A Model of Social Security?

Abstract

This essay provides historical perspective to Senator Bernie Sanders’ appropriation of elements of the Nordic model in the 2016 campaign by studying how Scandinavia was used as a political image in 1930s United States. Departing from previous scholarship, this essay argues that accounts of Scandinavian achievements were variable in their ideological outlook and sometimes deliberately challenged the existence and goals of New Deal policies. Moreover, this essay explores the usage of Scandinavia in New Deal social legislation by examining the policymaking rhetoric of the Social Security Act and its 1939 amendments. The surprising plasticity of the Scandinavian image amongst policymakers ultimately reveals the fluid nature of both New Deal-era politics and the Scandinavian images it appropriated.

Keywords:

• Social Security
• New Deal
• Nordic model
• transnationalism
• pensions
• Roosevelt

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Jim Tankersley, ‘Why Bernie Sanders Loves Denmark but Hillary Clinton Doesn’t’, Washington Post, 13 October 2015.

2 Petersen, ‘National, Nordic and Trans-Nordic’, 15; Laura Myers, ‘In Las Vegas, Jeb Bush Stumps for Better Schools’, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 27 March 2014.

3 David Graham, ‘Is the U.S. Ready to Become Scandinavia?', Atlantic, 31 July 2015.

4 Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings, 4.

5 Ibid., 421.

6 Rustow, ‘Review of Scandinavian Democracy’, 560.

7 Kettunen, ‘Power of International Comparison’, 52 (italics in original).

8 Although somewhat anachronistic, as the term ‘Nordic’ was mainly used as a racial identifier during the 1930s, this article uses 'Nordic' in a similar fashion to ‘Scandinavia’; that is, referring to the nations of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. The other nations traditionally described as ‘Nordic’, in particular Finland, drew different political imagining, especially due to Finnish-American ties with communism in union and cooperative activity.

9 Musiał, Tracing Roots, 64.

10 Musiał and Chacinska, ‘Constructing a Nordic Community’, 289–90.

11 Andersson, ‘Nordic Nostalgia’, 233; Andersson and Hilson, ‘Images of Sweden’, 221; Barton, ‘The New Deal’, 139; Glover, ‘Imagining Community’, 29; Hilson, Nordic Model, 188–9; Logue, ‘Swedish Model’, 165; Marklund, ‘Swedish Norden’, 266; Marklund, ‘Sharing Values’, 138; Marklund, ‘Hot Love’, 269–71. However, preceding these texts, Merle Curti noted in 1968 that some conservatives praised the publication of Sweden: The Middle Way; Curti, ‘Sweden’, 174.

12 The title ‘progressive-liberalism’ distinguishes it from the ‘natural-rights liberalism’ of the 19th century, the result of a shift in liberal thought during the Progressive Era. Trading a focus on property rights for a more majoritarian stance with an interest in market regulation, progressive-liberalism called for ‘far more active governmental interference with social and economic conditions’; Pestritto, ‘Founding Liberalism’, 73.

13 Marklund and Petersen, ‘Return to Sender’; Browning, ‘Branding Nordicity’; Mordhorst, ‘Er Danmark et Brand?’.

14 In 1941, US political scientist Eric Bellquist noted that ‘Swedish propaganda abroad has been limited in extent and modest in proportion’. He concluded that ‘the Swedes have not been great publicists’; Bellquist, 'Maintaining Morale', 437.

15 Fred Morris Dearing to Sec of State, 30 July 1937, National Archives of the United States (NA),  RG59, Box 6546, 858.00P.R./249.

16 SCU to Legation, 27 May 1937, NA, Entry UD3195, RG84, Stockholm Legation, Box 14, 850.32.

17 Tyrell, Transnational Nation, 3-4.

18 Kroes, ‘American Empire’, 464.

19 Klautke, ‘Anti-Americanism’, 1125.

20 Petersen, ‘National, Nordic and Trans-Nordic’, 57.

21 Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings, 4, 6; Adler and Haas, ‘Conclusion’, 382.

22 Howe, Denmark; Christensen, Agricultural Cooperation; Hart, Adult Education.

23 Fisher, Stable Money, 409; Hans R. L. Cohrssen, ‘Sweden’s Monetary Policy’, New Republic, 30 June 1937, 218; Roger, Capitalism in Crisis, 50–7.

