Social Security's Birthday

On August 14th, America celebrated the 70th birthday of Social Security, the most successful social program ever created. But, President Bush didn't want anyone celebrating. Why? Because an outpouring of public praise for Social Security's 70 years of success would deal another blow to his plans to privatize the program and turn it over to Wall Street.

To celebrate, we organized hundreds of events around the country and sent thousands of Social Security e-birthday cards across the internet.

Read an inspiring speech delivered by Vermont retiree Winnie Pineo, 97, at a Social Security rally at the FDR Memorial. Her stirring words describe why America must honor and protect Social Security.

Winnie Pineo's Social Security Speech

Delivered at the FDR Memorial by Winnie Pineo, age 97, of South Ryegate, Vt.

August 12, 2005

Thank you so much, Representative Norton. I am happy to be here today to help kick off this nation-wide celebration of Social Security’s 70th Anniversary. I’m honored to be among these prestigious speakers. And I thank Americans United to Protect Social Security for inviting me. 

Now, Walt Whitman wrote: “In this broad Earth of ours, amid the measureless grossness and the slag, enclosed and safe within its central heart nestles the seed perfection. By every life, a share or more, or less. None born, but it is born. Concealed or unconcealed, the seed is waiting.”

In 1935, in the middle of a terrible depression, Franklin Roosevelt took note of the goodness in people. He also recognized the need for insuring a dignified old age. And the seed of Social Security was planted, and thrives today because of people like you.

I am 97 years old. I live by myself on an old farm in Northern Vermont. Social Security provides the bulk of my income.  I was 27 when Social Security became law. For seven decades now, the right wing has attacked Social Security. And for six and one half decades they got nowhere. Until recently, I could never have forseen that a president would take the lead in destroying the most valuable social program we have. 

But it’s not just a social program. It’s a moral commitment that holds us together. We all give and we all take. We all benefit and we do it for each other. That’s the way a real democracy works.

Look around you. Look at the beautiful monuments dedicated to Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson. Do you think these men intended for America to be a dog-eat-dog society controlled by a few at the expense of the many? Or do you think they meant something else? Roosevelt certainly thought so, and his thought is inscribed on one of the walls of this memorial. He said: “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

In my own state of Vermont, there are many who have too little. We have not only 60,000 retired workers who rely on Social Security. But we also have over 14,000 disabled workers, over 10,000 widows and widowers. And more than 8,000 children.

Those people, many of them just like you and me, don’t need a financial gamble. We need a guarantee. It was because of the devastation of the stock market crash in 1929 that my generation fought to establish Social Security as a guarantee – not something that could be squandered in the volatile stock market. We wanted it to provide financial security to all kinds of folks – in good times and bad – and not be subject to the ups and downs of Wall Street. 

Sorry, Mr. President. I lived through one stock market crash. And I want to tell you that another can happen again and it can happen here. And if Social Security is bound up in the market, the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people in my state – and tens of millions of people around the country – will be blown away like fall leaves in the Green Mountains. 

I have spent my century. When I look to the future I see my three great grandchildren: Alex, Nicky and Nina. I want for them the best that this troubled Earth has to offer. I want that for all of your grandchildren and great grandchildren as well. I want us to keep our moral commitments to each other. And that includes the grand commitment we’ve enshrined in Social Security.

We cannot fail. And we will not fail.