Paradigm Shift: The Palin Matrix: The Progressive Left Strikes Back!

By Floyd M. Orr

Paradigm Shift is the story of the rise and fall of the American Empire as viewed within a psychosocial context. After eight years of Bush and Cheney, we were almost ready to turn our Titanic around before it hit the Iceberg from Wasilla. These are the rumors and legends about Sarah Palin that the mainstream media do not want you to know about their cash cow.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Floyd M. Orr
• Release date: Jan 7, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458137036

Floyd M. Orr

Floyd M. Orr is the founder of three blogs, the author of four books, and a contributor to two coffee-table books. He writes from the confines of his own deluded little mind in a genre he calls Nonfiction in a Fictional Style. All of his work is very personal, real, cerebral, entertaining, and generally of a nonfictional nature. He enjoys writing in short, inspired bursts of energy, usually early in the morning or in the middle of the night. His works could be considered compilations of history and dreams, with commentary thrown in for good measure. The author's favorite reading material is an esoteric combination of Playboy Magazine, coffee-table-sized books of car and motorcycle history, small automotive books chocked with facts and figures, political commentary books, Anne Rice novels, psychosocial dating manuals, and fictional stories of mysteries and werewolves. The author's favorite authors are Don Martin (his Fester & Karbunkle series), Anne Rice, Kurt Vonnegut, Jean Shepherd, Peter Egan, Al Franken, Al Past, Joe Bageant, P. J. O'Rourke, Robert Rimmer, Paul Krugman, Thomas Frank, Eric Schlosser, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, D. H. Schleicher, Paul Stiles, and Barbara Ehrenreich. Who is Floyd M. Orr? He is absolutely unknown and unfamous, but you can think of him as a mixture of Bill Hicks, Bill Maher, Bill Engvall, George Carlin, Lewis Black, Denis Leary, Al Franken, Jon Stewart, Robin Williams, Dana Carvey, Charlie Rose, Peter Fonda, Forrest Gump, Frank Burns, and Charles Emerson Winchester III. But he's not as smart or talented as any of those guys.

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Praise for Paradigm Shift: The Palin Matrix

Floyd's Hit A Home Run!! Excellent description of what's going on with the Right and big money. You should be featured in big newspapers all over the country – A View 999

Floyd Orr has the ability to soar high above us in his private multicolored balloon, observe the ants scurrying around on the ground (us), and project the whole picture years from now. I respect him for that. – Heidi

Bravo! You've expressed my thoughts and frustration so much more eloquently than I ever could. – Kat

Absolutely on target. – Luloo

O M G !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Totally hilarious! If you weren't so damn entertaining...you'd simply be brilliant! – The Mom

This is great! Wow, luv your creativity! – Alleycat Too

You are a national treasure. As an old 60s feminist, I have to applaud you on this. – Older Wiser

Explained much to me about this craziness. Keep connecting the dots: we need to know the truth! – Sunny Skies in Yuma

Dude, that's totally a bad-ass and introspective as well as wise article. Loved it. – J. Miranda

Well done! You have captured the personality of each of the characters perfectly. This could go on and on and on. Loved it. – Physics Mom

I like you very, very much. I wish I had found you sooner. I've been waiting for someone to write like you. – One Thing

This is a masterpiece! You give voice to the horror that so many of us feel, but are unable to articulate or even acknowledge. You dare to speak the unspeakable in a way that is so graphic and so precise, the hideous truth is splayed open. THANK YOU. Your words need to be in front of as many people as possible. – Truth Rocks

You do not tell people what they want to hear or say it in the way they think it should be said. For so long I have believed that things are a lot worse than they appear on the surface. I could never have explained it in the way you do but you give a voice to some very important things. – Granny J

"OMG, …I must continue to applaud you and wonder why you are not an op-ed author at The New York Times because you captivate your audience and make them think long and hard over everything you say… so truly INSPIRING. You and Matt Taibbi are the best authors and I can't understand why you both aren't writing op-eds for The New York Times. Thank you again for all the hard work you put into your efforts to provide us with your words of wisdom that cause us to ask questions trying to solve the very real problems in our country." – Lisa

Witnessing our overlords/banksters wreck the middle class is horrifying. Sometimes it is painful to shine the light on TRUTH. I am weary with you, and please know that your amazing writing… helps me keep my sanity in a country where so many of our fellow citizens are going insane. – Ella

I wish you were wrong but I'm afraid you're not. 2012 is going to be a difficult election depending on who the GOP nominates. – AKRNC

PARADIGM SHIFT

The Palin Matrix

The Progressive Left Strikes Back!

