<P> A limited form of the Social Security program began as a measure to implement "social insurance" during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when poverty rates among senior citizens exceeded 50 percent . </P> <P> The Social Security Act was enacted August 14, 1935 . The Act was drafted during President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term by the President's Committee on Economic Security, under Frances Perkins, and passed by Congress as part of the New Deal . The Act was an attempt to limit what were seen as dangers in the modern American life, including old age, poverty, unemployment, and the burdens of widows and fatherless children . By signing this Act on August 14, 1935, President Roosevelt became the first president to advocate federal assistance for the elderly . </P> <P> The Act provided benefits to retirees and the unemployed, and a lump - sum benefit at death . Payments to current retirees are financed by a payroll tax on current workers' wages, half directly as a payroll tax and half paid by the employer . The act also gave money to states to provide assistance to aged individuals (Title I), for unemployment insurance (Title III), Aid to Families with Dependent Children (Title IV), Maternal and Child Welfare (Title V), public health services (Title VI), and the blind (Title X). </P>

When did social security begin in the us