Social work, the senior center movement, and public policy, 1943-1965

Abstract

This historical study examines social work's role in the development of programs and public policy in behalf of older Americans between 1943 and 1965. It focuses on the development of senior citizens' centers in the early 1940s; the role of social workers in that field, among others, in fashioning a movement in behalf of older people by creating The National Council on the Aging; and, the effects of both the movement and the profession in shaping the Older Americans Act of 1965, a major piece of public policy affecting the elderly.;The study utilizes interviews of social workers centrally involved in the establishment of the first senior center in the United States; the writings of central figures in the senior movement, such as Ollie Randall, and Government documents.;The study concludes that social workers played an important role in efforts to affect societal responses to the elderly through the application of professional principles and practices.