"What You Need Not What You Want": Public Assistance Programs in Chippewa County during the New Deal Era

Abstract

This thesis examines the impact of public assistance programs in Chippewa County. It examines the role the Social Security Act played in reshaping how public assistance programs were run in Chippewa County. Also it examines how the public assistance programs were made to reenforce the traditional role of the American family as the lawmakers saw it. The public assistance programs were made to preserve the paternalist system of America with the husband and father at the top supporting the family and the wife and mother being the person at home taking care of the family. Public assistance programs have always been a divisive issue, and to further understand how the system was made and how it affected those in the program can give a better understanding of why the system is how it is today. This thesis's main source of information was the case files of the families who applied for assistance and the government reports on how much was spent on the programs.