For those of you interested here is a brief background on the history of Social Security.
Social Security Act was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935. After the Act was signed, the process of issuing social security numbers began. The first taxes were collected in January 1937 and the first payments were also made at this time. Those payments were lump sum payments. The monthly payments started in 1940. The first amendment to the Act was in 1939 added 2 new categories of people eligible to receive social security. The first was payments to a spouse and minor children of a retired individual and the second was survivor benefits if a worker died prematurely. In 1950 was the next amendment which introduced the concept of COLA – Cost of Living Adjustments. In 1956 disability was added to the list and disabled workers and disabled adult children were able to collect. In 1961 the law was amended to change the retirement age from 65 to 62. And in 1965 Medicare was signed into law.
There have been more changes and refinements over the years but hopefully this gives you a little background.
If you would like to get a more in depth history please go to the following link https://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html