January 31st marks the first day a Social Security check was issued. The check went to Ida May Fuller for $22.54.
Ida May was from Vermont. She was a school teacher, and later a legal secretary. Ida May never married and had no children. Reports show she filed her claim in November 4, 1939 after swinging by an office to ask about possible benefits. She stated, “It wasn’t that I expected anything, mind you, but I knew I’d been paying for something called Social Security.”
