Key Moments in the History of Social Security

A look back at the evolution of this vital government program that dates back to 1935

by John Waggoner, AARP, Updated April 11, 2023

collage of photos illustrating a few events and eras in the evolution of social security since it was signed in to law in 1935

FPG/Bradley C Bower/AP Photo/Getty

En español | Social Security was born 87 years ago this Sunday, in 1935, and over the subsequent decades it has matured into a vital source of inflation-adjusted income for retired and disabled workers, their dependents and their survivors. Today, the program pays benefits to more than 70 million Americans. Here's a timeline of significant events in the history of Social Security.

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Photos

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PHOTO BY: Archive/GraphicaArtis/Getty Images

Aug. 14, 1935: President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.

Jan. 1, 1937: First Social Security benefits paid out in the form of one-time, lump-sum payments.
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PHOTO BY: AP Images

L- stack of Social Security applications, R- Ida M. Fuller, first Social Security monthly beneficiary

Aug. 10, 1939: Program broadened to include benefits for workers’ dependents and survivors.

Jan. 31, 1940: Ida M. Fuller became the first person to receive a monthly benefit. Her first check was for $22.54, the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $420.15 today. Fuller lived to the age of 100.

October 1950: Congress authorized the first cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), an increase of 77 percent.
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PHOTO BY: Denver Post Archives/Life Picture Collection/Getty Images/AP Images

Aug. 1, 1956: Social Security Act amended to provide benefits to disabled workers ages 50-64 and disabled adult children.

September 1960: President Eisenhower signed a law amending the disability rules to permit payment of benefits to disabled workers of any age and to their dependents.

June 30, 1961: All workers now allowed to take early retirement at age 62, albeit at a reduced Social Security benefit. Previously benefits could not be claimed until the normal retirement age (NRA) of 65.
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PHOTO BY: BackyardProduction/Getty Images

Oct. 30, 1972: Congress established Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a national benefit program administered by Social Security that provides monthly cash payments to older, blind and disabled people with very low incomes and limited assets.

July 1975: First annual automatic COLA, an 8 percent increase, was paid. Before 1975, each COLA required authorization by Congress.

July 1980: Beneficiaries received the highest annual COLA increase ever — 14.3 percent. The inflation rate in 1980 was 12.5 percent.
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PHOTO BY: National Archives/White House Photographic Office

April 20, 1983: President Ronald Reagan signed into law sweeping changes to Social Security, based on recommendations of the National Commission on Social Security Reform (also known as the Greenspan Commission) aimed at shoring up the program's shaky financial footing. These included increasing the payroll taxes that fund Social Security; gradually raising the NRA to 67; and making 50 percent of Social Security benefits taxable for recipients with incomes above $25,000 for an individual and $32,000 for married couples filing jointly.

Oct. 1, 1988: A nationwide toll-free number was implemented for people to contact the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Aug. 10, 1993: President Bill Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, a massive package of tax increases and spending cuts that included a provision raising the share of Social Security benefits subject to income tax from 50 percent to 85 percent for beneficiaries with incomes above $34,000 (single) or $44,000 (couple).
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PHOTO BY: Bill Smith/Bradley C Bower/AP Photo/SSA

May 17, 1994: The SSA official website was launched.

Oct. 1, 1999: Annual mailings of Social Security Statements began. About 125 million statements, showing workers’ earnings and projected benefits, were sent to all workers ages 25 and older.

April 7, 2000: The Senior Citizens’ Freedom to Work Act of 2000 was signed into law, eliminating the Retirement Earnings Test (RET) for those beneficiaries at or above NRA. (The RET still applies to those beneficiaries below NRA.) The RET was an original feature of the Social Security Act.
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PHOTO BY: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Feb. 12, 2008: Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, the first boomer to apply for Social Security retirement benefits, received her first monthly benefit payment.

May 1, 2012: The Social Security Statement became available online after most paper statements stopped being mailed out in 2011. Today, paper statements are automatically mailed only to workers 60 and over who are not yet collecting benefits and who have not set up an online My Social Security account.
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PHOTO BY: WV Pics/Getty Images

March 17, 2020: Social Security field offices shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several months later they began offering in-person appointments in rare, "dire need" situations, but most services are offered only online or by phone.

April 7, 2022: Field offices fully reopened after more than two years of pandemic restrictions.

March 31, 2023: The annual report from the Social Security trustees projected that the two trust funds from which benefits are paid would run short in 2034, after which only about 80 percent of benefits could be paid.