After several years of Depression, many younger people could no longer help their older relatives. Private charities were strapped. So were the few local-government relief agencies. Despite the country's economic ills, passing social security legislation would not be easy. The United States was hardly a hot of leftist politics. In the 1932 Presidential election, conservative Republican Herbert Hoover, after four miserable years as President, received nearly 16 times as many votes as the Communist and Socialist combined. Many conservatives believed tat social security would start the country sliding down as a slippery slope to socialism. Perhaps most importantly, despite the fact that most of the rest of the industrialized world accepted social security, social programs ran contrary to the enduring American principle of rugged individualism. Private charity was morally acceptable, as was private insurance, but government social programs were not. The idea that the federal government head any responsibility at all for the welfare of individual citizens was still strange to many people. In spite of the miseries arising out of the failures of the free enterprise system, the belief persisted that every individual could make his own way in the world and if he failed, it was his own fault.

* Summary of Event *
The general economic Depression of the decade undoubtedly contributed to the moment needed to pass social security legislation. Old-Age Revolving Pension Club was lobbying for a monthly two hundred dollar grant for every citizen over sixty. By the 1930;s. almost half the states had some kind of old-age pension, but these were generally limited in scope. it was not until 1934 that President Roosevelt decided to take in the field of social insurance legislation. He asked Congress to look into all aspects of social security In June, 1934, he established the Committee on the Economic Security with Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins as chairwoman. The Social Security Bill was submitted to Congress in January, 1935, by Senator Wagner and Congressman Lewis. The air was filled with warnings that the act would destroy individual responsibility and the principles to self-help, but it was passed in the Senate by 76 votes to 6 and in the House by 371 votes to 33. On August 14, 1935, Roosevelt signed the measure.