When the the government first start giving poeple social security numbers?

8/14/1935,Franklyn D Roosevelt was president.

Well, as a consumer, I am taking a leap of faith by trusting that as a representative, you would not violate YOUR company's policy by stealing my social security number even though I provided it. I rarely provide my social security number to strangers however, I try everything before I give it out. Also, those consumers who do provide their social security number most likely have insurane for identity theft and are protected against it. Have you seen that commercial for an insurance company that protects identity theft? I think he was the governor of some state and had a truck driving around with his social security number on a truck because he is so positive that the company will not let his identity be stolen. It's a thought. :)

November 1936--Not until several years after the law was passed that actually created the social security administration. That's why you've never met anyone who talks about it--many of the people who got the first cards are dead by now though quite a few may still be alive. But not many people got social security numbers back then. For one thing, many-many Americans were farmers who worked for themselves in those days--not employees. They weren't brought under the social security system until years and years later. If a farmer died back then while the head of a family, his wife and children got no social security check for their support because farmers didn't have to pay into social security. Lots of other people didn't either, not just farmers, but I mention farmers because that's what so many people did for a living. We became a nation of employees who work for someone else only later. They were self-employed and free (yes, free to starve too, but didn't have to answer to any boss--or pay into social security). So direct answer: 1936, and say a person getting the card-plus-number that year was age 21, he or she would be 90-plus years old today.

It was 1935. The skeptics at the time were understandably very concerned with everyone being assigned a number by the government. FDR promised that the number was not to be used for tracking individuals. But that's exactly how it turned out. A bit of trivia there.

When F.D.R. came in as president, and the Social Security Act was passed. This was about 1933.

In a scene in CHINATOWN (in the wallet of the murdered Diane Ladd) you can see an early social security card, with "Social Security Act" on it.