Episode Details

The first Social Security number was issued in a wild, behind-the-scenes scramble after FDR signed the 1935 Act—using post offices as typing centers. While no one’s 100% sure who got the very first card, John David Sweeney, Jr., a 23-year-old shipping clerk from New Rochelle, NY, is the symbolic first recipient, processed in a key batch in November 1936. Ironically, his Republican family didn’t support FDR but still enrolled him. He never collected benefits, passing away in 1974. Meanwhile, Grace D. Owens of New Hampshire got the lowest number ever issued—thanks to her state being assigned the first slot in the numbering system.

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