This is John Bachelor.

Conversation with my colleague and the historian and author David Petrusha.

Roosevelt sweeps the nation.

FTR's 1936 landslide in the Triumph of the Liberal Ideal.

In this excerpt, David describes the origins of Social Security.

It's from a man named Townsend.

Townsend Plan, the idea to get the nation spending again by giving money to elderly

people for a finite period of time. Now Roosevelt is very upset by this, the president, very upset

because he doesn't like the dole. David describes how it is that the Townsend plan wins through because it's so popular, not just

people who are receiving it, but in Congress, the Townsend Plan, what becomes the Social

Security in the early years and eventually becomes the great

triumph of the New Deal, Social Security, and all these decades later, it's said to be going bankrupt in eight years, not just bankrupt, out of money.

So that the reduction has to begin immediately of Social Security payments to the elderly, the seniors, my lot, and your lot soon

enough in the nation.

The Townsend plan, here's David Patricia.

Well, Townsend was this old geyser doctor who writes a letter to the local paper saying, we've got to have

this plan which is going to give $200 a month to everyone over 60,

and they will have to do two things for it.

One, not work anywhere, and two, spend it all in 30 days days he thinks this is going to be create a velocity

of money with sort of like priming the pump getting the economy up and running.

He's a pretty dull fellow otherwise,

but millions and millions of people

...