<I>TSC's</I> Countdown: At a Glance
TSC's
list of the top 100 U.S. business events, presented from most important to least.
Friday, May 11: Nos. 1 to 20
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.
Thursday, May 13: Nos. 21 to 40
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.
Wednesday, May 12: Nos. 41 to 60
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.
Tuesday, May 11: Nos. 61 to 80
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.
Monday, May 10: Nos. 81 to 100
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.
