This project has the dual aim of presenting personal recollections about the origins and early years of Social Security in the US, and of exploring the legislative history of Medicare.

Pioneers in the social insurance movement tell about many who were prominent in its early years, including John B. Andrews, John R. Commons, and Frances Perkins. There are descriptions of the activities and personnel of the American Association for Labor Legislation and the American Association for Social Security. Special emphasis is given to experiences with the Committee on Economic Security and the growth and organization of the Social Security Board.

Recollections of early attempts to enact government health insurance, the work on the Committee on Costs of Medical Care and the Committee on Economic Security, the National Health Conference of 1938, the Wagner Bill, 1939, the Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill, and the Forand Bill, 1957, provide background about the precursors of the Medicare program. The bulk of the Medicare recollections focus on the period 1960-65. Included are memoirs of members of the Social Security Administration, the Kennedy entourage, organized labor, the National Council of Senior Citizens, the US Senate, the insurance industry, Blue Cross, the House Ways and Means Committee, the American Hospital Association, and AMA.