One interesting outgrowth of all this focus on the elderly was the emergence of "aging" as an issue of national interest.
"Most of the early state old-age assistance program were administered apart from other public aid in accordance with the intent of the legislation. The leaders in these programs were trail-makers in pointing up the special needs of older people...It was not until the 1937 session [of the American Association of Social Security] at Indianapolis that the National Conference of Social Work devoted separate program time to the subject of aging and even then somewhat reluctantly. A special subcommittee was allowed to schedule two meetings but the hours allotted were the least desirable--two to four on Friday afternoon and eleven to one on Saturday morning, by which time most delegates would ordinarily be on the way home. Much to everyone's astonishment, both meetings brought out a full house." (Robert T. Lansdale,1960)