When Movements Matter: The Townsend Plan and the Rise of Social Security

Abstract

When hundreds of histories of social security line the shelves, it is surprising that the last major study of the Townsend movement was published more than forty years ago. In When Movements Matter, the sociologist Edwin Amenta aims not only to update our knowledge and understanding of Francis Townsend's plan to end the depression by paying old-age revolving pensions, but also to contribute to theories about why social movements are sometimes influential and sometimes not. Amenta describes the organization of the Townsend Plan in 1934. An aging, gaunt, stooped man was able to spark mass support for the idea of nationally provided old-age pensions. Townsend clubs quickly spread, mostly in the West. When Townsend went to Washington in 1935 he failed, however, because of his inept tactics and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's opposition. The president had his own program for the elderly and thought Townsend's scheme daft. Instead of waning after the passage of the Social Security Act, support for the Townsend Plan grew, numbering 8,000 clubs in 1936, because Roosevelt's act validated the idea of pensions but did not yet pay sizable sums. Townsend condemned the Social Security Act as inadequate, endorsed Republican candidates, and promoted Townsend bills, only to see Congress vote them down. Amenta argues that national pensions looked likely before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Government spending on the war undermined the recovery rationale for the Townsend Plan, and the nation's focus on winning the war postponed social reform. According to Amenta, flawed leadership later failed the movement, and it slid into permanent decline.