Floyd M. Orr

One of the things I have learned about myself over the years is that I am incapable of composing a novel or any other singularly intended work. What composition talent I have lies in a series of short stories or articles strung together with some common thread.

Other Books by Floyd M. Orr

Ker-Splash 2: The High Performance Powerboat Book (2010)

Timeline of America: Sound Bytes from the Consumer Culture (2006)

The Last Horizon: Feminine Sexuality & The Class System (2002)

Ker-SPLASH! Recreational Power Boaters Guide (First Edition, 2002)

Plastic Ozone Daydream: The Corvette Chronicles (2000)

Also by Floyd M. Orr

Stangworld & Magical Days, featured only in

Mustang Legends: The Power, the Performance, the Passion

(Voyageur Press, 2004)

Vetteworld, reprinted from Daydream in

This Old Corvette: The Ultimate Tribute to America’s Sports Car

(Voyageur Press, 2003)

PARADIGM SHIFT

The Palin Matrix

The Progressive Left Strikes back!

Floyd M. Orr

NIAFS Press

tmp_350e0b5551c48da904e80045a9871aae_Yny4uB_html_m485de363.png

Nonfiction in a Fictional Style

Austin, Texas

Paradigm Shift: The Palin Matrix

The Progressive Left Strikes back!

Smashwords Edition

All Rights Reserved © 2011 by Floyd M. Orr

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher.

This book is a work of nonfiction. Any and all facts and figures presented herein are accurate to the best of our knowledge. The publisher and author disclaim responsibility for any misprints, math errors, or other inaccuracies presented. Any and all celebrity and trademark names are mentioned for identification purposes only. This is not an official publication sponsored or endorsed by any corporate entity mentioned herein. No seemingly malicious negative or undeservedly positive slant toward or opposite any brand or corporate entity mentioned in this book is intentional. This book is intended as a work of comedic parody and extravagant overstatement. The specific mood of the material may be intentionally as stated, but the specific words, phrasing, and other details should be construed as deliberate hyperbole utilized to delineate exaggerated overstatements, not facts. The opinions stated throughout this book are solely those of the author.

Front cover photo: Chaparral Supercell 2 by Greg Lundeen on 4/3/04 in Chaparral NM.

Author photo on back cover by Pamela Orr. Murray Slaughter logo photo by Floyd M. Orr.

Dedication

Paradigm Shift: The Palin Matrix is dedicated to Miss Pamela, our herd of kitties, the Babygate bloggers who have diligently focused on the key issue at hand, and the many progressive Americans who have steadfastly kept the faith throughout the right wing onslaught of the past forty years. May Michael Moore lead our great nation where we need to go and may Elizabeth Edwards rest in peace.

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1: Timeline for a Psychotic Nation

Chapter 2: The Swing of the Pendulum

It All Began in 1970

The Deeper Truth

The Top Ten Reasons Cable TV Sucks!

Go Back to Sleep, America, Your Government is in Control

The Backward People

Movies All Americans Need to See

These Go to Eleven

The Top Ten Most Annoying Modern Creative Americans

Creeping Stillness

Fifty Reasons to Legalize Pot

Outlaws of the Mind

The Rooster Crowed at Midnight

Chapter 3: The 2008 Presidential Election Primaries

Hillary & The Briar Patch

Hillary Smillary

Ronald Obama Pajamas Reagan

The Rebirth of Populism

The Top Ten Questions for Populists

The Rodham Mop

Are Liberals the New Christian Crazies?

Obamanation

The Devil’s Henchmen

The Piggly Wiggly Book Signing

Chapter 4: Babygate

The Ultimate Babygate Timeline

The Invisible Baby

Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson

Track

Bristol

Levi

The Babygate Game

The Wild Ride Acid Reflux

The Witnesses

Ten Fun Questions Concerning Babygate

Interview with Bree Palin

Queen of the Chessboard

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm….

The One & Only Down Syndrome Trig

Great White Shark

The Blockade

Down Syndrome

Three Republican Traitors

The Diabolical Mom

The Conundrum

The Back Story Mystery

Coincidental Evidence

Is Ruffles Tripp?

