The Vault, Slate Magazine’s new historical blog, shares two pages from the comic books created in the 1960s to sell the young folk of that era on this thing called social security…
Why should young people care about Social Security? Some of these comics sold the program as a way that the government could help free young people from familial obligation. The crew-cut young men and well-dressed girls wanted to help parents in dire straits, but they shouldn’t have to. Social Security would make sure Tom wouldn’t have to skip engineering school to take over the family farm, and Janet wouldn’t have to postpone her wedding to earn money for her family. (Yes, Janet’s “dream” was marriage, even in a comic published in 1965; the 1950s died hard.)
This is what we need more of: Comic books as political propaganda. Where’s my comic to explain the Fiscal Cliff to children, dammit?
