Departments
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PRESIDENTIAL
QUOTES
Each American President has strongly supported
the Social Security program. Current President Bush should listen to what
his predecessors said about Social Security. It is not a racket for his
Wall Street buddies to make billions at the expense of America’s
workers.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
"We can never insure one-hundred percent of the population against
one-hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life. But we have
tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the
average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against
poverty-ridden old age. This law, too, represents a cornerstone in a structure
which is being built, but is by no means complete.... It is...a law that
will take care of human needs and at the same time provide for the United
States an economic structure of vastly greater soundness." -- August
14, 1935
HARRY S. TRUMAN
"Social Security...is not a dole or a device for giving everybody
something for nothing. True Social Security must consist of rights which
are earned rights -- guaranteed by the law of the land." -- August
13, 1945
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
We will...endeavor to administer the disability [program] efficiently
and effectively, [and]...to help rehabilitate the disabled so that they
may return to useful employment.... I am hopeful that this new law...will
advance the economic security of the American people."-- August 1,
1956
JOHN F. KENNEDY
"The Social Security program plays an important part in providing
for families, children, and older persons in times of stress. But it cannot
remain static. Changes in our population, in our working habits, and in
our standard of living require constant revision." -- June 30, 1961
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
"One of the most urgent orders of business at this time is the enactment
of hospital insurance for the aged through Social Security to help older
people meet the high costs of illness without jeopardizing their economic
independence." -- February 9, 1964
RICHARD M. NIXON
"I have today signed [legislation which]...constitutes a major breakthrough
for older Americans, for it says at last that inflation-proof Social Security
benefits are theirs as a matter of right...." -- July 1, 1972
GERALD R. FORD
"We must begin by insuring that the Social Security system is beyond
challenge. [It is] a vital obligation each generation has to those who
have worked hard and contributed to it all their lives." -- February
9, 1976
JIMMY E. CARTER
"The Social Security program...represents our commitment as a society
to the belief that workers should not live in dread that a disability,
death, or old age could leave them or their families destitute."
-- December 20, 1977
RONALD W. REAGAN
"[This law] assures the elderly that America will always keep the
promises made in troubled times a half century ago.... [The Social Security
Amendments of 1983 are] a monument to the spirit of compassion and commitment
that unites us as a people." -- April 20, 1983
GEORGE H.W. BUSH
"To every American out there on Social Security, to every American
supporting that system today, and to everyone counting on it when they
retire, we made a promise to you, and we are going to keep it." --
January 31, 1990
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
"Social Security...reflects some of our deepest values -- the duties
we owe to our parents, the duties we owe to each other when we're differently
situated in life, the duties we owe to our children and our grandchildren.
Indeed, it reflects our determination to move forward across generations
and across the income divides in our country, as one America." --
February 9, 1998
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