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Your Nine Digits (U.S.) Trivia Quiz

Test your historical knowledge about the nine digits that follow you throughout your lifetime...your Social Security Number !

A multiple-choice quiz by catnippin. Estimated time: 7 mins.

Author
catnippin

Time
7 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
48,392

Updated
Apr 23 23

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
5 / 10

Plays
1166

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. The social security program began with the 'Social Security Act of 1935'. What was it originally titled ? Hint

Disability Benefits Act

Economic Security Act

Money for the Old Act

Group Security Act

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Question 2 of 10

2. While the Social Security Act did not specify the use of numbered cards, it did call for the formation of a record-keeping plan. In 1936, the first group of Social Security Numbers (SSN) were assigned and distributed through ...? Hint

a field-office network

local post offices

banks

county courthouses

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Question 3 of 10

3. No one knows for sure who got the first SSN. When the first block of records was complete, the head of the Social Security Administration (SSA)'s Division of Accounting Operations pulled off the top record and designated it as 'the first official card'. What was the SSN ? Hint

059-05-0010

055-09-0001

001-01-0001

123-45-6789

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Question 4 of 10

4. SSN's were grouped by the first three digits of the number, called the 'area number', and assigned geographically starting in the northeast and moving across the country to the northwest. What state was assigned the lowest 'area number' ? Hint

Maine

New Hampshire

Vermont

Massachusetts

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Question 5 of 10

5. Social Security Board Chairman John G. Winant declined to have SSN 001-01-0001 registered to him. It was then offered to John Campbell, the Federal Bureau of Old Age Benefits' Regional Representative of the Boston Region. He declined it also ... so, who was issued SNN 001-01-0001 ? Hint

Gary R. Phillips

Karin S. Fuhz

Grace D. Owen

Michael J. Bognor

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Question 6 of 10

6. During the Social Security program's start-up period between January 1937 and December 1939, the SSA only made one-time, lump-sum payments. Ernest Ackerman was the first recipient of Social Security benefits. How much was paid to him ? Hint

170 dollars

17,000 dollars

17 cents

17 dollars

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Question 7 of 10

7. In 1936, the designer of the original Social Security card was paid $60 for his work. He was a skilled artist who also designed the famous 'Flying Tigers' logo used by General Chennault's forces during WWII. What was his name ? Hint

Doug Patterson

Fred Happel

Andy Patel

Bruce Jones

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Question 8 of 10

8. The most misused SSN of all time was 078-05-1120. Over the course of 40 years, more than 40,000 people used secretary Hilda Schrader Whitcher's SSN as their own. It was a demonstration card placed in what product and sold in Woolworth's and other department stores across the country...?

Answer: (One Word)

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Question 9 of 10

9. The two middle digits of the SSN are referred to as the 'group number'. Is it true that this 'group number' refers to racial groupings ? Yes or No...?

Answer: (One Word)

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Question 10 of 10

10. Are SSN's recycled after a person's death ? Yes or No...?

Answer: (One Word)

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The social security program began with the 'Social Security Act of 1935'. What was it originally titled ?

Answer: Economic Security Act

The term 'Social Security' was coined in the US by activist Abraham Epstein, who led a group called the American Association for Social Security.

Answer: local post offices

Since the Social Security Board did not have a network of field offices in late 1936, it contracted with the US Post Office to distribute and assign the first batch of SSN's through its 45,000 local post offices around the country.

Answer: 055-09-0001

It belonged to John David Sweeney, Jr., age 23 of New Rochelle, New York.

Answer: New Hampshire

Even though Maine is the most northeasterly of states, the lowest 'area number' was assigned to New Hampshire. This was apparently done so that SNN 001-01-0001 could be given to NH's favorite son, Social Security Board Chairman John G. Winant, who was also the former 3-time Governor of NH.

Answer: Grace D. Owen

It was finally decided not to offer this SSN as a token of esteem, but instead to issue it to the first applicant from New Hampshire..Grace D. Owen of Concord, NH who applied for her number on November 24, 1936.

Answer: 17 cents

The first person to receive monthly benefits was Ida May Fuller of Vermont, who retired in 1939 and started collecting benefits in January 1940 at age 65. In the 3 years she worked under the program, she contributed a total of {$24.75.} Her first benefit check was for {$22.54} and she went on collecting for 35 years, until 1975, when she died at age 100.

In this time she collected a total of {$22,888.92} !

7. In 1936, the designer of the original Social Security card was paid {$60} for his work. He was a skilled artist who also designed the famous 'Flying Tigers' logo used by General Chennault's forces during WWII. What was his name ?

Answer: Fred Happel

In 1985, Mr. Happel's surviving niece donated the original artwork for the card to the SSA's History Room in Baltimore.

Answer: wallet

In 1937, Hilda's boss Douglas Patterson, vice president and treasurer of the wallet manufacturing E.H. Ferree Company, decided to include a demonstration Social Security card in the new line of wallets. To make the false card a better representation, he included a real SSN, his secretary's.

The display cards were smaller than actual cards and had the word 'specimen' written on them, but many people took the number to be their own SSN anyway !

9. The two middle digits of the SSN are referred to as the 'group number'. Is it true that this 'group number' refers to racial groupings ? Yes or No...?

Answer: No

People have misconstrued this 'group number' to refer to their race. This is simply not true.

10. Are SSN's recycled after a person's death ? Yes or No...?

Answer: No

SSN's are not recycled. Upon an individual's death, the number is removed from the active files and is not reused. Recycling numbers might become an issue someday, but not any time soon - statisticians say the nine-digit SSN allows for approximately one billion possible combinations !

Source: Author catnippin

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
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