United States. Committee on Economic Security

The Committee on Economic Security (CES) was commissioned by President Roosevelt and its research formed the basis of the legislative proposal the President sent to Congress in January 1935. The material produced by the CES was thus the blueprint for what would become the Social Security Act. The CES was composed of five top cabinet-level officials, under the leadership of Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins: Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury; Homer Cummings, Attorney General; Henry Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture; Harry Hopkins, Administrator of FERA; and Professor Edwin Witte. The CES assembled a small staff of experts borrowed from other federal agencies along with a handful of outside consultants. (Source: Social Security Administration History)