wilbur Cohen, 5 January 1949, WCP, Box 28, Folder 7
178. Robert Myers to Mr. Williamson, 24 October 1946, NAS, Office of the Actuary, Box 40, File: 750.
179. U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Social Security Act Amendments of 1949: Report Number 1300, 81st Congress, 1st sess., 1949, 2–3.
180. See also The Advisor by Unemployment Benefit Advisors, Inc., 16 June 1949, WCP, Box 36, Folder 3
181. The Advisor by Unemployment Benefit Advisors, Inc., “Status of Deliberations in Ways and Means-Second Chapter,” 5 July 1949, WCP, Box 36, Folder 3
182. Wilbur Cohen to Edwin Witte, 28 September 1949, WCP, Box 29, Folder 3.
183. U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Social Security Act Amendments of 1949: Report Number 1300, 81st Congress, 1st sess., 1949.
184. Wilbur Cohen, “Bureau Directors' Meeting with Commissioner,” August 15, 1949, WCP, Box 36, Folder 3.
185. Robert J. Myers, “The Financial Principle of Self-Support in the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance System,” RMP, Unprocessed.
186. U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Congressional Record, 81st Congress, 1st sess., 4 October 1949,13835.
187. Congressional Record., 13836–13837.
188. U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Congressional Record, 81st Congress, 1st sess., 5 October 1949, 13905.
189. Cited in Derthick, Policymaking for Social Security, 249.
190. Richard Neuscadt to Stephen Spingam, 21 May 1950, HTL, Papers of Richard Neustadt, Box 1, Folder Chron. Files, 1947–1956.
191. Robert J. Myers, “Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Provisions: Summary of Legislation, 1935–1958,” Social Security Bulletin 22 (January 1959): 18
192. Wilbur J. Cohen, “The Social Security Act Amendments of 1950: Legislative History of the Coverage Provisions,” n.d., WCP, Box 249, Folder 3.
193. Wilbur J. Cohen, “The Need for More Adequate Financing of Medical Assistance,” n.d., WCP, Box 49, Folder 2
194. Ruth White, “Vendor Payments for Medical Assistance,” Social Security Bulletin 13 (June 1950): 3–10
195. Robert B. Stevens and Rosemary Stevens, Welfare Medicine in America: A Case Study of Medicaid (New York, 1974).
196. Richard Neustadt to Charles Murphy, 14 July 1950, HTL, Papers of Richard Neustadt, Box 1, Folder. Chron. Files, 1947–56.
197. Robert J. Myers, “The Financial Principle of Self-Support in the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance System,” April 1955, Actuarial Study No. 40, RMP, Unprocessed.
198. Robert J. Myers, “Estimates of the Reserves Under the Old-Age Insurance System in the United States,” 18 September 1950, NAS, RG 47, Office of the Actuary, Box 37, File: 705,1950.
199. U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Actuarial Cost Estimates for the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance System as Modified by the Social Security Act Amendments of 1950, 27 July 1950, H4488 (Committee-Print), 3–12
200. U.S. Department of Treasury, Tax Advisory Staff of the Secretary, “Financing Social Security,” 18 January 1952, HTL, Papers of L. Laszlo Ecker-Racz, Box 6, Bound
201. Robert Myers to Wilbur Cohen, 10 November 1949
202. Myers to Cohen, 2 November 1949, in NAS, RG 47, Office of the Actuary, Box 2, File: 1949.
203. Robert J. Myers, “Financing Policy,” 1954, DEL, Papers of Oveta Gulp Hobby, Box 60, Folder Background Book For 1954 Hearings, OASI.
204. Robert Myers to Wilbur Cohen, 11 January 1950.
205. See also Myers, “Actuarial Balance of OASI System,” 25 May 1951
206. Myers to Cohen, 6 September 1951
207. Myers, “Actuarial Basis of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance System as Contrasted with that of Private Life Insurance,” 6 June 1952, WCP, Box 33, Folder 3.
208. Robert J. Myers, “Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance: Financing Basis and Policy Under the 1958 Amendments,” Social Security Bulletin 21 (October 1958): 15–21.
209. Richard Neustadt to the Director, 14 December 1949, HTL, Papers of Richard Neustadt, Box 1, Folder Chron. Files, 1947–56.
210. Wilbur D. Mills, “Remarks to the Pulaski County Bar Association,” 30 October 1964, WMPC, Box 591, Folder Mills, Speeches.
211. U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Congressional Record, 83d Congress, 2d sess., 18 March 1954, 3525.
