Race and social welfare policy: The Social security act of 1935

Political Science Quarterly

Volumn 112, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 217-235

  Davies, Gareth ^a   Derthick, Martha ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0039562106     PISSN: 00323195     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/2657939     Document Type: Article

References (89)

1. See introduction to Theda Skocpol, Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992); Margaret Weir, Politics and Jobs: The Boundaries of Employment Policy in the United States (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992); and introduction to Weir, Ann Shola Orloff, and Skocpol, eds., The Politics of Social Policy in the United States (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988).
2. See introduction to Theda Skocpol, Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992); Margaret Weir, Politics and Jobs: The Boundaries of Employment Policy in the United States (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992); and introduction to Weir, Ann Shola Orloff, and Skocpol, eds., The Politics of Social Policy in the United States (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988).
3. See introduction to Theda Skocpol, Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992); Margaret Weir, Politics and Jobs: The Boundaries of Employment Policy in the United States (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992); and introduction to Weir, Ann Shola Orloff, and Skocpol, eds., The Politics of Social Policy in the United States (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988).
4. See, for example, Mimi Abramovitz, Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare Policy from Colonial Times to the Present (Boston: South End Publishing, 1988); Linda Gordon, Pitied But Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare, 1890-1935 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994); Gwendolyn Mink, The Wages of Motherhood: Inequality in the Welfare State, 1917-1942 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995).
5. See, for example, Mimi Abramovitz, Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare Policy from Colonial Times to the Present (Boston: South End Publishing, 1988); Linda Gordon, Pitied But Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare, 1890-1935 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994); Gwendolyn Mink, The Wages of Motherhood: Inequality in the Welfare State, 1917-1942 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995).
6. See, for example, Mimi Abramovitz, Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare Policy from Colonial Times to the Present (Boston: South End Publishing, 1988); Linda Gordon, Pitied But Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare, 1890-1935 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994); Gwendolyn Mink, The Wages of Motherhood: Inequality in the Welfare State, 1917-1942 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995).
7. See next paragraph.
8. See Jill S. Quadagno, The Color of Welfare: How Racism Undermined the War on Poverty (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); Robert C. Lieberman, "Race, Institutions, and the Administration of Social Policy," Social Science History 19 (Winter 1995): 511-542; and Lieberman, "Race and the Organization of Welfare Policy" in Paul E. Peterson, ed., Classifying by Race (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995), 156-187.
9. See Jill S. Quadagno, The Color of Welfare: How Racism Undermined the War on Poverty (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); Robert C. Lieberman, "Race, Institutions, and the Administration of Social Policy," Social Science History 19 (Winter 1995): 511-542; and Lieberman, "Race and the Organization of Welfare Policy" in Paul E. Peterson, ed., Classifying by Race (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995), 156-187.
10. See Jill S. Quadagno, The Color of Welfare: How Racism Undermined the War on Poverty (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); Robert C. Lieberman, "Race, Institutions, and the Administration of Social Policy," Social Science History 19 (Winter 1995): 511-542; and Lieberman, "Race and the Organization of Welfare Policy" in Paul E. Peterson, ed., Classifying by Race (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995), 156-187.
11. See sources previously cited.
12. Quadagno, Color of Welfare, 15.
13. Gordon, Pitied But Not Entitled, 5.
14. Many white persons were also excluded by this decision. Nine percent of the United States population in 1930 was African American, while 21.4 percent of employed persons were in agricultural occupations. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789-1945 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), 1949), 25 (Series B 13-23) and 63 (Series D1-10).
15. Abramovitz, Regulating the Lives of Women, 317.
16. Gordon, Pitied But Not Entitled, 5.
17. Lieberman, "Race, Institutions, and the Administration of Social Policy," 513.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid., 537.
20. Quadagno, Color of Welfare, 10-11.
21. Ibid., 57.
22. Ibid., 160. Quadagno attributes this pattern to the shorter life expectancies of African-Americans.
23. Ibid., 186.
24. Lieberman, "Race, Institutions, and the Administration of Social Policy," 514-515.
25. U.S. Congress, Senate, Economic Security Act, Hearings before the Committee on Finance, 74th Cong., 1st sess. (1935), 641.
26. "Bias Against Negro Laid to New Deal," New York Times, 8 January 1935.
