Social Security is a promise between generations. When far-sighted visionaries like President Franklin Roosevelt and Frances Perkins imagined what would come to be today’s Social Security system, they were thinking about the workers and their families who would rely on Social Security for years to come.

For 91 years, Social Security has been how Americans take care of each other. For 91 years, people across our country have fought to protect the hard-earned Social Security benefits that rightfully belong to everyone. To honor Social Security’s 91st birthday, we are renewing our commitment to stay in that fight.

It’s hard to imagine what it would have been like to be alive during the Great Depression. With millions of workers unemployed, it would have been difficult to overcome a sense of pervasive hopelessness and despair. But the founders of Social Security didn’t lose hope. They knew that it was possible to come together in community and solidarity. They imagined a better, more economically secure future. We also share that same ability to imagine and fight for a better future. If the founders of Social Security were able to resist being demoralized by the Great Depression, we can overcome our current circumstances.

The founders of Social Security laid down a gauntlet for future generations. It’s up to us to continue to carry out this vision of a society where we all join together to take care of each other.

While their fight will never be finished, the founders of Social Security laid down a gauntlet for future generations. It’s up to us to continue to carry out this vision of a society where we all join together to take care of each other. As part of that effort, Social Security Works held a town hall to celebrate Social Security’s 91st birthday, providing a reminder of the work that needs to be done to continue FDR’s legacy.

We believe that we're all in this together. And so we choose through Social Security...to care for those in the dawn of life, and those in the dusk of life. That's what we do through Social Security, and ain't nobody going to take it from us or from our grandchildren. - @martinomalley.bsky.social[image or embed]— Social Security Works (@socialsecurityworks.org) August 14, 2026 at 1:24 PM

As former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley put it, “We believe that we’re all in this together.” O’Malley is articulating the greatness of Social Security, the way it ties families and communities to each other. In a resolute note of defiance, O’Malley warned, “That’s what we do through Social Security, and ain’t nobody going to........

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