The 1965 Social Security Amendments: For the first time, benefits were offered to divorced wives if they were at least 62 years old and if they had been married for at least 20 years.

On This Day: 1965 Medicare Bill . On July 7, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson enacted the Social Security Amendments which included the two crucial programs of Medicare and Medicaid.

Jim Morone, professor of political science and urban studies at Brown University, and Laurence Kotlikoff of Boston University, talked about the 1965 Social Security Amendments law that created the ...