212. Technical Staff of the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury, “Questions and Answers on Social Security,” 11 March 1949, HTL, Papers of John W. Snyder, Box 85, Folder Questions and Answers on Social Security
213. U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Social Security Act Amendments of 1949: Hearings, 81st Congress, 1st sess., 1949, 1371.
214. David E. Bell to Charles Murphy, 23 May 1950, HTL, President's Secretary's Files, Box 160, Folder Treasury, Secy of (folder 2)
215. Mr. Lynch to Secretary John Snyder, 21 June 1950, HTL, President's Secretary's Files, Box 160, Folder Treasury, Secy of (folder 2)
216. Joseph Pechman to L. Laszlo Ecker-Racz, 7 March 1950, HTL, Papers of L. Laszlo Ecker-Racz, Box 2, Bound
217. L. Laszlo Ecker-Racz to Assistant Secretary Graham, 31 May 1950, HTL, Papers of L Laszlo Ecker-Racz, Box 1, Bound
218. “Representative Mills Would Balance Budget by Speeding up Corporation Tax Collections,” 17 May 1949, WMPC, Box 701, File 1; Press Release, 17 May 1949, WMPC, Box 707, File 1 and Box 40, File 1.
219. Gerhard Colm and David Christian to Leon Keyserling, 25 January 1949, HTL, Papers of Leon Keyserling, Box 9, Folder Social Security Program.
220. Wilbur J. Cohen, “Should Old-Age Assistance Again Outpace Old-Age Insurance?” WCP, Box 249, Folder 3
221. Robert J. Myers, “Long-Range Trends in Old-Age Assistance,” Social Security Bulletin 16 (February 1953): 13–15
222. “Public Assistance: Effect of the Increase in Current Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Benefits,” Social Security Bulletin 14 (September 1951): 3–6.
223. Robert J. Myers, “The Financial Principle of Self-Support in the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance System,” April 1955, Actuarial Study No. 40, RMP, Unprocessed
224. idem, “Long-Range Cost Estimates for Old-Age and Survivors Insurance: 1954,” Actuarial Study No. 39, RMP, Unprocessed.
225. Berkowitz, Mr. Social Security, 71–94. Within the Treasury, there were also economists who continued to support alternatives to the payroll tax to finance a portion of social insurance.
226. See U.S. Department of Treasury, Tax Advisory Staff of the Secretary, “Financing Social Security,” 18 January 1952, HTL, Papers of L. Laszlo Ecker-Racz, Box 6, Bound.
227. See Wilbur J. Cohen, interview with Maclyn P. Burg, 31 March 1976, DEL, Oral History Interview Collection, 16–22
228. L. A. Minnich Jr., “Legislative Leadership Conference,” 17–19 December 1953, DEL, Ann Whitman File, Legislative Meetings Series, Box 1, Folder Legislative Meetings-1953(6) [August-December]
229. Dwight D. Eisenhower to J. Earl Schaefer (Boeing Airplane Company), 30 September 1954, DEL, Ann Whitman File, DDE Diary Series, Box 8, Folder September 1954 (1)
230. Eisenhower to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, 5 November 1953, DEL, Ann Whitman File, DDE Diary Series, Box 3, Folder November 1953 (3)
231. George Humphrey to Dwight Eisenhower, 5 November 1953, DEL, Ann Whitman File, Administration Series, Box 20, Folder Humphrey, George M. 1953 (2)
232. Arthur Bums to the Eisenhower Cabinet, 17 May 1954, DEL, Ann Whitman File, Cabinet Series, Box 3, Folder Cabinet Meeting of April 2,1954
233. Robert J. Myers, “Financing Policy,” 1954, DEL, Papers of Oveta Culp Hobby, Box 60, Folder Background Book for 1954 Hearings, OASI
234. “Extracts from Secretary of the Treasury Humphrey's Press Conference,” 21 May 1953, DEL, White House Central Files, Official Files, Box 172, Folder 9 May 1953
235. Berkowitz, “Social Security and the Financing of the American State.”
236. Berkowitz, America's Welfare State, 92–93.
237. Robert J. Myers, “Financing Policy,” 1954
238. idem, “The Interrelationship of the OASI Contribution Schedule and the Long-Range Cost Estimates,” 22 October 1953, DEL, Papers of Oveta Culp Hobby, Box 60, Folder Background Book for 1954 Hearings, OASI.
239. Robert Doughton to President Truman, 12 July 1952, HTL, Official Files 121-A, Box 656, Folder O.F 121-A, H.R. 7800, Social Security Amendments of 1952.
240. Julian E. Zelizer, Taxing America: Wilbur D. Mills, Congress, and the State, 1945–1974 (Cambridge, forthcoming).