Oral Histories


microphone

CONTENT

 

INTRODUCTION

ORAL HISTORIES IN GENERAL:
The Social Security Administration has a strong commitment to oral history as an important part of its history program. Oral histories are a natural complement to our archival collections and to our historical research and scholarship. However, individual oral histories are memories of a single individual and cannot, by themselves, be the sole source of information about particular historical events. Individual oral histories are like pieces of a colorful mosiac--the full picture can only be seen when the perspectives of many individuals are combined into a meaningful whole.

It is also important to understand that these histories are the personal recollections and opinions of the individuals involved. They should in no way be interpreted as the official history of the federal government or the Social Security Administration. The oral histories are made available by SSA as a public service because oral histories are a recognized technique for adding "color and context" to more objective accounts. In this regard, we believe they have value as part of a comprehensive approach to historical research.

COPYRIGHT ISSUES:
It should also be noted that copyright law grants copyright of oral histories to the interviewees. Use of the material in an oral history is therefore governed by copyright restrictions. We will only post transcripts for which SSA has been given a grant of deed to the interview, or which have been released into the public domain. The fact that we have posted the transcript of an interview on this site DOES NOT necessarily mean that it has been released as a public domain document--the specific wording of the grant of deed is controlling. Therefore, no use (beyond limited quotation) should be made of the transcripts of these interviews without the express permission of the Social Security Administration. The SSA Historian's Office should be contacted to obtain the necessary permissions.

ORAL HISTORY AT SSA:
The current Oral History Project at SSA is in its early stages, having been launched in June 1995. The Project envisions an ongoing effort to document the history of Social Security, and especially of the Social Security Administration, by obtaining oral histories from a wide spectrum of individuals who have participated in the making of this history over the years. Our emphasis is on the administrative history of the Social Security program and the institutional history of SSA.

In addition to the new histories we are collecting, we are striving to take maximum advantage of histories in other collections. The base of our own collection is a set of 15 oral history interviews conducted by SSA in the late 1960s/early 1970s. This Guide refers to these interviews as the Old SSA Oral Histories. The new interviews collected under our current Project are therefore referred to as New SSA Oral Histories.

THE COLUMBIA COLLECTION:
The major supplement to the SSA-produced collections comes from the extensive library of the Oral History Center at Columbia University. Through a cooperative arrangement with Columbia, SSA is in the process of obtaining copies of the extensive Social Security and/or Medicare-related histories in the Columbia collection. Our goal is to serve as a second source for the Columbia collection. (We owe a special debt of thanks to the staff of Columbia's Oral History Research Office: Mr. Ronald Grele; Ms. Anne Gefell; Ms. Samatha D'Alo; Ms. Amanda Todd and Mr. David Skey for their generous support of this project.)

THE CMS ORAL HISTORY SERIES:
Professor Edward Berkowitz, of the History Department at George Washington Unversity, has conducted a series of oral history interviews for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This is an important collection that is available on the CMS website through a link provided here.

OTHER COLLECTIONS:
In addition, we have a small collection of additional interviews from the Presidential Libraries and from a few other sources. Interviews will be added to this collection as they become available to us.

In order to provide a resource of maximum value to scholars and researchers, SSA is gathering in one place what we expect will eventually be the largest single collection of Social Security related oral histories anywhere in the country.

All the interviews listed here are available for review at SSA Headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. They are part of SSA's History Archives which are located in room G-36 Altmeyer Building at SSA Headquarters, 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD. We will post some of the interviews from our collection in electronic form on this History Page in the weeks and months ahead, although the bulk of the collection is presently only available in hardcopy format at SSA's History Archives.

DISCLAIMER:
These oral histories are expressions of the views, memories and opinions of the interviewee. They do not represent the policy, views or official history of the Social Security Administration.


 

Old SSA Oral Histories

Person

Date

Pages

George E. Bigge
Bigge was one of the three members of the Social Security Board from 1937-1946.

2/25/66

59

John J. Corson
Corson was a key administrator in the early operations of the Social Security program.

3/3/67

75

Nelson Cruikshank

1/24/66

50

Milt Freedman
Freedman was for many years a top official in SSA's quality assurance program.

1/18/74

65

Jack Futterman
An important SSA official briefly reflects on the early founding of the Social Security program.

1/23/74

22

David Kopelman
Kopelman played a prominent role in the early administration of the Medicare program.

10/25/74

45

Murray Latimer

4/10/73

85

Elmer Lupton
Reflections of an early SSA field office manager.

1/20/75

23

Joseph E. McElvain

4/26/66

60

Maurine Mulliner
Mulliner was the Executive Secretary of the original Social Security Board, and is a wonderful story-teller.

3/29/66

77

Merrill G. Murray
Murray helped design and implement the unemployment compensation program.