The FYI Interview

Chapter 5: The Psychology of a Nation

DNA: Unscrambling the Message

Why She’s Dangerous

Mean Girls

Santa Rosa Island

Counterfeit Dreams

The Subterfuge

The Serious Side

Bullies

Darwinian Dog Whistles

Custer’s Last Stand

The Kunstler Effect

Southern Belles of Atlanta

Chapter 6: Highways to Oblivion

The Difference Between a Honda and a Harley-Davidson

The Top Ten Money Saving Car Tips

Life Choices on Wheels

Traffic

The Stop the Madness Top Ten List

Eurosport

Lotus Schmotus

The Top Ten General Motors Cars We Shall Always Remember Fondly

The Top Ten Chrysler Cars We Shall Always Remember Fondly

TVR Tuscan

Plug It In… or Not

Evolution

Soapbox Ferrari

Chapter 7: Race to the Bottom of the World

2010, Here We Come!

Depression 2.0

The Top Ten Things America Must Do to Save Itself

Two Tribes

Whores

The Christmas 2008 Top Ten List

But Seriously, Folks…

Assholiness Validation

The Top Ten Reasons the American Dream is Dead

Taxman

Save the Wolf Pups

Where are the Pitchforks?

Faceboob Twit Tweets

Monopoly

Chapter 8: Suck the Boob

666

Heil Hitlerette!

Rootin’ for Boogers

What’s the Downside?

Top Ten Things Overheard at the Tea Party Rally

Dylan Palin ’66

The Cynical Cheerleaders

Paranoid Schizophrenic

Special Speaking Engagement Offer!

Fanning the Flames of Madness

The Doors of Perception

The Whore of Point Place

Chapter 9: The Wolf Pack Trifecta

The Lou Dobbs Independents

It’s the Media, Stupid!

Ten Reasons Why Rush Limbaugh is the Head of the GOP

The Tingler

The Dingbats of 2012

The Top Ten Planks in the Dingbat Platform

Behind the Curtain

The Christian Mafia

Mark Chryson

Herding Cats

The Elephant in the Room

The Twilight Zone

Sweethearts of the Rubber Rodeo

Two Wieners

Kicking Butts & Taking Names

Wolfen

The Diddle Nazi

Chapter 10: The Palin Matrix Stalemate

Quiet at the Top

Surrealistic Rapture

Stages

The Grand Illusion

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Drugs

Questionable Press

Truth or Dare

The Lost Halloween

Steinem & Stupid

Wussy Armageddon

Stupid Lazy Greedy

Rag & Cheer

Dark Future

Perpetual Election Season

Oblivious to the Slide

American Gothic

The Shaman

The New Americanism and the Return to Quality

Sarah Comes to Mayberry

Epilogue

Glossary of the Gates

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

Suppository Bibliography

Supposition Bibliography

Books Not About Sarah Palin

The Palin Truther Blogs

Website Bibliography

About the Author

Preface

For all of my new readers, please allow me to indulge in the repetition of what you regulars most likely already know. I am not, nor have I ever been or ever had interest in becoming, a journalist, a rock star, a television or radio personality, or a scientific researcher. All right, that last one I did at one time aspire to be, but that's another story. I have a lot more in common with Karl Rove than President Obama, aside from the political side of the fence Mr. Rove has wallowed in for decades. I am a behind the scenes sort of guy. I have never had the looks for television or the voice for radio. What I am is a writer. I have to be in a special imaginative, creative frame of mind to write. I have to have a catchy title, a hook like a Top Forty single, a purpose, and an emotional ending of some sort to tie it all together. Nearly everything I write has been mulled over in my mind beforehand, sometimes for months, never for merely moments.

I have never written fiction. I have read some of it, but I prefer nonfiction of many different types. Every book I have written is a compilation of many such inspired short pieces as described above. This particular story has already been delayed several times. This book is not an expose of the scams of Sarah Palin, although many blog posts that I have written in recent years have been edited into the content, along with other material that I began writing long before I had ever heard Sarah Palin's name. As I said, I am not a journalist. That is just not my thing. I am a psychosocial, political and economic, commentator. There is a little Bill Hicks, Bill Maher, Bill Engvall, Bill O'Reilly, George Carlin, Jean Shepherd, Lewis Black, Michael Moore, Al Franken, James Howard Kunstler, Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Robert Rimmer, Peter Egan, Kurt Vonnegut, and Charlie Rose in practically everything I write.

