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adding pic of FDR and perkins
==Background and History==
[[Image:FDR250pxFdr_signing_SS.jpg|250pxright|right200|framethumb|<center>FDR signing the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935. Frances Perkins stands behind the President Franklin D. Roosevelt</center>]]Social Security was created in 1935, at the height of the "Great Depression." At that time, there was no national program that provided any safety net to older workers. Following the stock market crash of 1929, the unemployment rate exceeded 25 percent; about 10,000 banks had failed; and total wages paid to workers had fallen by 40 percent from 1929 to 1932.
The economic problems were particularly acute for older Americans. Prior to the creation of Social Security in 1935, there was not much to support older Americans. There were a few state-based programs, but those were mostly small and ineffective. Only about 3 percent of the elderly received benefits under these state plans, and the average benefit was about 65 cents a day. At the same time, only about five percent of the elderly received any form of a retirement pension.<ref>U.S. Social Security Administration, [http://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html Brief History of the SSA], government program website, accessed February 2013.</ref>