Twenty-five Years of Social Security in the South

IN THE Social Security Act of 1935, Congress recognized the national scope of the problem of economic security, and its approach to the problem was also on a national scale. The Silver Anniversary of the basic act, observed last year, was the occasion for reviewing the Nation’s first 25 years of progress toward economic security, assessing the overall social security status of the American people at the beginning of the 1960’s, and determining what remains to be done, what can be done better, and what should be changed. A similar review for the South is presented in the following pages. The analysis is limited chiefly to the impact of social security programs on persons aged 65 and over-in other words, the old-age, survivors, and disability insurance and the old-age assist,ance programs. Since many of the unemployed are older workers, the unemployment insurance program is also considered briefly.