There is one key point that I wish to make about my position on the Palin Babygate issue. No book or politician is going to bring her down. Books are written to tell you all the gory details of the story after the central scam has been exposed. Yes, Mittens, Huckleberry, and others have plenty of reasons and ammunition to stop her, but they are not going to do it! Why? I don't know, but that is the story of the century, folks, and that is precisely why I began researching and writing about this particular issue. We have to scream it from the rooftops. The mainstream media is in on the scam, and the bigger the media entity or personality, the deeper they are in on it. She is not being brought down for lack of evidence. The evidence already produced has been overwhelming. One more picture or one more secret document is not going to muzzle the pitbull. Her screechy voice of hate is supported by the only media that can take her down. We have to convince them that the truth is about to escape and they have to grab onto the caboose of the gravy train.

I have mentioned Timeline of America: Sound Bytes from the Consumer Culture and The Last Horizon: Feminine Sexuality & The Class System many times throughout this book because Paradigm Shift is partly a sequel to both of them. I began writing Horizon in college in the ‘60’s and the earliest material from Paradigm Shift was written in 1990. Timeline of America was easy to compile and compose about five years ago because the material covers all the wonderful, positive things we wish to remember about our great country, but this book is about the insidious underbelly of our modern culture. It has taken twenty years for me to get a firm grip on the best way to tell this story through my sociopolitical commentaries. Most of the delay has been the search for a way to present the storyline without hammering the reader into a relentless depression. In some ways I am a wild and crazy guy, and I hope that my lighter side shines through the muck of the corporate strangulation of our democracy and capitalistic social system.

When the subject matter of Horizon began to materialize in my mind back in the '60's, my biggest fear was that The Class System, as I called it, would eventually devour all of American culture. The book The Last Horizon, as it was finally revised and released in 2002, begins with a detailed explanation of The Class System and its origins in Darwinian theory and the herd instinct. Horizon starts out as a book impersonating a much more academic tome before it loosens up into a more entertaining book than you might expect from the first two chapters. Horizon is basically about the DNA of the herd instinct that drives Americans to make many poor choices in life, from their sexual partners and mates to their elected officials. First we elected an actor President, then a pseudo-cowboy party guy, and now a mean girl moron puppet threatens to darken the doors of The White House.

There is one detail I want to make perfectly clear to the reader before you dive into the meat of the book. Everything written about my personal life and experiences in the book is true, as in all my books and blogs, but these elements are included to enhance the humanity of the storyline, not to upstage the larger goals. The key purpose of my compositions is always to present The Big Picture, not to relate the details of a personal anecdote, but as in many other types of storyline, a personal touch can bring heartfelt reality to an otherwise bleak or distant concept. Keep in mind that although I write only nonfiction, practically all the rest of the content is just my opinion and supposition, particularly regarding the actions, words, issues, or events involving well-known celebrities, and much of what I write should be considered parody. Like the contemporary political comic, Lewis Black, the louder and crazier I rant, the less likely you should take it literally or personally! In fact, if you will conceptualize in your mind’s ear a soliloquy from Mr. Black, Bill Hicks, Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, or Michael Moore as you read Paradigm Shift, you will perhaps better understand the entire concept of my writing. The whole book is something of a tongue-in-cheek rant from a progressive, left wing militant. We already have far too many from the opposite team howling at the moon on radio and television. I have just loaded my bandolier with silver bullets.

Most of the material in Paradigm Shift has been derived from my commentaries posted on my various blogs over the past five years. Just as in my first published book, Plastic Ozone Daydream, this has been the plan from the beginning. I have never been a novelist or traditional writer of nonfiction, either. I write in short, creative bursts of imagination. It is what I do and what I have always done. As in that earlier book, the final published book version is quite a different reading experience from the original blog commentaries. The order of the articles has been drastically rearranged and the editing of the content might surprise you, although many of the titles might be familiar if you have been reading one or more of my blogs. None of the material originally composed from 1990 through 2004 has ever been published in any format. The blog material begins not coincidentally after Barack Obama began to acquire a national following from his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It is for this reason that this book sort of kicks into overdrive with the Midterm Elections of 2006. The ending point captures the uncertainly we all face after the paradigm shift.

