Social security project : oral history, 1965-1988.

Scope and Contents

This project has the dual aim of presenting personal recollections about the origins and early years of social security in the United States, and of exploring the legislative history of medicare Pioneers in the social insurance movement tell about many who were prominent in its early years, including John B. Andrews, John R. Commons, and Frances Perkins. There are descriptions of the activities and personnel of the American Association for Labor Legislation and the American Association for Social Security. Special emphasis is given to experiences with the Committee on Economic Security and the growth and organization of the Social Security Board Recollections of early attempts to enact government health insurance, the work of the Committee on Costs of Medical Care and the Committee on Economic Security, the National Health Conference of 1938, the Wagner Bill, 1939, the Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill, and the Forand Bill, 1957, provide background about the precursors of the medicare program. The bulk of the medicare recollections focus on the period 1960-1965. Included are interviews of members of the Social Security Administration, the Kennedy entourage, organized labor, the National Council of Senior Citizens, the United States Senate, the insurance industry, Blue Cross, the House Ways and Means Committee, the American Hospital Association, and American Medical Association Participants and pagination of transcripts: Arthur Altmeyer, 231; Edward Annis, 84; Barbara Armstrong, 317; Fred Arner, 51; A. Henry Aronson, 173; Robert M. Ball, 84; Frank Bane, 121; Alexander Barkan, 10; Harry Becker, 40; Bernice Bernstein, 125; Andrew J. Biemiller, 49; Carter Bradley, 27; Howard Bray, 112; James Brindle and Martin Cohen, 35; J. Douglas Brown, 148; Eveline M. Burns, 180; John Byrnes, 51; Winslow Carlton, 55; Blue Carstenson, 227; Ewan Clague, 152; Wilbur J. Cohen, 57; Nelson Cruikshank, 506; Charles U. Daly, 27; Alvin David, 27; Michael M. Davis, 65; Richard Donahue, 74; Loula F. Dunn, 73; John Edelman, 99; Martha May Eliot, 115; Thomas H. Eliot, 81; Katherine Ellickson, 285; Lavinia Engle, 184; Caldwell Esselstyn, 43; Oscar Ewing, 90; Clinton Fair, 75; Isidore Falk, 289; Fedele Fauri, 59; Myer Feldman, 29; William C. Fitch, 100; Marion B. Folsom, 207; Aime Forand, 77; Frankie Frisch; Kathryn Goodwin, 80; Frank P. Graham, 24; William Haber, 78; Alvin Hansen, 28; Joseph Harris, 44; Ray Henry, 135; Arthur Hess, 102; Jane Hoey, 102; Reinhard A. Hohaus, 143; Marjorie Hunter, 26; William Hutton, 113; Leo Irwin, 76; Jacob Javits, 12; Jarold Kieffer, 21; Arlen Large, 66; Arthur Larson, 54; Murray Latimer, 50; Katharine F. Lenroot, 173; Allen Lesser, 46; Leonard Lesser, 78; Manuel Levine, 34; Isador Lubin, 32; Mike N. Manatos, 41; Dorothy McCamman, 79; Walter McNerney, 34; Morton D. Miller, 61; William Lloyd Mitchell, 140; Raymond Moley, 19; Maurine Mulliner, 303; Robert J. Myers, 94; Robert R. Neal, 46; Ivan Nestingen, 109; Robert Novak, 46; James C. O'Brien, 220; Charles Odell, 117; Kenneth O'Donnell, 40; Michael J. O'Neill, 60; Claude D. Pepper, 61; Roswell Perkins, 143; Robert Perrin, 48; Jerome Pollack, 47; M. Allen Pond, 88; Jennings Randolph, 15; Paul and Elizabeth Raushenbush, 295; William Reidy, 101; William A. Reynolds, 61; Elliot L. Richardson, 57; Anna Rosenberg; Gerel Rubien, 41; Sidney Saperstein, 122; Lisbeth B. Schorr and Leonard Lesser, 105; Charles Schottland, 167; Harold Sheppard, 104; Antone G. Singsen, 20; Herman M. Somers, 199; Sidney Spector, 57; Joseph Stetler, 58; Jack B. Tate, 119; R. Gordon Wagenet, 108; Elizabeth Wickenden, 211; Alanson Willcox, 140; Kenneth Williamson, 240; Edwin Winge, 48; Irwin Wolkstein, 255; Leonard Woodcock, 28. There are also recordings of a debate between Caldwell Esselstyn and Edward Annis, a debate between Ivan Nestingen and Edward Annis, and recordings of advertisements for social security programs A second series of interviews, donated by Blanche D. Coll is comprised of the following narrators: Robert M. Ball, 19; Jules Berman, 41; Eveline M. Burns, 25; Wilbur Cohen, 64; Mary Flynn, 16; Alvin Schorr, 49; and Elizabeth Wickenden, 46

Subjects

• American Medical Association.
• Government executives--Interviews.
• Health insurance.
• Health services administrators--Interviews.
• Interviews.
• Labor unions--Officials and employees.
• Legislators--United States--Interviews.
• Medicare.
• Medicine.
• Old age pensions.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Public health personnel--Interviews.
• Social security--Income maintenance programs.
• Social security--Law and legislation.
• Social security--United States.
• Social security.
• Social security taxes.
• Social workers--Interviews.
• Unemployment insurance.
• United States. Congress.
• United States. Social Security Administration.
• Women social reformers--Interviews.