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Divorce and the Politics of the American Social Welfare Regime, 1969-2001 Suzanne Kahn Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University 2015 © 2015 Suzanne Kahn All rights reserved ABSTRACT Divorce and the Politics of the American Social Welfare Regime, 1969-2001 Suzanne Kahn Divorce and the Politics of the American Social Welfare Regime, 1969-2001 asks how rising divorce rates shaped the laws governing the American social welfare regime after 1969, when California passed the nation’s first no-fault divorce law. Scholars have shown that in the early 20th century the American social welfare regime developed to distribute economic resources, such as Social Security, to women through their husbands. Between 1967 and 1979, however, the divorce rate in the United States doubled. This dissertation investigates how this sudden challenge to the breadwinner-homemaker family structure affected the gendered welfare regime. Divorce and the Politics of the American Social Welfare Regime examines how women organized to gain access to the economic resources they lost through divorce and how policymakers responded to their demands. It reveals important and forgotten components of the histories of welfare state development, the feminist movement of the 1970s, and marriage law. It argues that, ironically, rising divorce rates led to a series of federal laws that actually strengthened the social welfare system’s use of marriage to determine eligiblity for benefits. These new laws specifically rewarded intact marriages by providing more robust benefits to women in longer marriages. In a political world increasingly concerned with the impermenance of marriage, Congress created a legal system that signaled that marriage was about length of commitment above all else. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………… ii Introduction…………………………………………………………………………… 1 Divorce, 1970s Style Chapter One…………………………………………………………………………… 50 Alimony Drones, Breeding Cows, and Displaced Homemakers: Women Find Their Way Through the Divorce Law Revolution Chapter Two…………………………………………………………………………… 113 Partners or Parasites?: Class, Race, Coverture, and the Definition of Credit Rights Chapter Three…………………………………………………………………………… 169 The Privileges of Marriage: Divorced Women and Health Insurance Access Chapter Four …………………………………………………………………………… 225 Marriage as Work, Marriage as Partnership: Divorced Women’s Fight for Retirement Security in the 1970s Chapter Five…………………………………………………………………………… 292 Marriage as Endurance Test: Divorced Women’s Access to Pensions in the 1980s and Beyond Chapter Six…………………………………………………………………………… 346 The Politics of Marriage: Feminists, Antifeminists, and the Struggle to Define Marriage Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………… 395 No-Fault Divorce in a Morality Based Welfare System Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………… 422 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I was not entirely decided about writing acknowledgements at this stage until I put together the bibliography for this dissertation, which, in itself, is a list of the many generous people who have shared their time, experiences, and kindness over the last six years. A more formal thank you seemed necessary. I have had the rare opportunity to study with the woman whose book inspired me to go to graduate school in the first place. I am lucky that Alice Kessler-Harris is an advisor who is not only inspiring but also deeply generous and caring about her student’s work and lives. Alice’s exacting standards and strong beliefs sharpened my own for the last six years. Ira Katznelson’s American Political Development seminar, along with time spent teaching for Ira and participating in his wonderful 20th Century American Politics and Society Workshop, profoundly shaped the questions I asked in this dissertation. More importantly, Ira has become my model for academic collegiality and what engaged scholarship and wide-ranging curiosity can do to foster scholarly communities. Many other professors guided this project and my graduate education. I would particularly like to thank Betsy Blackmar and Eric Foner for their support throughout graduate school. Premilla Nadasen arrived at Columbia after this project was well underway, but I am thrilled that she was here to advise its finish. From the moment I found my way into her office, I came to count on Ariela Dubler’s warm excitement about the questions I found most interesting. I have missed her in the last year. I have been lucky, however, that in her absence wonderful legal scholars have guided this project to completion. In particular, Dirk Hartog and Deborah Dinner have helped me navigate the literature of family law even though they had absolutely no ii obligation to do so. I also want to thank my undergraduate advisors—Beverly Gage and Jennifer Klein—who continue to offer their time as trusted advisors. One of the countless wonderful things about being a student of Alice Kessler-Harris (and this list includes trips