First and foremost, Paradigm Shift is the story of the developmental psychology and sociology of the United States as a nation. We shall start at the beginning, and by the end of the timeline in Chapter 1, I think you will understand the quietly devastating pattern we have been following for centuries. You should be able to envision the whole nightmare slowly unfolding in front of your eyes, wondering with each revealing transition why no one ever stopped it. This is why Paradigm Shift: The Palin Matrix cannot possibly be a pleasant or pretty story. We have sealed our own fate through expansionism, imperialism, and most of all, unbridled greed. We are a nation that desperately needs a psychiatrist.

The toughest part of the final editing of Paradigm Shift: The Palin Matrix has been to decide exactly how explicitly the language of the book attacks certain key celebrities, which include not only members of The Palin Clan, but a number of other television personalities, too. The subject matter of this book is inherently daunting and depressing, so any enlightenment that can be stirred into the mix will certainly make the material easier to choke down. Think of the language you would hear in a Bill Cosby stand-up show. Now consider the words and material you would hear coming from the lips of Eddie Murphy or Richard Pryor. Are the latter two any funnier with their expletives and naughty subject matter? Who’s to say? I enjoy all three of them. Rest assured that there are no full-blown naughty words in this book. It is a PG-rated affair. However, there are many points at which I might push the envelope purely to entertain the reader, and most of these cases directly point at one celebrity or another because celebrity worship and overpayment is a serious element in what I call The Palin Matrix. The problem is about our six corporations controlling all the media as much as about Sarah Palin. Just think of me as Kathy Griffin with a ding-dong. I tend to be a mite overly candid and blunt on purpose. The louder I rant and the more absurd my statements seem, the more likely I am just playing mind games with the reader to entertain you. Please don’t take it personally!

Some of you may wonder how Sarah Palin made her way into the content of the book to such a depth that her name has been included in the title. When the book was first begun in 1990, I was at that point in my analysis of the deep psychosis of my countrymen at which I could only wonder exactly what event or issue would have to arise before Americans would wake up and make real changes in their behavior before our own corporations, peak oil, a sudden natural disaster, World War III, or global warming did it for us? At that time the book was supposed to be entitled The Hyde Papers, referencing the darker side of human behavior patterns. As we barreled headfirst into the housing bubble and other imminent financial disasters, the title was changed to 2010: Timeline for a Psychotic Nation. When the beginning of Depression 2.0 seemed to miss its mark in bringing Americans back into the sanity group, I changed the title to 2012: Timeline for a Psychotic Nation. Then the really deep madness began to unravel any hopes of recovery when Sarah Palin and her hillbilly entourage would just not go away! Worse still, the media was so obviously ensuring that the insanity would continue. At some point before we reached Halloween 2010, with the most important midterm election of our lifetimes following close behind, I realized that the psychosis was already so deeply embedded in our national psyche that I could not wait around for 2012. The paradigm shift had already occurred and Sarah Palin was the driving force at its heart.

The book as you see it now was edited down from an originally massive size. For many reasons, I have referred to it as Apocalyose Now! Of course that phrase brings up many images, but the one most relevant to you as the reader is that Paradigm Shift: The Palin Matrix is a book that brings up as many questions as answers. None of us knows what the future holds. We are all just guessing. The one thing I am most certain about is that America cannot effectively cure its problems and begin the road to genuine, long-lasting recovery until it admits that a psychosis has embedded itself into our consciousness that must be exposed and destroyed. That psychosis is The Palin Matrix, the final development of The Southern Strategy, born on the first slave ship that landed on our shores and unleashed like a rabid wolf by Sarah Palin. In case you are thinking that The Palin Matrix is about race, you are only partially correct. It is also borne of sexual attraction, celebrity worship, rampant greed, stupidity, ignorance, and a relentless selfishness empowered by religion. The Paradigm Shift has already occurred. The Second Great Depression set us up for it and opened the door for The Great Madness to expand. We must now awaken from the madness that is The Palin Matrix before it is too late for every living thing on this planet.

Chapter 1: Timeline for a Psychotic Nation

The following dates are not to be taken too seriously. The specific year may be off by a digit or two, but if it is, get a grip. This is not the American Hysterical Society. It’s just me, representing the Baby Boomer Generation and the self-appointed psychoanalyst of a paranoid schizophrenic nation. References to particular corporate entities were sourced from the companies’ own websites. Bring on the sacred cows as the whole nation accelerates into madness….

