Seth Godin recently cited an interesting factoid in his blog:
Does anyone know if there’s any truth to this story, or is this just an interesting urban legend?
Bismarck, actually, and because he hated Socialism.
One persistent myth about the German program is that it adopted age 65 as the standard retirement age because that was Bismarck’s age… In fact, Germany initially set age 70 as the retirement age (and Bismarck himself was 74 at the time) and it was not until 27 years later (in 1916) that the age was lowered to 65. By that time, Bismarck had been dead for 18 years.
Godin is mistaken.
Just because it might appear contradictory, I would add that the concept was that by adressing some pressing social issues, he would limit the appeal of socialist ideas.