I guarantee you that my remarks are going to enable you to leave here before 12 o'clock. Well I've thought that they probably ought to add a caveat that old bureaucrats, like children, should be seen but not heard, for the protection of you defenseless people in this audience and elsewhere, because old bureaucrats do love to dwell on the past. But when I got down here in Washington, D.C., I was promptly informed by Frank Bane, our Executive Director, that it was exactly the opposite that had occurred. So, don't believe all that old soldiers or old bureaucrats tell you about the past. To tell the truth, their memory is quite faulty in describing the truth as they saw it.
Today marks another anniversary besides the signing of the Social Security Act.
It's also the anniversary of the signing of what was known as the Atlantic Charter containing the four freedoms. The Atlantic Charter had specific reference to social security. And it came about in this way. Harry Hopkins was on board that ship too. Harry was a member of the Cabinet Committee that developed the recommendations that became the Social Security Act.