Social Security : A Look Back

None other than President Eisenhower (R), the self-proclaimed " militant liberal," spoke highly of New Deal programs such as social security and campaigned for national health care. He wrote that his administration was "committed to ... policies that will bring the greatest good to the greatest number. This means that there must be lifted from the minds of men the fears of disaster, poverty, and old age." Then in 1956, in a letter to his brother, he wrote:

Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again.... There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt... a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.

More from historian Blanche Wiesen Cook.