3/14/66

47

Claude R. Orchard

4/9/65

75

Ernest W. Tallman

11/2/66

150

Elwood J. Way

10/29/73

141

Roy Wynkoop

8/23/73

73

 

New SSA Oral Histories

Person

Date

Pages

Kenneth S. Apfel
Exit interview with the Commissioner of SSA at the end of the Clinton Administration.

11/17/00 and 11/30/00

26

Robert M. Ball
Extended, multi-part, interview with one of the leading figures in the history of Social Security.
1/29/01 - 11/20/01

280

Harry Ballantyne 12/13/00-12/19/00  
Herb Borgen
This interview covers the earliest days of the establishment of SSA and emphasizes the early years of the disability program.

4/3/96-5/15/96

77

Bob Bynum
This interview contains interesting reflections on Social Security during the 1950s and 1960s. Of special interest is Mr. Bynum's account of the role of the Social Security and Medicare programs in promoting racial integration in the country.

5/6/96

32 

Pasquale F. Caligiuri
Text and video interview with former SSA executive. Among other positions, Mr. Caligiuri was the Regional Representative in the New York Region, a Director of the Bureau of Retirement and Survivors Insurance, and the Associate Commissioner for SSA's Central Operations.
4/8/10
15
Shirley S. Chater
Exit interview with former Social Security Commissioner during the first part of the Clinton Administration.

1/16/97

21

Lou D’Angelo

4/15-27/96

Rhoda Davis

1/31/96

Alvin David
Review of the career of an important Social Security policy official.

10/20/97

37

Renato DiPentima
Former systems executive at SSA

6/20/95

46

Lou Enoff (incomplete)

2/7/96

George Failla
This interview covers the 1960s-1990s and offers insights into many issues, including portraits of the Jack Svahn and Gwen King Commissionerships.

12/1/95

93

Jack S. Futterman
This extensive interview traces the career of an early SSA pioneer who achieved high positions in the Agency and who influenced the administration of the Social Security program in key ways.

7/96-2/97

260 

Clark Bane Hutchinson
A rich, saucy, and wonderfully engaging portrait of Frank Bane by a daughter who obviously adored him. Mrs. Hutchinson tells stories of encounters with many famous New Deal-era figures.

7/16/97

87 

Manny Levine
This interview focuses mainly on the development and implementation of the Medicare program.

3/22/96

34

Huldah Liberman
Huldah Liberman was a top executive at SSA for many, and was especially involved in operations and policy in the disability program.

10/18/95

Jaime L. "Chick" Manzano

1/13/97

Hugh McKenna
This interview provides a perspective on SSA's field office and Processing Center operations during the 40s-70s.

5/29/96

35

Robert J. Myers
This interview covers an amazing breadth of material, from the earliest days of the Committee on Economic Security in 1934 to the current debates about the long-range financing of Social Security.

3/14/96-7/8/96

52

Ruth Pierce

9/10/96

John Ritter
This interview traces the development of the disability program and contains insights into such matters as the Zebley court decision.

8/16/95

48

Mary Ross
Mary Ross had a 34-year career with SSA, mos of it in the area of legislative reference and research. She was a scholar of the program and this interview contains a discussion of the development of the SSI program.

10/26/95-2/13/96

30 

Stanford G. Ross

6/4/96

Ken Sander
This interview discusses the revenue estimating function SSA performs in support of the annual Trust Fund reports.

11/28/98

27

Jack Schmulowitz
This interview emphasizes the development of SSA's research and statistics capabilities over the past 30 years.

9/13/95

41

Art Simermeyer
A wide-ranging interview with an important manager who, among other accomplishments, implemented SSA's national 800# system.

10/96-11/27/96

185 

Lillie Steinhorn
This interview gives insights into the early years of SSA, its culture and operations.

3/14/96

31

Ed Tall
This interview focuses on the development of the Black Lung program.

10/24/95

37

Larry Thompson

11/95-12/95

Mildred Tyssowski
This interview tells the story of the early days of SSA and focuses particularly on budget-related developments over the years.

2/6/96

23

Sumner Gage Whittier

7/31/97

 

 Columbia University Oral Histories

Person

Date

Pages

Arthur J. Altmeyer
This is a very important interview by a
key player in the early history of Social Security