1492 – Christopher Columbus starts the ball rolling.

1494 – Columbus begins using the Indians as slaves.

1502 – Spain legalizes slave shipments to the Americas.

1526 – The first slave revolt in America breaks out in South Carolina.

1530 – Laudanum (Opium) is first used as a pain reliever.

1609 – Tobacco is first planted in Virginia.

1619 – The first slave ship lands in Jamestown.

1620 – The Mayflower hits a big rock in Massachusetts.

1621 – William Tucker is the first African-American born in the U.S.

1623 – The first U.S. temperance law is enacted in Virginia.

1630 – Gambling is outlawed in Boston, the first law against it in America.

1633 – A law is passed in Virginia to limit tobacco production to avoid excessive dependence on a single crop to support the economy.

1638 – New Haven CT becomes the first planned city in the U.S.

1639 – The first school is funded by local taxes in Dorchester, MA.

1646 – The death penalty is established in Massachusetts for religious heresy.

1647 – The first witch is executed in Salem.

1648 – The Shoemakers of Boston become the first labor organization.

1649 – The Maryland Toleration Act provides freedom of religion to all Christians.

1652 – Rhode Island declares slavery illegal. The first speed limit is enforced in NYC.

1655 – The first slave auction is held.

1661 – Virginia re-states the legality of slavery.

1664 – The First Baptist Church is founded in Boston. Wealthy non-church members in Massachusetts are given the right to vote. Maryland passes a law against marriage between white women and black men.

1665 – The first horseracing track opens in New York.

1667 – Slaves in VA are banned from earning their freedom by converting to hristianity.

1668 – The first horse race in America occurs. Three Baptists are expelled from Massachusetts.

1670 – Christian blacks arriving in the colonies could not be enslaved in Virginia.

1688 – The Pennsylvania Quakers protest slavery.

1689 – Puritan clergyman Cotton Mather ‘s writings enflame the colonists against witchcraft and begin the coming hysteria.

1692 – The Salem Witch Trials darken the skies of Massachusetts.

1700 – The white population reaches 250,000.

1704 – The first school for slaves opens in NY.

1706 – The First Presbyterian Church is founded in Philadelphia.

1712 – Pennsylvania bans the importation of slaves.

1716 – The first slaves arrive in Louisiana.

1718 – New Orleans is founded by the French. The first machine gun patent is issued in London.

1720 – The white population reaches 475,000.

1721 – America has its first insurance agent.

1725 – The slave population reaches 75,000. The first recorded scalping of Indians by whites occurs in New Hampshire.

1732 – The First American Catholic Mass is held in Philadelphia.

1733 – Parliament passes The Molasses Act to tax the molasses produced in the American colonies and exported, threatening the survival of New England’s rum industry. The Freemasons are founded in Boston.

1738 – The Methodist Church is established.

1740 – Fifty blacks are hanged in Charleston for plotting a slave revolt.

1742 – The first magazine ad appears.

1743 – The first recorded American town meeting is held in Boston.

1747 – The first professional stand-up comedian entertains a crowd.

1748 – Jews are given the right to colonize and the First United Lutheran Church is founded.

1749 – Slavery is legalized in Georgia.

1758 – The first Indian reservation is set up.

1760 – The white population is now 1,500,000.

1763 – The Mason-Dixon Line is established.

1764 – Taxation without representation becomes a battlecry.

1765 – The Stamp Act represents the first direct tax the British levy on the colonists.

1766 – The Stamp Act is declared unconstitutional in Virginia and Britain repeals it.

1768 – The first U.S. Chamber of Commerce is established in NYC. The first book about America is published.

1770 – The white population reaches 2,210,000. The Boston Massacre occurs.

1772 – The Tea Act is established. The first licensing of doctors happens in New Jersey.

1773 – This is the year we threw the tea in the lake (Boston Tea Party, for you airheads). The first public museum in America opens in Charleston SC and The Tea Act is passed.

1774 – The First Continental Congress is convened, the little-known Second Boston Tea Party occurs, and Rhode Island prohibits the importation of slaves.

1775 – Paul Revere rides a horse. George Washington is appointed supreme commander. The United States becomes a new name for our country. The three largest religious denominations in the U.S. are, in order: Congregationalists, Anglicans, and Presbyterians.

