An item for Thanksgiving — Social Security

On Thanksgiving Day, I spend the day with family and friends. There are an abundance of things for which I am thankful. The present economic crisis in our country prompts me to give thanks for the Social Security checks Darlene and I receive each month.

While our Social Security payments do not make up a majority of our retirement income, the payments are substantial and make a huge difference in our standard of living.

My experience with the Social Security system has been flawless. For 18 years Social Security checks have come to me exactly on time. The Social Security system works with incredible efficiency. When I hear someone ask, “What does the government do well?” I quickly say, “Social Security.”

I am a child of the Great Depression. I remember the desperate economic circumstances of people in the 1930s. Especially, I remember the plight of older people. For most of the 10-12 million Americans over 60 years of age, income was zero.

Even though I was only in grade school, I was aware of the desperate nature of the situation. I was not simply aware of the local situations in which grandma and grandpa moved into multiple generation households. I was aware of the larger situation because I lived in Fairbury, Ill.

Fairbury, a small farm town, was the birthplace of Dr. Francis E. Townsend. He lived on a farm outside of Fairbury until he was 18.

Dr. Townsend, after practicing medicine for several years in the Midwest, moved to Long Beach, Calif. He was very much aware of the economic stress under which older people were living. In 1933 he wrote an opinion article in the Long Beach newspaper. He proposed what became known across the United States as The Townsend Plan.

The plan called for a monthly federal payment of $200 to every United States citizen 60 years of age or older. When Dr. Townsend was charged with being a socialist, he readily embraced the identification.

In a matter of weeks Dr. Townsend’s proposal caught fire across the nation. In less than two years, there were 7,000 Townsend Clubs in 30 states. The movement claimed 2.2 million members. In the Midwest many Congressmen recognized they could not be re-elected without endorsing The Townsend Plan.

In 1935, the Townsend organization decided to have a Townsend Rally in Fairbury, the place of his birth. An estimated 10,000 descended on the Fairbury Fair Ground. Fairbury’s population was 2,300. As a young boy, I was impressed. I had never seen anything quite like it, nor have I since. Dr. Townsend was there and spoke to the cheering crowd.

Dr. Townsend was not alone in his call for economic relief to older Americans. Two others were Gov. Huey Long of Louisiana and Father Charles Coughlin. Coughlin was a popular radio preacher with a huge audience. Neither Long nor Coughlin was a successful organizer. Dr. Townsend was something of an organizing genius.

When Franklin Roosevelt became president, he came with many economic recovery programs. They did not include any relief program for seniors. Under the pressure of Long, Coughlin and Townsend with his plan, Roosevelt was forced to add Social Security to his program. The Social Security Act was passed in October, 1935.

The U.S. Social Security system is unique in that it requires current wage earners to pay the bill for the preceding generation. During my wage earning years, I was aware that I was underwriting my father’s Social Security. Since I am a minister, and since churches are not required to contribute to Social Security, I was required to pay both the employer and the employee portion of the Social Security tax. I did so gladly, even though it amounted to 15 percent of my salary. I was thankful that my father had income.

Now our children are helping underwrite our own Social Security incomes. I publicly want to thank them for their contributions. I still recall my childhood memory of the tragedy of older people without income. Darlene and I are truly thankful for our Social Security checks.

The Rev. Howard Bess is pastor emeritus of Church of the Covenant, an American Baptist church in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.