8/66

231

Edward Annis

6/23/67

84

Barbara Armstrong

12/19/65

318

Robert Ball

4/5/67

52

Frank Bane

2/16/65

122

Alexander Barkan

11/18/66

10

Harry Becker

12/6/66

40

Bernice Bernstein

3/3/65

127

Andrew J. Biemiller

3/16/66

49

Carter Bradley

9/21/66

28

James Brindle & Martin Cohen

5/2/67

36

J. Douglas Brown

2/22/65

149

Eveline Burns

2/10/65

184

John Byrnes

2/23/67

51

Winslow Cartlton

10/11/66

57

Blue Carstenson

1/23/66

234

Ewan Clague

3/23/65

153

Wilbur J. Cohen

7/20/66

58

Nelson Cruikshank

11/18/65

508

Charles Daly

2/14/67

28

Alvin David

6/6/66

27

Michael Davis

11/16/65

66

Loula Dunn

8/3/65

74

John W. Edelman

8/5/65 

99

John W. Edelman II

1956/57

243

Thomas Eliot

8/9/65

82

Katherine Ellickson

2/15/66

287

Lavinia Engle

4/21/67

186

Oscar Ewing

8/26/68

92

I.S. Falk

7/28/65

290

Fedele Fauri

9/8/66

60

William Fitch

2/21/66

101

Marion Folsom

6/9/65

208

Frank Graham

3/27/65

25

William Haber

8/11/65 

80

Joseph Harris

12/22/65

45

Jane Hoey

3/10/65

103

Reinhard Hohaus

7/27/65 

147

Marjorie Hunter

3/22/66

27

William Hutton

8/5/65

116

Leo Irwin

7/13/66

77

Jacob Javits

3/16/66

13

Arlen Large

3/14/66

66

Arthur Larson

3/15/67

54

Murray Latimer

6/8/67

50

Katherine Lenroot

2/22/65

173

Allen Lesser

2/16/66

46

Leonard Lesser

3/16/66

78

Manuel Levine

8/3/66

34

Isidor Lubin

3/2/65

32

Walter McNerney

12/22/66

34

Morton Miller

4/25/67

61

William Mitchell

3/22/65

140

Maurine Mulliner
Fascinating and entertaining history of the
early days of Social Security.

4/26/67

303

Robert J. Myers

3/8/67

95

Ivan Nestingen

11/16/65

109

James O'Brien

7/21/65

220

Charles Odell

8/10/65

117

Roswell Perkins

4/2/66

145

Claude D. Pepper

4/24/67

62

Paul & Elizabeth Raushenbush

10/6/66

295

William Reidy

7/28/66

101

Elliot L. Richardson

5/4/67

58

Gerel Rubien

6/15/66

41

Lisbeth Schorr

6/15/67

105

Charles Schottland

6/4/65

168

Harold Sheppard

7/15/66 

109

A. G. Singsen

2/1567

20

Herman Sommers

10/6/67 

203

Sidney Spector

9/20/66

57

Joseph Steler

9/20/66

58

Jack B. Tate

6/3/65

119

Gordon Wagenet

12/29/65

108

Elizabeth Wickenden

4/5/66

214

Alanson Wilcox

11/15/65

142

Edwin Winge

2/24/67

48

Kenneth Williamson

1/27/67

242

Irwin Wolkstein

3/14/66 

255

Leonard Woodcock

2/13/67

28

 

 CMS Collection 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have published a large and important collection of oral history interviews related to the history of Medicare and Medicaid. The interviews are in four general topical sets.

Set 1: HEW/HHS former Secretaries-arranged by date of service

Set 2: Former HCFA/CMS Administrators-arranged by date of public service

Set 3: HEW/HHS Officials and others involved in the early years of the programs and the agencies-arranged in alphabetical order

Set 4: Participants in Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Congressional action-arranged in alphabetical order

All four sets of interviews are available on the CMS website.

 

 Oral Histories from Other Collections

Library/Person

Date

Pages

Eisenhower Library
Arthur Flemming I

11/24/78

41

Arthur Flemming II

6/2/88

70

LBJ Library
Robert M. Ball

11/5/68

60

Anthony J. Celebrezze

1/26/71

39

Wilbur Cohen

2/8/68

141

John J. Corson

7/17/78

37

Russell B. Long

2/22/77

34

Wilbur Mills
Mills Interview Part 1
Mills Interview Part 2
Mills Interview Part 3
Note: The Wilbur Mills interview is in Adobe PDF format. PDF files courtesy of the LBJ Presidential Library.

3/25/74

68

Larry O’Brien

10/30/85

62

William H. Stewart

12/2/68

47

Elizabeth Wickenden

11/6/74

24

Truman Library
Ewan Clague (available online from Truman Library)

3/5-7/64

155

Oscar Ewing (available online from Truman Library)

4/29/69-5/2/69

215

Keyserling, Leon (available online from Truman Library)

5/3/71-5/13/71

87

Rosenfield, Harry N. (available online from Truman Library)

7/23/80

51

Radcliffe College
Ida Merriam

11/20-23/82

175

Bancroft Library- UC Berkeley
Frank Bane (available online at the Bancroft website)

1/5/65

294

Helen Valeska Bary

12/29/72

301

NASI
Robert J. Myers

3/27/96

28

J. Halamandaris Interview
Robert M. Ball

12/9/87

35

Blanche Coll Interviews
Robert M. Ball

2/2/88

19

Eveline Burns

7/1/85

25

Jules Berman

8/20/87

40

Wilbur J. Cohen

10/19/85

64

Mary J. Flynn

5/9/86

15

Alvin L. Schorr

6/12/87

49

Elizabeth Wickenden

5/28/86

46