The Social Security card legend

The Social Security number issued for the sole purpose of tracking earnings histories. From 1946 the card carries FOR SOCIAL SECURITY PURPOSES — NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION. In 1961, the same year Congress required every taxpayer to furnish an identifying number, the legend is amended rather than deleted: For Social Security and Tax Purposes — Not For Identification. In 1972 the words are dropped altogether.

In plain words

The Social Security number is created only to track earnings, and from 1946 the card says it is not for identification. In 1961 the wording is widened to add tax purposes but keeps “not for identification”; in 1972 the words disappear. The promise, widened and then quietly retired, is printed on the card itself.

The mechanism

RELEASE → RE-ENCLOSURE, PRINTED ON THE OBJECT ITSELF — the promise was widened to admit the tax authority, and the words not for identification were left standing on top of the concession, then quietly retired

How it was checked

• EvidenceT7 PRIMARY DOCUMENT / MEASUREMENT; Status: COMMITTED; a capture; a release
• Letter eraTHE REGATHERING AND THE RAIL 1947 to 1993
• Plate — Social Security card, Form OA-702, Rev. 9-61 · photographed by N Giovannucci · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Social_Security_card_(09-61).jpg
• SourcesPRIMARY DOCUMENT — the agency's own bulletins and card-version history