August 14
YOU’RE ONLY A NUMBER DAY
Those of you who are U.S. citizens can thank or blame Franklin D. Roosevelt for being identified by a number. It was on this day in 1935 that President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. Your Social Security number is the only number that identifies you and only you.
How did this numbering of Americans come to pass? Social security was a campaign promise in the 1932 presidential election. Democrats pledged: “We advocate unemployment and old-age insurance under state laws.” FDR proposed the bill in June of 1934. Conservatives fought it, some believing it would “threaten the integrity of our institutions.” Most supported it, hoping that it would address the long-range problem of economic security for the aged through a system in which workers contributed to their own future retirement.
The original Act, signed by FDR, benefited only retiring workers. In 1939, amendments were added to the Social Security Act providing for dependents benefits and survivors benefits, plus the start of monthly benefits. The original payments were in lump sums. The first to receive the lump-sum benefit was Ernest Ackerman, a retired Cleveland motorman. He retired one day after the program began and his five-cent contribution turned into a lump-sum, 17-cent benefit. Mr. Ackerman was the first to benefit, but he was not the first to receive a Social Security number. In fact, no one knows who received the first SSN.
The U.S. Postal Service distributed the applications beginning in November 1936, numbers to be assigned at local post offices. The first three digits, the Area Number, assigned by geographical region, first represented the state in which they were issued, and since 1972, represent the ZIP code on the applicant’s mailing address ... not necessarily the state of residence. The second two numbers are the Group Number, further defining the Area Number, but were and are not assigned in consecutive order. Go figure... The last four numbers, the Serial Number, further define the Group Number and are distributed consecutively.
Since even newborns now have to have a Social Security Number, it is safe to say, “you’re only a number.”
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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