ABSTRACT
Before World War II, few nations had created any type of list of all their citizens, but this became important as nations began collecting national taxes and providing services for healthcare and support. With the development of tabulating and computer machines which required numbers for efficient operation, this led to assigning national identity numbers to each of their citizens. Normally, a citizen needed their number to receive medical and similar services, but the United States did not follow this path. The only mass number assigned was in 1935 when social security was introduced and adults who wished to qualify for these payments needed to voluntarily apply for their social security number. Whereas the social security number was never intended for anything other than retirement benefits and had no security protection (or biometrics), it was used for medical and business identification purposes as it was the only “unique” national identity means for US citizens.