24 R. H. Markham, ‘Halfway to Utopia: In Sweden’, Christian Science Monitor, 11 February 1932.

25 Simons, ‘Garden of Sweden’, 419.

26 Henry Albert Phillips, ‘Sweden as a Rooseveltian Model’, Literary Digest, 15 September 1934.

27 Badger, New Deal, 18; Allswang, New Deal, 6–7.

28 Teeboom, ‘Searching’, ch. 3, 45.

29 Barton, ‘New Deal’, 207.

30 Barton, Folk Divided, 316.

31 Childs, Sweden: The Middle Way.

32 Barton, ‘New Deal’, 207–8; Andersson, ‘Nordic Nostalgia’, 234.

33 Curti, ‘Sweden’, 172.

34 Marquis Childs, ‘They Hate Roosevelt’, Harper’s Monthly Magazine, 1 December 1935, 634–42. Piebe Teeboom similarly notes the partisan slant of Childs’ politics; Teeboom, ‘Searching’, ch. 3, 45.

35 Child, Sweden: Where Capitalism, 9.

36 Barton, Folk Divided, 320; Melvin, ‘Review of Marquis Childs’, 384–6; ‘Review of Sweden’, 1937, 126.

37 John Chamberlain, ‘Books of the Times’, New York Times, 30 January 1936.

38 Moorehouse, ‘Review of Sweden’; Wuorinen, ‘Review of Sweden’, 283–4.

39 Zimmerman, ‘Review of Sweden’, 226–7.

40 Howe, Denmark, xii–xiii, 249–54.

41 Patel, New Deal, 229–30.

42 Clifton E. Woodcock to Legation, 4 May 1937,  NA, Entry UD2385A, RG84, Copenhagen Legation, Box 9, 850.32.

43 For instances of the word ‘model’ used, see: Henry Albert Phillips, ‘Sweden as a Rooseveltian Model’, The Literary Digest, 15 September 1934; Mead, ‘Industrial Relations’, 46; Rothery, Sweden, 118; Rothery, Denmark, xi.

44 Norgren, ‘Collective Wage-Making’, 790; Robbins and Hecksher, ‘Collective Bargaining in Sweden’, 927.

45 Hovde, ‘Social Security in Scandinavia’, 34–41.

46 Spencer, ‘Swedish Pattern’, 56.

47 Thompson, Control of Liquor.

48 Arnold, ‘Parable’, 613.

49 Teeboom, ‘Searching’, ch. 3, 43.

50 Ibid, 1–2.

51 Roosevelt, Complete Presidential Press Conferences, 293–4.

52 Jacob Baker to Robert Wagner, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library (FDR), 25 June 1936, President’s Inquiry on Cooperative Enterprise in Europe Records, Box 1.

53 Teeboom, ‘Searching’; Hilson, ‘Consumer Co-operation’.

54 ‘Learning from Sweden’, New York World-Telegram, 27 September 1938.

55 David Darrah, ‘U.S. Committee Begins Study of Swedish “Utopia”’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 20 July 1938.

56 Davis, They Shall Not Want, 274.

57 Hackett, ‘Inside Information’, 108; Roger, Capitalism in Crisis, 17.

58 Roy Bower, 21 April 1937, ‘Labor Unions’, NA, Entry UD 3206, RG84, Stockholm Consulate, Box 18, 850.4.

59 ‘Sweden’s Solution’, 427–36.

60 Inquiry on Cooperative Enterprise in Europe. 10 August 1936 ‘The Place of Cooperation in the Economic Life of Scandinavia’, FDRL, President’s Inquiry on Cooperative Enterprise in Europe Records, Box 6.

61 Heywood Broun, ‘Facts and Fact-Finders’, New Republic, 19 October 1938, 303.

62 ‘King Gustaf of Sweden’, Life, 11 July 1938, 32.

63 Hertzberg, ‘Signpost, Sweden’, 82–3.

64 Goodsell, ‘Housing and Birth Rate’, 858–9; Scull, ‘A Pension Tip from Sweden’, New Republic, 9 September 1938; Harold Carlson, 23 March 1937, ‘Swedish Old Age Pensions’, NA, RG59, Box 6551, 858.5074/10.

