On This Day

On this day in 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs into law the Social Security Act. The historic act, at that time guaranteed an income for the unemployed and retirees.

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The first monthly retirement check was issued to Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont.

Miss Fuller, a Legal Secretary, retired in November 1939. She started collecting benefits in January 1940 at age 65 and lived to be 100 years old, dying in 1975.

Ida May Fuller worked for three years under the Social Security program. The accumulated taxes on her salary during those three years was a total of $24.75.

Her initial monthly check was $22.54. During her lifetime she collected a total of $22,888.92 in Social Security benefits.