<I>TSC's</I> Countdown: In Chronological Order
Do you remember where you were when ADM became the world's largest linseed-oil maker? Figure it out here with our top 100 U.S. business events of the century listed by date, from 1901 to 1996.
1900s
1901:
Morgan consolidates U.S. Steel (58)
1906:
The Jungle
is published (42)
1907:
U.S. immigration peaks (44)
1909:
Bakelite is introduced (17)
1910s
1910:
Frederick Taylor's 'scientific management' theory gains legitimacy (94)
Jan. 10, 1910:
Hallmark gets its start (100)
May 15, 1911:
The Supreme Court orders the breakup of Standard Oil (36)
1913:
The Federal Reserve is formed (3)
1913:
Ford introduces the assembly line (6)
1914:
Thomas Watson becomes president of IBM's predecessor (88)
Aug. 15, 1914:
The Panama Canal opens (86)
1915:
Carrier Engineering is founded, beginning the commercialization of air conditioning (10)
1920s
1922:
New York's WEAF broadcasts the first radio ad (35)
1923:
ADM becomes the world's largest linseed -oil maker (55)
1923:
Alfred Sloan becomes president of General Motors (66)
1928-29:
The explosion of RCA's stock epitomizes market mania (75)
March 31, 1929:
Bernays lights the 'Torches of Liberty' (76)
Oct. 24-29, 1929:
The Great Crash of 1929 (4)
1930s
Aug. 4, 1930:
The first U.S. supermarket, King Kullen, opens (81)
1932-34:
The Depression-era securities laws (19)
May 12, 1933:
The Agricultural Adjustment Act is signed (50)
1934:
Benjamin Graham's
Security Analysis
is published (62)
June 1934:
FDR signs the act creating the Federal Housing Administration (73)
1935:
The Public Utility Holding Company Act is enacted (85)
Dec. 17, 1935:
The first DC-3 flight (27)
1936:
Keynes publishes
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
(12)
1936-37:
The United Auto Workers stage their first sit-down strikes (14)
March 1, 1936:
Hoover Dam is completed (61)
1939:
Hewlett and Packard put Silicon in the Valley (16)
April 20, 1939:
The first commercial television broadcast (23)
1940s
1940:
Charles Merrill re-creates Merrill Lynch (52)
World War II:
Coca-Cola becomes a global brand (41)
1941-45:
Rosie the Riveter and FEPC: Women and minorities contribute to the war effort (72)
1942:
Kaiser's World War II shipyards surpass all expectations of production (7)
September 1943:
A Merck scientist synthesizes streptomycin (25)
1944:
The Bretton Woods agreement (29)
June 22, 1944:
FDR signs the GI Bill of Rights (43)
1946:
The baby boom begins (51)
1947:
Kennan's 'X' letter gives birth to the peacetime military-industrial complex (13)
1947:
Three Bell Labs scientists invent the transistor (28)
June 5, 1947:
The Marshall Plan (39)
October 1947:
Levittown opens (49)
1950s
July 17, 1955:
Disneyland opens (98)
June 29, 1956:
Eisenhower creates the interstates (1)
1957:
The first Japanese car, a Toyota, is sold in the U.S. (26)
July 29, 1958:
Eisenhower signs the act creating NASA (56)
September 1958:
Bank of America launches the first credit card (22)
1960s
1960s:
President Johnson's Texas-sized spending spurs domestic inflation (68)
July 1960:
Maiman unveils the first working laser (79)
1961:
Kroc buys McDonald's (15)
1961:
Frances Kelsey blocks the U.S. approval of thalidomide (63)
1962:
The first Wal-Mart opens (8)
June 1962:
The New Yorker
serializes
Silent Spring
(53)
1963:
Valium is introduced (87)
June 10, 1963:
Equal pay for equal work (5)
1964:
The Civil Rights Act (31)
Jan. 11, 1964:
The surgeon general reports that smoking causes lung cancer in men (83)
June 28, 1965:
Intelsat 1 goes into service (80)
July 30, 1965:
President Johnson signs Medicare into law (20)
August 1965:
Watts explodes in race riots (54)
1968:
Hospital Corp. of America is founded (48)
1970s
1970s:
Wage stagnation starts (37)
1970:
Xerox founds its Palo Alto Research Center (32)
1971:
Intel invents the single-chip microprocessor (2)
1971:
MCI is authorized to compete with AT&T (77)
1971:
Michael Milken starts Drexel's junk-bond trading operation (82)
June 18, 1971:
Southwest Airlines begins flying (91)
1973:
Cohen and Boyer pioneer recombinant DNA techniques (67)
April 1973:
Federal Express begins operations (70)
May/June 1973:
Black and Scholes introduce their options pricing model in the
Journal of Political Economy
(71)
1973-74:
The OPEC oil shock (40)
Sept. 2, 1974:
President Ford signs ERISA into law (34)
May 1, 1975:
Wall Street's fixed commissions end (59)
June 20, 1975:
Jaws
ushers in the blockbuster era in Hollywood (95)
September 1975:
HBO via satellite accelerates the fragmentation of the TV marketplace (84)
August 1976:
Bogle launches the First Index Investment Trust (89)
1978:
Toys R Us revives employee stock options (30)
1978:
The University of Phoenix, a for-profit university, is accredited (96)
October 1978:
The California asbestos lawsuits (60)
March 29, 1979:
The Three Mile Island disaster (99)
August 1979:
Volcker becomes Fed chairman (24)
1980s
1980:
Reagan is elected (11)
1980:
The Supreme Court allows gene patenting (33)
1980:
The CCITT Group 3 recommendation for facsimile machines is adopted (65)
Jan. 7, 1980:
The government bails out Chrysler (69)
1981:
Microsoft is tapped to provide the IBM operating system (21)
August 1981:
Reagan fires federal air traffic controllers (45)
October 1981:
Harley-Davidson adopts Japanese management techniques (92)
August 1982:
The current bull market begins (9)
1984:
Calpers promotes shareholder activism (57)
Jan. 1, 1984:
AT&T is dismantled (46)
Dec. 6, 1984:
Nasdaq gets its first blue-sky exemption (64)
1987:
Nike's Revolution ads commodify dissent (97)
Oct. 19, 1987:
The Black Monday crash (78)
1988:
The savings-and-loan crisis peaks (47)
1989:
The Berlin Wall falls, heralding the triumph of market capitalism (38)
1990s
April 1993 to present:
Lou Gerstner turns IBM around (90)
Aug. 9, 1995:
Netscape goes public (18)
Oct. 29, 1996:
AOL goes to flat-rate pricing (74)