65 Stomberg, A History of Sweden, 15.

66 ‘Leftward’, Christian Science Monitor, 2 October 1936.

67 ‘NRA Slows Recovery, Metal Men Are Told’, Christian Science Monitor, 28 March 1934; Howard Wood, ‘New Deal Hurt Recovery, Say Tractor Maker’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 28 October 1936.

68 ‘“Unite: Stop the New Deal” is the Plea of Col. Roosevelt’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 22 April 1936. Kiran Patel’s description of Republican interest in Sweden as a means of blocking Roosevelt’s plans for consumer cooperatives fails to take into account the varied conservative usages of Scandinavian images; Patel, New Deal, 225.

69 Francis Brown, ‘Close-Up of the Landon Boom’, New York Times, 10 May 1936; Jacob Baker to Harry Hopkins, 18 May 1936, NA, Entry PC-37 15, RG69, Records of the Division of Self-Help Cooperatives, Box 112; Teeboom, ‘Searching’, ch. 3, 55ff.

70 Fisher, Stable Money.

71 Marcosson, ‘The Swedish Recovery’, 23, 66, 70. Also see Hadar Ortman’s review of the book, described in Teeboom, ‘Searching’, ch. 3, 57.

72 Elliston, ‘Unflattered Sweden’, 767–8; E. B. Elliston, ‘Sweden: Finds Way to Stability’, Christian Science Monitor, 11 November 1937.

73 Elliston, ‘Unflattered Sweden’.

74 H. B. E. ‘Economics in the News’, Christian Science Monitor, 6 July 1938.

75 Patel, New Deal, 80.

76 Mileur, ‘The Great Society’, 422.

77 Allswang, New Deal, 19.

78 Schieber and Shoven, Real Deal, 24–5.

79 Brands, Traitor to His Class, 413.

80 Kessler-Harris, Pursuit of Equity, 122.

81 Committee on Economic Security, ‘Social Security in America’, 33–54, 182, 185. The British system, on the other hand, was held up as a laudatory model for US emulation; ‘Miss Perkins Lauds British Aid System’, Baltimore Sun, 25 September 1934.

82 Rubinow, ‘Social Insurance’; Epstein, ‘Freedom for the Aged’, 262.

83 Social Security History, ‘House Hearings’, 292, 498.

84 Ibid. 552–83. Epstein’s reversal on assurances that the US federal administration could implement Swedish pension policy did not go unnoticed in the CES. Joseph Harris, ‘Analysis of Opinions of Abraham Epstein on Unemployment Insurance and Old Age Insurance’, (Undated), NA, Entry PI-183 3, RG47, Box 18.

85 Social Security History, ‘Congressional Debates: House’, 5560, 5713, 5791.

86 From the beginning, both the SSA’s supporters and opponents acknowledged the firm hand of the Roosevelt administration in constructing the legislation.

87 Social Security History, ‘Congressional Debates: House’, 5708.

88 St. Clair and Gugin, Chief Justice, 82–5.

89 Social Security History, ‘Congressional Debates: House’, 5708.

90 Social Security History, ‘Congressional Debates: Signed’.

91 For a survey of different scholarly explanations for the Second New Deal, see Amenta, Dunleavy, and Bernstein, ‘Stolen Thunder’, 685–6.

92 Murray W. Latimer, ‘The Advisability of Commencing Payment of Monthly Benefits Under Title II of the Social Security Act Sooner’, 5 November 1937, NA, Entry PI-183 20, RG47, Box 9.

93 Brands, Traitor to his Class, 496–7; Derthick, Policymaking for Social Security, 234–5; Kessler-Harris, Pursuit of Equity, 134. The reserve was a source of anxiety for US capital concerns even before the ratification of the SSA, with the CES’s business advisory council strenuously protesting its inclusion.

94 Dewitt, ‘Financing Social Security’, 53.

95 Grant, More Security for Old Age, 104.

96 Witte, ‘Review of Old Age’, 609.

97 Berkowitz, ‘Medicare’, 330.

98 Witte, ‘Review of Old Age’, 609.

99 ‘The Task Before Congress’, New York Times, 2 January 1939.

100 Witte, ‘Reflections’.

101 Quoted in Schieber and Shoven, Real Deal, 54.

102 ‘Changes Aimed at Security Act’, Daily Boston Globe, 30 January 1937.

