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In the early to mid 1930’s, a variety of social, political, and economic factors including continuing industrialization and the Great Depression encouraged America to recognize the need for a more widely standardized system of providing financial support for aging populations. Several different proposals surfaced regarding how much funding should be allotted to seniors, where this funding should come from, and how funds should be distributed among individuals in aging populations. 

The Social Security Act, passed in 1935 under FDR, proposed a sort of social insurance system where the size of benefits was related to the amount an individual paid into the reserve, and thus related to the previous income of the individual. In contrast, the Townsend Plan was another popular contender for financial support of the elderly, and while perhaps an idyllic and overly optimistic proposal, it found a broad support base that continued even in the years following the Social Security Act’s passage. The Townsend Plan proposed a flat benefit to all eligible elders, regardless of their previous employment or income. These structural differences between the Social Security Act and the Townsend Plan suggest different value judgments that are reflected in political cartoons, posters, advertisements, and other visual media created by both proponents and critics of the propositions.