The Depression of the 1930s was so severe that for the first time a system of welfare payments was introduced in the US to help the unemployed. At first, this came in the form of the government providing the states with funds to distribute; when this proved ineffective, the government launched its own work schemes. These measures, however, did not provide the economic stability that was needed to secure long-term recovery, and Roosevelt therefore passed the 1935 Social Security Act, which would provide relief for the old, the unemployed, and the needy. This was the beginning of a Social Security system in the USA.
Indeed, the very term "social security" marks the US out as being different from the rest of the world, given that it offers this as opposed to a "welfare system."…
