Old Age Associations in National Politics

The past decade has seen an unprecedented outpouring of federal laws, executive orders and new appropriations intended to benefit the elderly. A frequently overlooked, but quite significant, factor in this development has been the increased organized activity on the part of senior citizens themselves. In marked contrast to the old age groups of an earlier period, the elderly in recent years have coalesced behind groups with a high level of political rationality and internal organizational discipline. While aging groups are of various types and seek to fill a variety of functions, there is reason to focus on one category—the mass-membership organization—as especially important in helping to give shape and focus to widespread latent sentiments in the old age population. The rather striking success of three such groups—the American Association of Retired Persons-National Retired Teachers Association, the National Council of Senior Citizens and the National Association of Retired Federal Employees—can be analyzed in terms of their having found sources of income outside member dues, having created bureaucracies re cruited on the basis of performance criteria rather than charisma and having capitalized effectively on the emergence in recent years of a more benign climate for old age activity. By combining these criteria the groups consid ered appear capable both of insuring their own organiza tional survival and of continuing to exert an influence on federal policy makers.