For the first one-third of the twentieth century, proposals for
workmen's compensation, unemployment or health insurance, and widow's or
old age pensions met steep resistance on the grounds that such programs
would diminish the dignity of the individual. In this book, Roy Lubove
examines the clash between the traditional American ethic of
individualism and voluntarism and the push for an active government role
in social welfare assistance, and the battles within the social security
movement itself. He concludes his study with the actual legislative
enactments of 1935 when, after the experience of the Great Depression,
social insurance came into its own.