TSC's
list of the top 100 U.S. business events, presented from most important to least. 1. Eisenhower creates the interstates: June 29, 1956.
2. Intel invents the single-chip microprocessor: 1971.
3. The Federal Reserve is formed: 1913.
4. The Great Crash of 1929: Oct. 24-29, 1929.
5. Equal pay for equal work: June 10, 1963.
6. Ford introduces the assembly line: 1913.
7. Kaiser's World War II shipyards surpass all expectations of production: 1942.
8. The first Wal-Mart opens: 1962.
9. The current bull market begins: August 1982.
10. Carrier Engineering is founded, beginning the commercialization of air conditioning: 1915.
11. Reagan is elected: 1980.
12. Keynes publishes
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money: 1936.
13. Kennan's 'X' letter gives birth to the peacetime military-industrial complex: 1947.
14. The United Auto Workers stage their first sit-down strikes: 1936-37.
15. Kroc buys McDonald's: 1961.
16. Hewlett and Packard put Silicon in the Valley: 1939.
17. Bakelite is introduced: 1909.
18. Netscape goes public: Aug. 9, 1995.
19. The Depression-era securities laws: 1932-34.
20. President Johnson signs Medicare into law: July 30, 1965.
21. Microsoft is tapped to provide the IBM operating system: 1981.
22. Bank of America launches the first credit card: September 1958.
23. The first commercial television broadcast: April 20, 1939.
24. Volcker becomes Fed chairman: August 1979.
25. A Merck scientist synthesizes streptomycin: September 1943.
26. The first Japanese car, a Toyota, is sold in the U.S.: 1957.
27. The first DC-3 flight: Dec. 17, 1935.
28. Three Bell Labs scientists invent the transistor: 1947.
29. The Bretton Woods agreement: 1944.
30. Toys R Us revives employee stock options: 1978.
31. The Civil Rights Act: 1964.
32. Xerox founds its Palo Alto Research Center: 1970.
33. The Supreme Court allows gene patenting: 1980.
34. President Ford signs ERISA into law: Sept. 2, 1974.
35. New York's WEAF broadcasts the first radio ad: 1922.
36. The Supreme Court orders the breakup of Standard Oil: May 15, 1911.
37. Wage stagnation starts: 1970s.
38. The Berlin Wall falls, heralding the triumph of market capitalism: 1989.
39. The Marshall Plan: June 5, 1947.
40. The OPEC oil shock: 1973-74.
41. Coca-Cola becomes a global brand: World War II.
42. The Jungle is published: 1906.
43. FDR signs the GI Bill of Rights: June 22, 1944.
44. U.S. immigration peaks: 1907.
45. Reagan fires federal air traffic controllers: August 1981.
46. AT&T is dismantled: Jan. 1, 1984.
47. The savings-and-loan crisis peaks: 1988.
48. Hospital Corp. of America is founded: 1968.
49. Levittown opens: October 1947.
50. The Agricultural Adjustment Act is signed: May 12, 1933.
51. The baby boom begins: 1946.
52. Charles Merrill re-creates Merrill Lynch: 1940.
53. The New Yorker serializes
Silent Spring: June 1962.
54. Watts explodes in race riots: August 1965.
55. ADM becomes the world's largest linseed oil maker: 1923.
56. Eisenhower signs the act creating NASA: July 29, 1958.
57. Calpers promotes shareholder activism: 1984.
58. Morgan consolidates U.S. Steel: 1901.
59. Wall Street's fixed commissions end: May 1, 1975.
60. The California asbestos lawsuits: October 1978.
61. Hoover Dam is completed: March 1, 1936.
62. Benjamin Graham's
Security Analysis is published: 1934.
63. Frances Kelsey blocks the U.S. approval of thalidomide: 1961.
64. Nasdaq gets its first blue-sky exemption: Dec. 6, 1984.
65. The CCITT Group 3 recommendation for facsimile machines is adopted: 1980.
66. Alfred Sloan becomes president of General Motors: 1923.
67. Cohen and Boyer pioneer recombinant DNA techniques: 1973.
68. President Johnson's Texas-sized spending spurs domestic inflation: 1960s.
69. The government bails out Chrysler: Jan. 7, 1980.
70. Federal Express begins operations: April 1973.
71. Black and Scholes introduce their options pricing model in the
Journal of Political Economy: May/June 1973.
72. Rosie the Riveter and FEPC: Women and minorities contribute to the war effort: 1941-45.
73. FDR signs the act creating the Federal Housing Administration: June 1934.
74. AOL goes to flat-rate pricing: Oct. 29, 1996.
75. The explosion of RCA's stock epitomizes market mania: 1928-29.
76. Bernays lights the 'Torches of Liberty': March 31, 1929.
77. MCI is authorized to compete with AT&T: 1971.
78. The Black Monday crash: Oct. 19, 1987.
79. Maiman unveils the first working laser: July 1960.
80. Intelsat 1 goes into service: June 28, 1965.
81. The first U.S. supermarket, King Kullen, opens: Aug. 4, 1930.
82. Michael Milken starts Drexel's junk-bond trading operation: 1971.
83. The surgeon general reports that smoking causes lung cancer in men: Jan. 11, 1964.
84. HBO via satellite accelerates the fragmentation of the TV marketplace: September 1975.
85. The Public Utility Holding Company Act is enacted: 1935.
86. The Panama Canal opens: Aug. 15, 1914.
87. Valium is introduced: 1963.
88. Thomas Watson becomes president of IBM's predecessor: 1914.
89. John Bogle launches the First Index Investment Trust: August 1976.
90. Lou Gerstner turns IBM around: April 1993 to present.
91. Southwest Airlines begins flying: June 18, 1971.
92. Harley-Davidson adopts Japanese management techniques: October 1981.
93. The U.S. is a giant creditor nation: 1918-1982.
94. Frederick Taylor's 'scientific management' theory gains legitimacy: 1910.
95. Jaws ushers in the blockbuster era in Hollywood: June 20, 1975.
96. The University of Phoenix, a for-profit university, is accredited: 1978.
97. Nike's Revolution ads commodify dissent: 1987.
98. Disneyland opens: July 17, 1955.
99. The Three Mile Island disaster: March 29, 1979.
100. Hallmark gets its start: Jan. 10, 1910.
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