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Two problems with your theory.

First, if applying for a social security card back then was anything like it is today, you mail your application to the local SS office. If he had been living in Hawaii at the time, he obviously would have mailed it to the Hawaii office, where it would have been processed. The Hawaii office would have issued him a Hawaii number - not one from Connecticut - regardless of what his ZIP code was.

Second, speaking as someone who has a number issued from a state other than the one he was born in, I know that I needed a social security number when I started elementary school - which is when mine was issued. While it’s plausible that Hawaii did not have the same requirement Maryland did, this adds a wrinkle to your “facts.”

First, if applying for a social security card back then was anything like it is today, you mail your application to the local SS office. If he had been living in Hawaii at the time, he obviously would have mailed it to the Hawaii office, where it would have been processed. The Hawaii office would have issued him a Hawaii number - not one from Connecticut - regardless of what his ZIP code was.

Nope. He would have applied by mail to the central office, which would have assigned the number based on the zip code in the application:

Since 1972, when SSA began assigning SSNs and issuing cards centrally from Baltimore, the area number assigned has been based on the ZIP code in the mailing address provided on the application for the original Social Security card.

From here:

http://www.ssa.gov/history/ssn/geocard.html

So if the bureaucrat in Baltimore mistyped his zip code, he would have gotten a SSN that starts with 042.

Second, speaking as someone who has a number issued from a state other than the one he was born in, I know that I needed a social security number when I started elementary school - which is when mine was issued. While it’s plausible that Hawaii did not have the same requirement Maryland did, this adds a wrinkle to your “facts.”

Got any evidence Hawaii required a SSN for elementary school?

First, if applying for a social security card back then was anything like it is today, you mail your application to the local SS office. If he had been living in Hawaii at the time, he obviously would have mailed it to the Hawaii office, where it would have been processed. The Hawaii office would have issued him a Hawaii number - not one from Connecticut - regardless of what his ZIP code was.

Nope. That was true up until 1973, but since then all Social Security number applications have been forwarded to Baltimore by the local offices. Then the Baltimore office issues numbers based on the ZIP code.

Add a third problem - even if there was a typo, the assignment to a new applicant would not be a re-issue.

...I know that I needed a social security number when I started elementary school...

What? I've never heard of such a thing. Who told you that was the case? You were, what...6 years old?