Remarks Upon Presenting a Social Security Check to the 20-Millionth Beneficiary.

Mr. and Mrs. Kappel, Members of the Senate and the House, ladies and gentlemen:

It was 30 years ago when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act of 1935 and made it the law of the land.

At that time he said, and I want to quote his words, "we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age."

That very simple statement still expresses the purposes of this wonderful program, though the social security system has grown vastly larger since 1935.

Today, as we meet here, more than an million Americans find social security benefit checks in their mailboxes each month. This represents more than $1 1/3 billion a month, more than $16 billion a year, providing a much more secure life for our citizens and contributing a great deal of economic soundness to our economic system.

Millions of other Americans at their jobs each day are building up future benefits and looking forward to the day when they will qualify.

Franklin Roosevelt called the original Social Security Act, and I quote, "a cornerstone in a structure which is being built but is by no means complete." That is true today as it was 30 years ago when President Roosevelt stated it.

We are working steadily with the enlightened Members of the Senate and the Congress and the Cabinet here with me this morning to build and to strengthen the social security system. Legislation has already passed the House of Representatives--it is now pending in the Senate--which will provide increased monthly benefits to retired persons, to widows, to orphans, and to the disabled.

This year, for the first time, health insurance protection for persons of 65 and over will become a part of America's social security system. I believe that most Americans are looking forward with me to the day when these great measures are signed into law.

In this country we all believe that every man wants dignity and a decent life, and not a dole. We believe that every man wants a fair chance, and not charity. We believe that older Americans have earned and deserve peace of mind, not pain and panic, when misfortune strikes.

The social security system, and the historic legislation that is now pending in the Senate, are our testaments to those beliefs.

So, Mr. Kappel, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to meet with you today and to present to you the 20-millionth recipient of social security benefits, your first social security check.

I necessarily cut some of the observations I intended to make this morning when I saw Senator Gore, and the distinguished Senator from Indiana, Mr. Hartke, and Wilbur Cohen, and the Secretary, and some of the others here, because I do not want to delay them a moment. And I want them to return to the Capitol now and go back to their labors and continue to build this system and pass medical care.