John,

The Trump administration is moving to destroy the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, the original headquarters of the Social Security Administration and one of the most important public art sites in the United States. This building was constructed to tell the story of why Social Security exists and who it serves.

Inside its walls are monumental New Deal murals, including The Meaning of Social Security by Ben Shahn and The Wealth of the Nation by Seymour Fogel. These works depict the brutal reality before Social Security -- child labor, poverty in old age, insecurity -- and the collective gains that followed when the program was created. Art historians rightly call the Cohen Building the Sistine Chapel of American Art.

The push to sell or demolish this building is being driven by Trump’s appointees at the General Services Administration (GSA), who have placed it on an accelerated disposal list. This is part of a broader effort by Donald Trump and his allies to weaken public support for Social Security itself. Before Social Security, nearly half of America’s seniors lived in poverty. Today, that number is under 10%. Erasing the public memory of that achievement serves a clear political purpose.

Demolishing the Cohen Building would destroy irreplaceable, site-specific murals that cannot be meaningfully removed or recreated. Once they are gone, the visual history of the New Deal and Social Security will be lost with them.

Tell the General Services Administration to immediately halt plans to demolish the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building and protect the Sistine Chapel of American Art.

Advocates, preservation experts, and former federal officials are sounding the alarm because this fight is happening now. While the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, that status alone does not stop demolition. Decisions made in the coming months could permanently erase one of the most powerful public narratives ever created about Social Security.

Trump’s allies have spent years attacking Social Security through privatization schemes, budget sabotage, and administrative neglect. Targeting the Cohen Building is the cultural front of the same war. When you remove the art that shows why Social Security matters, it becomes easier to undermine the program itself.

This building once housed the agencies charged with protecting workers, retirees, and the public interest. Its walls tell the story of why government exists to serve people, not markets. Destroying it sends a message that history, public goods, and collective responsibility are disposable.

We still have time to stop this. Public pressure works when it is loud, immediate, and impossible to ignore. The GSA and the administration need to know that Americans will not allow their history to be erased in silence.

Add your name now and demand protection for the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building and the New Deal art it contains.

Together, we can defend Social Security’s legacy and protect the public story it tells.

- DFA AF Team