July 30 marks the anniversary of the Social Security Act Amendments of 1965. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill into law during a ceremony held at the Truman Presidential Library with Harry S. Truman at his side. Johnson requested Truman to accompany him at the ceremony in recognition of the former president's earlier, but failed attempts to pass similar legislation in the 1950s.
The amendments, Public Law 89-87, established government health insurance programs for people 65 and older (Medicare) and the poor (Medicaid). Funded by a tax on employee earnings with matching employer contributions, the new programs proved so popular that within a year, 20 million Americans were receiving Medicare- or Medicaid-funded health care. Today, the programs assist more than 130 million poor, disabled, and senior Americans meet their health care needs.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act Amendments of 1965 into law on
July 30, 1965, with Harry S. Truman (seated right) at his side.
Photo courtesy of the Social Security Administration.
On July 1, 1902, the U.S. Census Bureau became a permanent agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, under the directorship of William Rush Merriam. In 1903, the agency moved to the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor, and remained with the Department of Commerce when a separate Department of Labor was created in 1913.
July 2015 marks the 125th birthdays of Idaho and Wyoming. When admitted to the United States on July 3, 1890, Idaho's population was 84,385. Wyoming was admitted 7 days later, with a population of 60,705. Today, 576,851 people live in Wyoming and 1,839,106 people call Idaho home.
Both states have strong economic ties to the agriculture, mining, and mineral industries. Wyoming's Powder River Basin is the world's most prolific coal field producing 12 tons of coal per second, while Idaho's farmers produce more than 13.1 billion pounds of potatoes annually!
Photo courtesy of the Wyoming State Geologic Survey.
On July 10, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt named Census Bureau director Simon N.D. North as the Department of Commerce and Labor's representative to a panel tasked with developing regulations for the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.
The 1906 Act, inspired by Upton Sinclair's account of the meat packing industry in The Jungle, established regulations to protect America's food supply. The rules developed by Director North's panel protected consumers from adulterated or mislabeled food and drugs and directed the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry (the Food and Drug Administration today) to establish inspection protocols and prosecute offenders.