Well, Kendall, I did part of my assignment but ran out time. From the shopping list you gave me to research, I did Social Security and Women's Suffrage. Here is what I found out: Social Security: My informatiion comes from a government publication which teachers use to teach classes about the program.

Obviously without research we know it came into being in 1935 When Franklin Roosevelt was president and the Democrats controlled the congress. The publication listed seven major highlights of the program since it was established. 1935, enacted and covered workers in Commerce and Industry;1939, Survivors and Dependents befefits were added; 1940, first monthly benefits paid. All of these were passed while Roosevelt was president and the Democrats controlled both houses of the congress. 1956, Disability benefits were added and provision providing protection against loss of income due to involuntary retirement. These were the Eisenhower years and I believe the Republicans controlled both houses of the congress. 1965, Medicare was added to the program, and Lyndon Johnson was President with a Democratic controlled congress; 1972, the program was extended to cover people with permanent kidney failure. Richard Nixon was President and the congress, I believe, was controlled by the Democrats. The last major highlight listed in the book was in 1983 when changes were made to assure sufficient income into the program for the foreseeable future. Ronald Reagan was President, and I believe the Democrats controlled the congress. In 1999, the earnings cap was lifted for people over the age of 65 and of course Bill Clinton is president and the congress is controlled by the Republicans.

So Kendall my friend, since three out of the five highlights were initiated on the watch of Republican presidents, I don't think it would be fair to say the Republicans never did anything for the common people.

Women's Suffrage: The book I used for research is titled, A History of the American Suffragist Movement, by Doris Weatherford with a Forward by Geraldine Ferraro.

I don't think either party can boast very much about this one. If there was a Democrat hero, it would be Woodrow Wilson, who supported the women's movement primarily because he was afraid of them. The tended to gang up on politicians in both parties who didn't support the effort to give women the vote. If there were villans, I would say it was neither party. The villans were men. The men of America did not want to give women the vote. As I'm sure you are aware, prior to passing the 19th Amendment to the Constitiution, states decided whether women in any particular state could vote. Leaders of the movement fought fifty years before the succeeded. However at both party conventions in 1916, both the Republican and Democratic parties included in their party platforms "unequivocal declarations in favor of Suffrage."

Also, in 1916, the great state of Montana was wise enough to send the first woman EVER to the United States Congress and she was a Republican. Jeanette Rankin became the ranking Republican on the House Committee dealing with Suffrage. She led the fight for Suffrage in the House of Representatives.

The 19th Amendment passed in the House of Representatives on May 21, 1919. The Senate did not pass it until June 4, 1919 and both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate was controlled by the Republicans.

Woodrow Wilson was out of office by this time and Warren G. Harding, a Republican, was President.

I will concede, of course, that the Democratic Party is the champion of Labor. That party likely has carried the battle for the minimum wage too. They should. The labor unions donate millions of dollars to the Democratic Party and to it's candidates.

So, that's the results of my research today. I don't feel the GOP came out that bad at all, all things considered.

DougR