When Movements Matter The Townsend Plan and the Rise of Social Security / Edwin Amenta.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Amenta, Edwin, 1957-

Series:

Princeton studies in American politics.

Princeton studies in American politics : historical, international and comparative perspectives

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social security.

Old age pensions.

Individual retirement accounts.

Social security--United States.

Old age pensions--United States.

Individual retirement accounts--United States.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : 34 halftones. 7 tables.

Place of Publication:

Woodstock : Princeton University Press, 2008.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

When Movements Matter accounts for the origins of Social Security as we know it. The book tells the overlooked story of the Townsend Plan--a political organization that sought to alleviate poverty and end the Great Depression through a government-provided retirement stipend of 00 a month for every American over the age of sixty. Both the Townsend Plan, which organized two million older Americans into Townsend clubs, and the wider pension movement failed to win the generous and universal senior citizens' pensions their advocates demanded. But the movement provided the political impetus behind old-age policy in its formative years and pushed America down the track of creating an old-age welfare state. Drawing on a wealth of primary evidence, historical detail, and arresting images, Edwin Amenta traces the ups and downs of the Townsend Plan and its elderly leader Dr. Francis E. Townsend in the struggle to remake old age. In the process, Amenta advances a new theory of when social movements are influential. The book challenges the conventional wisdom that U.S. old-age policy was a result mainly of the Depression or farsighted bureaucrats. It also debunks the current view that America immediately embraced Social Security when it was adopted in 1935. And it sheds new light on how social movements that fail to achieve their primary goals can still influence social policy and the way people relate to politics.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction. The Townsend Plan’s Image Problem

One. Success or Consequences, and U.S. Social Movements

Two. How the West Was Won Over

Three. Behind the Townsend Plan’s Rise and Initial Impact

Four. The Townsend Plan versus Social Security

Five. A National Challenger

Six. Dr. Townsend, Now at the Helm

Seven. The Rise of a Pension Movement

Eight. The Townsend Plan versus Social Security, Part 2

Nine. The Elusive Double Victory

Conclusion. A Hero for the Aged?

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Originally published: 2006.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691138268

0691138265

OCLC:

1223025983