1776 – The Declaration of Independence is signed and the nation is officially founded.

1777 – Vermont abolishes slavery.

1778 – The $ symbol is first utilized for our currency. The first treaty is signed between the U.S. and an Indian tribe.

1779 – Benedict Arnold is court-martialed.

1782 – The Bank of North America, the first commercial U.S. bank, opens in Philadelphia.

1783 – The importation of African slaves is banned by all states.

1784 – The first successful daily newspaper is launched.

1785 – The Land Grant Act of 1785 sets aside land for schools.

1786 – The first astronomical expedition in the U.S. is launched.

1787 – The Northwest Ordinance abolishes slavery and establishes segregation and separate churches.

1788 – The Constitution is ratified. New Orleans is almost destroyed by fire.

1789 – The Bill of Rights is signed and the Supreme Court is established. A 15% duty on imported nails becomes the first U.S. tariff.

1790 – The U.S. population is 3,929,214, or 4.5 persons per square mile. The population is 19% Negro. Wall Street trading begins.

1791 – The U.S. mint is established. The first one-way street is established in NYC.

1792 – The first Presidential veto occurs and the military draft is established.

1794 – Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason questions the cruel dogma of the Christianity of the period.

1795 – Jim Beam is founded.

1796 – Game protection laws are passed to protect Indian hunting grounds.

1798 – The Alien Act allows the President to deport dangerous aliens.

1800 – The population reaches 5,308.483 at 6.1 persons per square mile and the black population is 1,002,037 (18.9%). The Library of Congress is founded and Martha Washington frees all her slaves.

1802 – Congress repeals all federal taxes except a tax on salt and the government begins running on import tariffs.

1803 – The first impeachment trial of a U.S. judge occurs.

1804 – The Lewis & Clark Expedition explores the wilderness.

1805 – Louisiana passes a law against sodomy.

1806 – Shoemakers form a union in Philadelphia.

1807 – The first steamboat is launched and the U.S. Congressional Cemetery is plotted.

1808 – Congress prohibits the importation of slaves from Africa.

1809 – The first railroad track is laid in the U.S.

1810 – The population reaches 7,239,881, 4.3 persons per square mile.

1811 – The first Senator is censured for revealing confidential documents.

1812 – Bank of America is founded in NYC.

1813 – The Office of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army is established and rubber is patented.

1814 – The Star Spangled Banner is composed.

1815 – The first U.S. natural gas well is discovered.

1816 – The first U.S. tariff is enacted to protect American industry.

1817 – The first gas streetlamps are powered by a local gas company in Baltimore. The New York Stock Exchange is established.

1819 – The first U.S. immigration law is enacted.

1820 – The population is now 9,638,453, 5.5 psm with a black population of 1,771,656 (18.4%). U.S. exports include 400,000 bales of cotton.

1821 – The first U.S. public high school is established in Boston.

1824 – The first time the popular Presidential vote is counted, Jackson won both the popular vote and the electoral votes, but Adams and Clay joined forces and The House blocked Jackson, who helped found the Democratic Party because of the incident. John Quincy Adams becomes the first to be President after his father held the office.

1825 – The first engineering college in the U.S. opens in NY and the Erie Canal opens.

1826 – The American Temperance Society is founded.

1827 – The first Mardi Gras is celebrated in New Orleans and the first official gambling casino opens in that same city.

1830 – The population swells to 12,866,020 at 7.4 psm. There are 40 million buffalo in the U.S.

1831 – The first U.S. steam engine train rolls and the Skull & Bones Society is founded at Yale.

1832 – The first Democratic National Convention is held in Baltimore.

1833 – Chicago incorporates with a population of 200.

1834 – U.S. military troops are utilized to suppress a labor dispute for the first time.

1835 – A large NYC fire lasts two days, causes $20 million damage, and bankrupts 23 fire insurance companies. A Missouri law prohibits all methods of abortion.

1836 – One-hundred, eighty-two Texans attempt to protect the Alamo from an attack by three thousand Mexicans. The Colt revolver is invented. The Deposit Act allows excess federal budget funds to be given to the states.

1837 – A riot erupts in NY over the high price of flour. A financial crash and depression follow when Jackson, a Democrat, leaves office.