103 ‘Replies to Invitations Sent to Advisory Council on Social Security’, Undated, NA, Entry PI-183 20, RG47, Box 9.

104 Advisory Council, ‘Minutes from Morning Session’, 6 November 1937, NA, Entry PI-183 20, RG47, Box 12.

105 M. Albert Linton, ‘Observations of the Old Age Security Program’, 5 November 1937, NA, Entry PI-183 20, RG47, Box 9.

106 Kessler-Harris, Pursuit of Equity, 140.

107 Advisory Council, ‘Minutes from Morning Session’, 29 April 1938, NA, Entry PI-183 20, RG47, Box 13, 10.

108 M. Albert Linton, ‘Mr. Linton’s Discussion at the Saturday Morning Session of the Advisory Council of Social Security’, 6 November 1937, NA, Entry PI-183 20, RG47, Box 9.

109 Advisory Council, ‘Minutes from Afternoon Session’, 5 November 1937, NA, Entry PI-183 20, RG47, Box 12, 24.

110 Douglas, In the Fullness, 75.

111 Biles, Crusading Liberal, 27–8.

112 Bakke, ‘Review of Social Security’, 369.

113 Advisory Council, ‘Minutes from Afternoon Session’, 5 November 1937, NA, Entry PI-183 20, RG47, Box 12, 24–31; Advisory Council, ‘Minutes from Afternoon Session’, 19 February 1938, NA, Entry PI-183 20, RG47, Box 12, 61.

114 Schieber and Shoven, Real Deal, 85.

115 Edwin Witte to Arthur Altmeyer, 2 April 1938, NA, Entry PI-183 20, RG47, Box 10.

116 Advisory Council, ‘Minutes from Afternoon Session’, 5 November 1937, NA, Entry PI-183 20,  RG47, Box 12, 27.

117 Advisory Council, ‘Minutes from Morning Session’, 19 February 1938, NA, Entry PI-183 20, RG47, Box 12, 23. In a study for the Social Security Board in 1940, Helen F. Hohman accused the Swedish pension of ‘failing’ in its most important function: allowing low-income groups to avoid the poor law. However, she believed that the 1937 reforms provided a more adequate pension; Hohman, Old Age in Sweden, 179–80.

118 The CES had made similar claims about the problems with Swedish collections from agricultural workers and the self-employed, as did a later study by the Social Security Board. Committee on Economic Security, ‘Social Security in America’, 185; Hohman, Old Age in Sweden, 176.

119 Advisory Council, ‘Minutes from Morning Session’, 19 February 1938, NA, Entry PI-183 20,  RG47, Box 12.

120 Edwin Witte, ‘In Defense of the Federal Old Age Benefit Plan’, 29 December 1936, NA, Entry PI-183 20, RG47, Box 13A.

121 Brown, American Philosophy, 50–1.

122 DeWitt, ‘Financing Social Security’, 54.

123 ‘Amending the Social Security’, 522.

124 Grant, Old-Age Security, 241–6.

125 Adams, ‘Social Policy’, 399.

126 Strode, Sweden; Hinshaw, Sweden.

127 James C. H. Bonbright to Dept of State, 28 July 1960, NA, Entry UD2386, RG84, Copenhagen Legation Classified, Box 58, 350 US.

128 Schrecker, Many Are Crimes, xix; Bell, ‘Social Politics’, 418.

129 Teeboom, ‘Searching’, 13.

130 Åmark, Hundra år; Edling, ‘Limited Universalism’; Hilson, Nordic Model.

131 Browning, ‘Branding Nordicity’, 31.

132 Mordhorst, ‘Er Danmark et Brand?’.

133 Glover, ‘Imagining Community’, 247.

134 Patel, New Deal, 49.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Byron Rom-Jensen

Byron Rom-Jensen is currently a PhD fellow at Aarhus University, Denmark, primarily working in the field of transnational US history. His thesis project, entitled ‘The Scandinavian Legacy: Nordic Policies as Images and Models in the United States of America’, studies how US ideational brokers constructed images of Scandinavia and how those images echoed in American policymaking debate. Address: Jens Christen Skous Vej 5, Building 1463, Office 5238000 Aarhus CDenmark. [email: [email protected]]