The 100 Most Significant Events in American Business : an Encyclopedia / Quentin R
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THE 100 MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN AMERICAN BUSINESS An Encyclopedia Quentin R. Skrabec, Jr. (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. The 100 Most Significant Events in American Business (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. THE 100 MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN AMERICAN BUSINESS An Encyclopedia Quentin R. Skrabec, Jr. (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2012 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Skrabec, Quentin R. The 100 most significant events in American business : an encyclopedia / Quentin R. Skrabec, Jr. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-313-39862-9 (hbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-39863-6 (ebook) 1. United States—Commerce—History—Encyclopedias. 2. Industries— United States—History—Encyclopedias. 3. Business—History—Encyclopedias. I. Title. II. Title: One hundred most significant events in American business. HF3021.S57 2012 338.097303—dc23 2011050442 ISBN: 978-0-313-39862-9 EISBN: 978-0-313-39863-6 16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. Greenwood An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. To the Star of the Seas, who guided Columbus to the American shores (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Contents Preface xiii Acknowledgments xv Introduction xvii Privatization of the Plymouth Colony (1623) 1 Navigation Acts (1651) 2 Wealth of Nations (1776) 5 Patent and Copyright Statutes (1790) 8 “Report on Manufacturing” (1791) 10 Whiskey Rebellion (1794) 12 Jefferson Embargo (1807) 16 First Steamboat to New Orleans (1811) 18 National Road (1811) 21 Erie Canal (1825) 23 Tariff of Abominations (1828) 26 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (1828) 28 Whig Party Evolves (1834) 30 Panic of 1837 34 Automated Sewing Machine (1846) 36 Revolution, Famine, and Immigration (1848) 39 vii (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. viii | Contents Clipper Ships (1849) 42 Western Union Telegraph Company (1851) 45 Great Exhibition of 1851 48 Transatlantic Cable (1857) 50 Panic of 1857 53 Overland Travel and Mail Service (1859) 56 Abraham Lincoln Establishes Protectionism (1860) 59 World’s Largest Cannon/Civil War Technology (1864) 61 Transcontinental Railroad Completed (1869) 64 Westinghouse Air Brake (1869) 67 Panic of 1873 69 Andrew Carnegie’s First Steel Mill (1875) 72 Centennial Exposition (1876) 74 First Commercial Telephone (1877) 77 Great Railroad Strike of 1877 80 World’s First Skyscraper (1884) 82 War of the Currents (1885) 85 Sears Mail Order Business (1886) 88 Haymarket Riot (1886) 90 ALCOA Aluminum Formed (1888) 93 McKinley Tariff of 1890 96 Homestead Strike of 1892 99 Panic of 1893 104 Chicago World’s Fair (1893) 107 Pullman Strike (1894) 110 Niagara Falls Power Plant (1896) 112 Paternal Capitalism—Homestead and Wilmerding, Pennsylvania (1896) 115 (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Contents | ix First Electric Sign (Product Branding and Advertising)—H. J. Heinz (1900) 119 First Billion-Dollar Corporation—United States Steel (1901) 122 Henry Ford Wins Race of the Century (1901) 125 Owens Automated Glass Bottle–Making Machine (1904) 128 Upton Sinclair’s Jungle (1905) 131 Panic of 1907 133 Highland Park Ford Assembly Line (1910) 136 Scientific Management (1911) 139 Standard Oil Antitrust Lawsuit (1911) 141 Income Tax (1913) 145 Federal Reserve Act (1913) 147 Commercial Flight (1914) 150 Panama Canal Opens (1914) 153 General Motors Corporation Formed (1916) 155 Great Steel Strike of 1919 158 First Commercial Radio (1921) 162 Hawthorne Studies Begin (1924) 164 Talking Movies— The Jazz Singer (1927) 166 Stock Market Crash/Great Depression (1929) 169 Hoover Dam (1931) 173 National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) (1935) 175 Social Security Act (1935) 177 Television at the 1939 World’s Fair 180 Maslow’s Theory of Needs (1946) 182 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (1947) 184 First Credit Card (1950) 186 UNIVAC I (1951) 189 (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. x | Contents Shippingport Atomic Power Station (1956) 191 Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 193 First Mass-Produced Transistor Radio (1957) 195 First Japanese Auto Sold in the United States (1958) 197 Steel Strike of 1959 200 America Targets the Moon (1961) 203 McDonald’s Launches Golden Arches (1962) 205 Telstar Communications Satellites (1962) 208 First Wal-Mart (and Kmart) Open (1962) 210 IBM 360 Computer (1964) 213 Unsafe at Any Speed (1965) 215 ARPAnet (Earliest Internet) Formed (1969) 218 Wage and Price Controls (1971) 220 Arab Oil Embargo (1973) 222 First Customer Scan of a Bar Code (1974) 225 The Year of the PC (1977) 227 Three Mile Island Nuclear Failure (1979) 229 IBM Personal Computer (1982) 232 FCC Approves Advanced Mobile Phone System (1G) (1982) 234 Deindustrialization of America—General Tire Akron Closes (1982) 236 CD-ROM (1985) 239 Savings and Loan Crisis (1986) 241 W. Edwards Deming Publishes Out of the Crisis (1986) 243 Amazon.com (1994) 246 Bill Gates Internet Memo (1995) 248 Google Incorporated (1998) 250 First 3G Networks and the Smartphone (2003) 253 (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Contents | xi RFID at Wal-Mart (2005) 255 Banking Crisis and Great Recession (2008) 257 General Motors Bankruptcy (2009) 260 Appendix: Primary Documents 263 Bibliography 301 I n d e x 3 1 3 (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Preface This work embodies over 20 years of research in building a literary pantheon of American capitalists and business leaders. This project gave me a new look at busi- ness in America. I was often struck by the role that government played in the devel- opment of American capitalism. Events such as the National Road, the Erie Canal, overland mail, Republican protective tariffs, railroad expansion, the Panama Canal, Hoover Dam, and the space program clearly showed that infrastructure played a major role. These government projects were proactive, often combining govern- ment and private resources to accomplish major goals in the advance of American business. Another theme that emerged was the reoccurring business models built around speed of product delivery by canal, clipper ships, Pony Express, railroads, or trucks, as well as the speed of communications using the mail, clipper ships, telegraph, telephone, radio, satellite communications, and 3G networks. Doing something faster was a major theme of America’s most successful companies. Another conclusion is that the moment an invention occurred often preceded its commercialization by years. Commercialization often required a new business model and a vision beyond that of the inventor. The most successful inventors, such as Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Steve Jobs, were able to com- bine their inventions with commercial use. Lastly, this research clearly showed the interconnections of business events. Business events tended to be evolutionary versus revolutionary. Commercial events were often the confluence of different streams of progress toward a market-driven need. Often it was the businessperson who put together many scientific advances to achieve commercialization. xiii (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Acknowledgments I would like to thank my editor, Brian Romer. This work is his vision. I was blessed with four of the country’s best archival staffs at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, Senator John Heinz History Center, and the Benson Research Center at The Henry Ford. At the Heinz Center, I had the expertise of Lisa Lazar, Lauren Paige Zabelsky, and Art Louderback as well as the entire staff. In addition, I would like to thank Terri Blanchette, Sandra Baker, and Rob Ridgeway of the Heinz His- tory Center in Pittsburgh. At The Henry Ford Benson Research Center, I had the same outstanding assistance from Carol Whittaker and Kira Macyda and the whole staff at the center. I would like to thank the staff at the Carnegie Library of Pitts- burgh as well. Reference librarians are often the forgotten people behind a success- ful book; thanks also to Rebecca Quintus. I would like to especially thank Alesha Shumar, archivist at the University of Pittsburgh; Wendy Pfleg of the University of Pittsburgh; and Barry Ched and Gil Pietrzak of the Carnegie Library of Oakland. Thanks also to Julie Ludwig, associate archivist of the Frick Collection (New York), and Greg Langel of the Frick Center in Pittsburgh. I would like to give special thanks to Julie McMasters of the Toledo Museum of Art and Kimberly Brownie, Ann Bowers, and Barbara Floyd of the Ward M. Canaday Center at the University of Toledo. I would particularly like to credit the help and vast knowledge of Janet Metzger at the William McKinley Presi- dential Library and Museum. The staffs at both the Canton and Niles Presidential memorials are outstanding sources of information on 19th-century industrial America. The Clement Library of American History at the University of Michigan was another important reference library. Another important facet of the search was done at the Hayes Presidential Center archives. At the center, I would like to thank Nan Card, chief archivist, and Merv Nall. xv (c) 2012 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Introduction This encyclopedia explores the history and impact of the 100 most significant events in American business, intended for students, researchers, business profes- sionals, historians, writers, and general readers. The time period covered will be from 1700 to 2010.