to Paris!), is that you are immediately welcomed into a long line of students and network of friends. I thank the many former and current Alice students who have offered advice and friendship along the way, especially Beatrix Hoffman and Jennifer Brier who read and commented on chapters. Conversations with Sara Dubow in New Haven also played a critical role in shaping this project. And, Jennifer Mittlestadt and Patricia Seith provided helpful comments on conference papers. This project would not have been possible without generous funding from the William Nelson Cromwell Foundation, the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute, and the American Council of Learned Societies and the Mellon Foundation, as well as research grants from the University of Southern California and Tulane University. Generous archivists and librarians at every library I visited went above and beyond to help this project. I thank them all, but in particular David Hays at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who took me out to lunch everyday for the week I worked in his archive and made the connections that allowed me to interview Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder. Ryan Reft is not an archivist, but, lucky for me, he takes thorough photographs when in the archives. After a chance meeting at the AHA, I came home to find a kind email with photographs he had taken on an archival trip of his own that he believed would be useful to my work. They were! Finally, all of the librarians at the Schlesinger Library have created an archive that is genuinely nice place to visit and an incredible community that I am privileged to be a part of. iii Many people took the time to share their own experiences and memories with me. I would like to thank all of the women who heard about my project and said, “Oh, that happened to me.” Those off-the-cuff conversations were one of my very favorite parts of this work. That said, a few people allowed me to interview them and and deserve an even bigger thank you: the women who founded Ex-Partners’ of Servicemembers for Equality and their lawyers, especially Diana Janczewki who sent me articles and papers she had kept from her time with organization; Herma Hill-Kay; Arvonne Fraser; Barbara Dudley; and Congresswoman Pat Schroder. Travelling to archives across the country was only possible because so many people opened up their homes to me, providing beds and excellent company. For this I thank the entire Stern family in New Orleans, Deborah Hertz and Martin Bunzl in San Diego, Maggie Macdonald in Boulder, Eugene Garver in Austin, Nora Toiv in Washington DC, Rebecca Livengood in Cambridge and Philadelphia, Noah Dobin-Bernstein and Gabriella Villanueva in Chicago, Toby Miroff and Stephen Iino as well as Andrew Beaty in New York, and, of course, Richard Kazis and Jill Medvedow in Brookline who gave me a home in for an entire semester and much more. Since arriving in graduate school I have had the support of incredible friends. From the beginning, Tim Shenk, Asheesh Siddique, John Kuhn, Andre Deckrow, and Jessica Lee— catches, all—have made this entire process as fun as it could be. My women and the family reading group has seen me through a number of summers with conversation and camaraderie; thank you Emily Hainze, Anna Danzinger-Halperin, and Tess Cohen. Meredith Startz helped me navigate the economics literature on divorce. Many people took time away from their own work to read and comment on pieces of this project. Maria John was the first person I sent every chapter to. She is the best cheerleader I could have asked for. For their comments over the years, I also thank: Megan Marcelin, Ezra iv Tessler, Asheesh Siddique, Emily Hainze, Tamara Mann Tweel, JT Roane, Nick Juravich, the members of the Hurst Summer Institute in Legal History, the members of the Yale Women’s Writing Group who welcomed me for a year, the members of the Princeton Graduate Colloquium in Gender and Sexuality Studies, and the members of the Columbia Dissertation Support Group. My old and excellent friend Ted Fertik stepped in and read the entire dissertation when I wanted a new pair of eyes—a huge favor I hope to repay next year. Carolyn Arena, Andre Deckrow, and Sam Steinbock all generously helped proofread the final draft. Three friends deserve special thanks for their unwavering support and for truly making a life a split between two cities not only possible, but very often fun. For generously offering their couches and beds in New York and New Haven; for their daily company, sometimes virtual; and their life and writing advice over many meals and runs, I cannot thank enough Robin Swartout, John Kuhn, and Jessica Lee. Finally, I thank my family. My sister, Hannah, kept me from getting too lonely at my computer. Writing a dissertation about divorce makes deciding to get married a little difficult; but, the presence of Richard Kazis, Jill Medvedow, and Sophie Kazis in my life has served as a constant reminder of what great gifts come along with the risks when you link your life to someone else’s.