“The Hazards and Vicissitudes of Life”

Social Security provides a fitting conclusion to the book. Its passage was shaped not just by the emotions of those who drafted the bill, debated it, denounced it, revised it, made it law, and then four years later amended it. Its passage was also shaped by the feelings of ordinary Americans. The chapter focuses on three sets of actors: Dr. Frances Townsend and his followers, who provided much of the urgency for Social Security; Franklin Roosevelt and the planners of Social Security, who tried to steer the sudden and clamorous demand for pensions into a more pragmatic piece of legislation; and critics of Social Security, whose misgivings would guide the 1939 amendment to the bill. The upshot is a history of Social Security that clusters around the emotions previously discussed in the book: righteousness, panic, and fear, but also awe, love, and hope.