27. Lieberman in Peterson, ed., Classifying by Race, 163.
28. Quadagno refers to the same evidence in "Welfare Capitalism and the Social Security Act of 1935," American Sociological Review 49 (October 1984): 645.
29. U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Economic Security Act, Hearings before the Committee on Ways and Means, 74 Cong., 1 sess. (1935), 559.
30. Jose Harris, William Beveridge: A Biography (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), 101.
31. Parliamentary Debates, 5th Series, House of Commons, vol. 26, 497.
32. Churchill's enthusiasm for universal coverage was nowhere more apparent than in this speech. He went so far to say that: "If I had to sum up the immediate future of democratic politics in a single word I would say 'Insurance'." Winston Churchill, "The Budget and National Insurance," Speech at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, 23 May 1909, reprinted in Churchill, Liberalism and the Social Problem (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1909), 311.
33. Abraham Epstein, Facing Old Age (New York: Knopf, 1922), 221.
34. Canada did not adopt old-age insurance until 1951.
35. Leslie Pal, State, Class, and Bureaucracy: Canadian Unemployment Insurance and Public Policy (Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1988), 39.
36. Frank Strain and Derek Hum, "Canadian Federalism and the Welfare State: Shifting Responsibilities and Sharing Costs" in Jacqueline S. Ismael, ed., The Canadian Welfare State: Evolution and Transition (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1987), 357.
37. Frances Perkins, The Roosevelt I Knew (New York: Viking Press, 1946), 286.
38. Lieberman, "Race, Institutions, and the Administration of Social Policy," 514-515. (This is part of a larger quote that was reproduced above.)
39. For the relevant portions of Morgenthau's testimony, see House Hearings, Economic Security Act, 901-902.
40. Edwin Witte, The Development of the Social Security Act (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1963), 152; Perkins, The Roosevelt I Knew, 297.
41. Edwin Witte, The Development of the Social Security Act (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1963), 152; Perkins, The Roosevelt I Knew, 297.
42. "Put Security Bill Up to Roosevelt," New York Times, 6 February 1935.
43. House Hearings, Economic Security Act, 173.
44. Ibid., 8-9.
45. Paul Douglas, Social Security in the United States (New York: McGraw Hill, 1939), 99.
46. Senate Hearings, Economic Security Act, 198.
47. Ibid., 514-515.
48. Lieberman, "Classifying by Race," 168; and Abramovitz, "Regulating the Lives of Women," 317.
49. Lieberman, "Classifying by Race," 168; and Abramovitz, "Regulating the Lives of Women," 317.
50. Witte, The Development of the Social Security Act, 143-144. See also Thomas H. Eliot, Recollections of the New Deal: When the People Mattered (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1992), 110-111. As counsel to the Committee on Economic Security, Eliot drafted the administration's bill. He recalls southern opposition to detailed grant-in-aid conditions, but does not link it to race.
51. Witte, The Development of the Social Security Act, 143-144. See also Thomas H. Eliot, Recollections of the New Deal: When the People Mattered (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1992), 110-111. As counsel to the Committee on Economic Security, Eliot drafted the administration's bill. He recalls southern opposition to detailed grant-in-aid conditions, but does not link it to race.
52. House Hearings, Economic Security Act, 976, 974. Much of Smith's testimony is ambiguous in regard to race. He could be referring to impoverished white persons as well.
53. For descriptions of the program prior to enactment of the Social Security Act, see Social Security in America: The Factual Background of the Social Security Act as Summarized from Staff Reports to the Committee on Economic Security (Washington, DC: GPO, 1937) 236; Winifred Bell, Aid to Dependent Children (New York: Columbia University Press, 1965), chap. 1; and Christopher Howard, "Sowing the Seeds of 'Welfare': The Transformation of Mothers' Pensions, 1900-1940," Journal of Policy History 4 (1992): 188-227.
54. For descriptions of the program prior to enactment of the Social Security Act, see Social Security in America: The Factual Background of the Social Security Act as Summarized from Staff Reports to the Committee on Economic Security (Washington, DC: GPO, 1937) 236; Winifred Bell, Aid to Dependent Children (New York: Columbia University Press, 1965), chap. 1; and Christopher Howard, "Sowing the Seeds of 'Welfare': The Transformation of Mothers' Pensions, 1900-1940," Journal of Policy History 4 (1992): 188-227.
55. For descriptions of the program prior to enactment of the Social Security Act, see Social Security in America: The Factual Background of the Social Security Act as Summarized from Staff Reports to the Committee on Economic Security (Washington, DC: GPO, 1937) 236; Winifred Bell, Aid to Dependent Children (New York: Columbia University Press, 1965), chap. 1; and Christopher Howard, "Sowing the Seeds of 'Welfare': The Transformation of Mothers' Pensions, 1900-1940," Journal of Policy History 4 (1992): 188-227.
56. Senate Hearings, Economic Security Act, 67.
57. Characteristics of the old-age pension laws of the states as of 1934 are summarized ibid., tables 14 and 15, p. 50.
58. Erik W. Austin, Political Facts of the United States Since 1789 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), 425;
