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This was our first event in a year of celebrating Social Security's
75th anniversary (the final bill was signed
by FDR on August 14, 1935) and focusing on upholding Social
Security, one of Frances Perkins's most important achievements.
The afternoon started with a wonderful panel discussion about the
beginnings of Social Security. Moderator Christopher Breiseth, authors
Kirstin Downey and Adam Cohen, and historian Larry DeWitt shared
many interesting facts and images from the program's early days
and the people who brought it to fruition.
The second panel, moderated by University of Southern Maine professor
Susan Feiner, was made up of three policy experts who know the Social
Security program inside and out, and are concerned about current
attempts to curtail it. Nancy Altman, Maya Rockeymoore of the Global
Policy Solutions, and Eric Kingson of Syracuse University all contributed
to our fuller understanding of the challenges to Social Security
today.
Lynn Parramore of the Roosevelt Institute did a wrap-up of the
panels, summarizing the main points and urging the attendees to
work to protect Frances Perkins's greatest legacy, Social Security.
The group then headed for the reception in the adjoining room, and
many interesting conversations ensued.
After the reception, artist Rob Shetterly spoke briefly about his
newly completed portrait of Frances Perkins (part of his Americans
Who Tell the Truth series) and Chris Breiseth and a colleague, Brian
Kennedy, shared personal reminiscences of their time with Frances
at Telluride House at Cornell University in the 1960s. The evening
closed with a premiere of Karenna Schiff and Catherine Corman's
work-in-progress, a film biography of Miss Perkins based on Karenna's
book, Lighting the Way: Nine Women Who Changed Modern America.
Special thanks to our...
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