BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Thursday marks the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act, and a Vermonter was one of the first recipients of the new federal program.
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law 90 years ago this week, he vowed it would provide economic stability to older people while giving the U.S. “an economic structure of vastly greater soundness.”
On January 31, 1940, the first monthly retirement check was issued to Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, for $22.54.
Fuller had retired in 1939 as a legal secretary and started collecting the benefits. She lived to be 100 years old, dying in 1975.
Today, the program provides benefits to almost 69 million Americans monthly. It’s a major source of income for people over 65 and is popular across the country and political lines.
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