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The Population Explosion becomes a matter of increasing concern
The rapid increase in the world's population, especially in the Third World, hampers the attempts of the poorest nations to escape from their poverty and adds to inflationary pressures, which tend to be far worse in developing countries than industrial ones, as well as exacerbating environmental problems. -
President Johnson's Texas-sized spending spurs domestic inflation:
Lyndon Johnson's effort to conduct a war in Vietnam and a War on Poverty at the same time causes inflation to triple from 1.9% in 1965 to 6.2% four years later. The price hikes give Americans their first taste of the double-digit inflation that would follow a decade later. -
Minimum Wage Hike
President John F. Kennedy signs legislation raising the minimum wage in stages from its current $1 per hour to $1.25 per hour by September 1963. -
Kennedy Proposes Moon Program
In a congressional address, President John F. Kennedy pledges to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. -
$2 Billion Wasted
Kennedy hears from Senate leader after Saigon trip to see outcome of U.S. aid. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis of 1962, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union initiated by the American discovery of Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. -
JFK Proposes Big Tax Cuts
In a speech before the Economic Club of New York, President John Kennedy unveils a plan for economic recovery that emphasizes large tax cuts and credits for businesses. One of his liberal economic advisors labels it the most “Republican speech since McKinley.”1 These proposals will become part of the Tax Reduction Act signed into law in 1964. -
Equal Pay Act
The Equal Pay Act, signed in to law by President John F. Kennedy on June 10, 1963, was one of the first federal anti-discrimination laws that addressed wage differences based on gender. -
The Civil Rights Act
Among its other antibias provisions, this landmark legislation (proposed by Lyndon Johnson as a tribute to the slain JFK) outlaws race- and gender-based employment discrimination at any business with more than 25 employees. It also establishes the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission to review complaints, giving the federal government a new role in the hiring and firing process. -
Johnson Slashes Taxes
President Lyndon Johnson signs the Tax Reduction Act lowering income tax rates from a range of 20–91% to 14–70%. Corporate rates are reduced from 52% to 48% -
Johnson Signs Transit Bill
President Lyndon Johnson signs the Urban Mass Transit Act allocating $375 million for the construction of urban transit systems. -
The Great Inflation
The Great Inflation was the defining macroeconomic period of the second half of the twentieth century. Lasting from 1965 to 1982, it led economists to rethink the policies of the Fed and other central banks. -
Medicaid
This act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 30, 1965, in Independence, MO. It established Medicare, a health insurance program for the elderly, and Medicaid, a health insurance program for the poor. -
Rapid expansion of US banks abroad
From 13 US banks with a total of about 200 foreign branches the numbers increase to about 200 banks with around 800 branches. The growth is temporarily interrupted by the stock market crash of 1987. -
Intelsat 1 goes into service
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Minimum Wage Increase
The minimum wage is raised in stages from its current $1.25 per hour to $1.60 by February 1968 -
The First Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League where the champion of the National Football Conference competes against the champion of the American Football Conference. The game is the culmination of a regular season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. -
Hospital Corp. of America is founded
Dr. Thomas F. Frist Sr., his Air Force surgeon son and Jack Massey (former head of Kentucky Fried Chicken) start HCA in 1968 to rectify that sorry state. Eventually HCA, the first investor-owned hospital chain, would merge with Columbia to form Columbia/HCA Healthcare. It would become the largest operator of hospital chains in the country, until it is brought low in a major Medicare bilking scandal. -
Johnson Signs Low-Income Housing Bill
President Lyndon Johnson signs into law a housing act allocating more than $5 billion to meet the housing needs of low-income families. The bill finances the construction or renovation of 1.7 million units and provides subsidies for housing purchases and rentals -
Wage stagnation starts
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First Earth Day
Earth Day is an annual event celebrated around the world on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, it now includes events coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network in more than 193 countries. -
Voting Ages Change
The U.S. voting age is lowered from 21 to 18 years old when the 26th amendment is ratified. -
MCI is authorized to compete with AT&T
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Southwest Airlines begins flying
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Disney World Opens
The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World and Disney World, is an entertainment complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, in the United States, near the cities Orlando and Kissimmee. -
Black and Scholes introduce their options pricing model in the Journal of Political Economy
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Federal Express begins operations
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Cohen and Boyer pioneer recombinant DNA techniques
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After a record 84 days in orbit, the crew of Skylab 4 returns to Earth
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NASA's ATS-6 satellite is launched.
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The End of the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, and in Vietnam as the Resistance War Against America or simply the American War, was an undeclared war in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. -
Saturday Night Live Airs for the First Time
Live from New York for more than four decades, celebrity hosts join an award-winning ensemble cast to perform comedic sketches, satirical news and digital shorts, alongside popular musical acts. Capturing the pop-culture zeitgeist, the show's sketches and segments often go viral the next day. -
Microsoft was Founded
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company with headquarters in Redmond, Washington. It develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services. -
Wall Street's fixed commissions end
Pushed by the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission ends the price-fixing practice by brokers of charging 1% on all transactions. Wall Streeters argue that the Four Horsemen will gallop up Wall Street at any moment. And it briefly seems like they might be right. By the end of 1975, 35 brokerage firms disappear, though most of them are pretty dinky. -
Apple Was Created
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak create the Apple Computer Company. -
First Space Shuttle
NASA introduces the first space shuttle, the Enterprise. -
John Bogle launches the First Index Investment Trust
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The First Women Astronauts
NASA unveils the first group of women astronauts during January. The group included Shannon Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Kathryn Sullivan, Judith Resnik, Anna Fisher, and Sally Ride. The women enrolled in astronaut training and completed it in August of 1979. -
The American Pioneer Eleven passes the planet Saturn
The American Pioneer Eleven passes the planet Saturn, becoming the first spacecraft to visit the ringed planet, albeit at a distance of 21,000 kilometers. -
US Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act
Some banks have been seeking to evade restrictions by leaving the Federal Reserve System. Under this act all deposit-taking institutions are to be subject to the Federal Reserve System's reserve requirements in a planned, seven year programmer -
The government bails out Chrysler
President Jimmy Carter signs the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Act, offering the troubled automaker $1.5 billion in federal support. One of the few useful pieces of corporate welfare ever enacted, the guarantees helped pull Chrysler through a severe recession, saving tens of thousands of jobs. The company would pay back the loans in 1983, seven years ahead of schedule.
