Townsend, Francis E.

Townsend, Francis E. (Everett) (1867–1960) physician, social reformer; born near Fairbury, Ill. He moved to Belle Fourche, S.D., to practice medicine (1903) and served as a physician in World War I. After an acute attack of peritonitis, he moved to Long Beach, Calif., with his family (1919). Appointed assistant health officer of Long Beach, he remained in this position until he was ousted in a local political upheaval (1933). His health remained a problem and he lost most of his savings during the Great Depression. Almost destitute, he conceived of his old-age revolving pension plan for the elderly; its essential feature was that every American over 60 would be given a pension to be financed by a national sales tax. Within two years the so-called Townsend plan spawned a social movement with 2.25 million members throughout the U.S.A. and its own newspaper (1935). Several bills incorporating the Townsend plan were introduced in Congress in 1935–36. Accused of profiting from the misery of others—the organization's finances were in disarray, due largely to Townsend's chief associate, Robert Clements—the essentially naive Townsend allied himself with the Reverend Gerald L. K. Smith, national organizer of Huey Long's Share-the-Wealth program, and through him became involved with an unsavory lot seeking to unseat President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Townsend faced a jail term for refusing to answer Congressional questioning about his organization of "Townsend Clubs," but Roosevelt commuted the sentence (1937). Although he attempted to modernize the plan, the return to prosperity and World War II eventually killed his movement.