author
Created during the New Deal, this federal board helped introduce Social Security to Americans through clear, practical public guides. Its publications capture the early years of one of the country’s most important social programs.
The United States Social Security Board was the original federal body created by the Social Security Act of 1935 to administer the new Social Security program. In 1946, it took on the name now known nationwide: the Social Security Administration.
As an author, the Board is best understood as a government institution rather than a single writer. It produced public-facing booklets and reference works designed to explain how the new system worked and why it mattered. Surviving examples include Why Social Security?, a 1937 booklet published as part of the Board’s effort to educate the public, and Security in Your Old Age, which remains widely available in digital archives.
These works reflect a practical, educational style aimed at ordinary readers. They offer a direct window into how the federal government introduced retirement and social insurance policy to the public during the Roosevelt era.