Two odd stories about Social Security

Social Security touches the lives of almost every American family. It not only provides income to retirees but also to workers who become disabled and to families in which a spouse or parent dies.

The Mansfield Patch says it wasn’t always this way. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act in 1938, just a few years after the Great Depression and stock market crash left many older American penniless.

Don’t spend it all in one place, Ernest Ackerman!

In the early years, Social Security benefits were made as a single, lump-sum payment with the idea to provide some “payback” to those people who contributed to the program but would not participate long enough to be vested for monthly benefits.

Ernest Ackerman was the very first recipient of Social Security benefits. He retired the day after the Social Security program began. When he received his last paycheck, he found that his employer had withheld a nickel from his pay, thus Ackerman received a whopping lump-sum Social Security payment of 17 cents!

Ida May Fuller’s 420 monthly Social Security checks

Ida May Fuller, a 65-year-old retiree, was the first person to receive monthly payments. On January 31, 1940, the Social Security Administration began to mail monthly checks to her home in Rutland, Vermont. She collected benefits until age 100, dying on the anniversary of her first check on January 31, 1975.

If you or someone you know needs help with Social Security Disability benefits, contact the Social Security Disability lawyers at Fleschner, Stark, Tanoos & Newlin.