Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired.

The **Social Security Act** was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935, during the Great Depression. The economic collapse had left millions of Americans unemployed and many elderly people without savings or reliable financial support. Roosevelt’s New Deal sought to provide greater economic security, and the Social Security Act became one of its most important and lasting measures. The legislation established a federal system of old-age benefits while also providing assistance for unemployed workers, dependent children, and people with certain disabilities.

The original Social Security program was largely financed through payroll taxes paid by workers and employers. Rather than simply providing government welfare, it was designed as a social insurance system in which workers contributed during their working years and later became eligible for retirement benefits. Payroll taxes were first collected in 1937, and regular monthly retirement benefits began in 1940. The program initially covered only certain categories of workers, excluding many agricultural workers, domestic employees, government workers, and others. Over the following decades, Congress repeatedly expanded Social Security to cover a much larger proportion of the American workforce and to provide benefits for survivors and disabled workers.

Social Security eventually became one of the largest and most influential federal programs in the United States. Major amendments in the 1950s established disability benefits and broadened coverage, while legislation in 1965 created **Medicare**, providing health insurance primarily for Americans aged 65 and older. Further reforms were introduced as changing demographics and financial pressures raised concerns about the program’s long-term sustainability, including significant amendments in 1983 that gradually increased the full retirement age and subjected some benefits to federal income tax. More than nine decades after its creation, the Social Security Act remains a cornerstone of the American social safety net and one of the most enduring legacies of Roosevelt’s New Deal.