59. Tax Foundation, Facts and Figures on Government Finance (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988), 24th ed., 248.
60. House Hearings, Economic Security Act, 974.
61. Congressional Record, 79, 15 April 1935, 5707.
62. Senate hearings, Economic Security Act, 72-78.
63. Ibid., 14.
64. Ibid., 72.
65. Ibid., 81-82.
66. U.S. Statutes-at-Large, vol. 49, 620, 627.
67. "The Social Security Bill H. Rept. 615," 74th Cong., 1st sess. (1935), 16.
68. "The Social Security Bill S. Rept. 628," 74th Cong., 1st sess. (1935), 6.
69. "I do not want professional social workers of the Federal Government coming into Massachusetts and dictating to the old people of my State. . . . The law shall be administered by local hands, responsible to local public opinion." Congressional Record, 79, 16 April 1935, 5978.
70. See, for example, the remarks of Representative Harold Knutson of Minnesota, who presumed to speak for states in addition to his own. Citing North Dakota and West Virginia in particular, he complained that the old-age assistance program would "work a great injustice in a number of states that are bankrupt or nearly so." Congressional Record, 79, 10 April 1935, 366. Per capita income in North Dakota in 1929 was $365; in West Virginia, $460, Austin, Political Facts.
71. For example, see the amendments offered by Representatives William M. Colmer and Aaron Lane Ford of Mississippi, Congressional Record, 79, 18 April 1935, 5969-5970. For a scholarly argument that the federal public assistance program imposed unequal financial burdens on different regions and should be revised to allocate grants-in-aid according to a principle of equalization, see Clarence M. Heer, "Financing the Social Security Program in the South," Southern Economic Journal (1937): 291-302.
72. For example, see the amendments offered by Representatives William M. Colmer and Aaron Lane Ford of Mississippi, Congressional Record, 79, 18 April 1935, 5969-5970. For a scholarly argument that the federal public assistance program imposed unequal financial burdens on different regions and should be revised to allocate grants-in-aid according to a principle of equalization, see Clarence M. Heer, "Financing the Social Security Program in the South," Southern Economic Journal (1937): 291-302.
73. Congressional Record, 79, 15 April 1935, 5706.
74. Ibid., 5671.
75. "The Social Security Act of 1935: Reflections Fifty Years Later" in The Report of the Committee on Economic Security of 1935 and Other Basic Documents Relating to the Development of the Social Security Act (Washington, DC: National Conference on Social Welfare, 1985), 9.
76. Richard Sterner, The Negro's Share (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1943), 272-274. Sterner reported that in the early years of the old-age assistance program (1937-1940), Negroes in the South received benefits out of proportion to their share of the population but that the degree of their overrepresentation was very likely less than what need would have dictated.
77. R. Shep Melnick, Between the Lines: Interpreting Welfare Rights (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1994), chaps. 4 and 5; Martha Davis, Brutal Need: Lawyers and the Welfare Rights Movement, 1960-1973 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993).
78. R. Shep Melnick, Between the Lines: Interpreting Welfare Rights (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1994), chaps. 4 and 5; Martha Davis, Brutal Need: Lawyers and the Welfare Rights Movement, 1960-1973 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993).
79. Witte, Development of the Social Security Act, 143-144.
80. Congressional Record, 79, 14 June 1935, 9294.
81. House Hearings, Economic Security Act, 974.
82. Ibid., 796, 597.
83. Congressional Record, 79, 17 June 1935, 9440.
84. Senate Hearings, Economic Security Act, 82.
85. Lieberman, "Race, Institutions, and the Administration of Social Policy," 520.
86. For an account of how federal requirements were applied in one northern state, see Martha Derthick, The Influence of Federal Grants: Public Assistance in Massachusetts (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970).
87. James T. Patterson, The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition (Newport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981; copyright 1969 by the Princeton University Press), 93. Patterson attributes the quotation from Roosevelt to Arthur J. Altmeyer, The Formative Years of Social Security (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966), 112.
88. James T. Patterson, The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition (Newport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981; copyright 1969 by the Princeton University Press), 93. Patterson attributes the quotation from Roosevelt to Arthur J. Altmeyer, The Formative Years of Social Security (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966), 112.
89. We are indebted to Richard M. Valelly for urging us to develop this point. The lone African-American in Congress was Arthur W. Mitchell of Chicago. His remarks on the floor indicated sympathy for the southerners' position on public assistance: "I do not think it means much for us to pass a law that will help Illinois, my State, because it might have resources to meet the requirements of the bill; and Massachusetts, that has already met them, and a number of other States, while the State of Alabama and the State of Mississippi and the State of Minnesota, and other poor States could not meet the requirements." Congressional Record, 79, part 5, 15 April 1935, 5692.