1838 – The telegraph is invented. Tennessee becomes the first state to prohibit alcohol. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is presented.

1839 – Photography and baseball are invented and Charles Goodyear discovers the vulcanization process of rubber.

1840 – The population rises to 17,069,453, 9.8 people per square mile.

1841 – The first continuous filibuster occurs in the U.S. Senate. The first wagon train arrives in CA. The first advertising agency is founded.

1842 – NY bans religious instruction in public schools.

1843 – The first advertising agency is launched when the NYC population is 350,000.

1844 – The first African-American graduates from Harvard.

1845 – The first nationally observed Election Day is held. The religious community tries to block the introduction of button-fly pants and the U.S. Naval Academy is established.

1846 – The Smithsonian Institution is founded and the Mexican-American War begins.

1847 – San Francisco’s population is 462. The American Medical Association is founded.

1848 – The California Gold Rush begins and the Associated Press is launched.

1849 – Pfizer Drug Company is founded.

1850 – The population is 23,191,876, 7.9 psm with a black population of 3,638,808 (15.7%). Los Angeles and San Francisco are incorporated and American Express is founded. California law allows the enslavement of Indians. Only 2% of the population lives past age 65. The Scarlet Letter is published.

1851 – The New York Times is first published.

1852 – Wells Fargo and Smith & Wesson are founded, 20,000 Chinese immigrants arrive in the U.S., and Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published. Mormons admit for the first time to practicing polygamy.

1853 – Levi Strauss and Company is established to begin the blue jean revolution.

1854 – The Republican Party is founded to abolish slavery.

1857 – The Supreme Court rules that black people are not citizens.

1858 – John Brown holds an antislavery convention and ninety blacks are arrested for learning in Richmond, VA.

1859 – Arkansas forces free blacks to choose exile or slavery. The first oil well is drilled in Titusville, PA.

1860 – The population swells to 31,443,321 at a ratio of 10.6 persons per square mile. There are eight million whites in the South; 383,637 own slaves and 2292 own more than 100 slaves each.

1861 – President Lincoln appoints General George B. McClellen, a pro-slavery Democrat, head of the Army and The War Between the States begins.

1862 – Slavery is abolished in Washington, D.C., the Emancipation Proclamation is signed, and Merck patents cocaine.

1863 – Lincoln makes his legendary Gettysburg Address.

1864 – Colonel Chivington leads 800 U.S. Cavalry soldiers in the slaughter of Cheyenne and Arapaho women, children and elderly men encamped in Colorado, while the braves of the two tribes were elsewhere on a hunting expedition in the infamous Sand Creek Massacre that inspires the movie Soldier Blue.

1865 – The Civil War ends and the slaves begin a long journey into freedom. President Lincoln is assassinated and The Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery is adopted eight months later.

1866 – The first black delegate is sent to a national convention and the first Civil Rights Bill is passed. The Ku Klux Klan organizes in Pulaski, TN.

1867 – The Reconstruction Act passes and the Department of Education is founded. Blacks vote in a city election held in Tuscumbia, AL, and Howard University, the first all-black university, is founded.

1868 – The Fourteenth Amendment gives citizenship to all African-Americans and race riots break out in New Orleans. Custer’s troops slaughter a hundred Cheyenne women and children at the Washita River.

1869 – The University of South Carolina is integrated. The first Black Friday Wall Street panic occurs.

1870 – The population is 39,818,449 with 13.4 persons per square mile. The first African-American is elected to Congress as a Republican Senator from MS. There are 50,000 Chinese in California.

1871 – The Civil Service System and the National Rifle Association are established.

1872 – The land-grant college system is established and Kimberly-Clark is founded in Neenah, WI. The first black student enrolls at Annapolis and Louisiana elects the first black governor in the U.S. Bloomingdale’s Department Store opens in NYC and Andrew Carnegie opens his steel plant.

1873 – A panic at the NYSE launches a six-year depression. The Comstock Act makes the dissemination of birth control information illegal.

1874 – Folsom Prison is founded and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union has its national convention.

1876 – The telephone and electric lights are invented and Budweiser Beer is introduced. Custer’s Last Stand falls flat at Little Big Horn.

1877 – The Bell Telephone Company is founded.

1879 – Scott Paper Company and Woolworth’s are founded and Texas criminalizes homosexual activity.

1880 – The population reaches 50,155,783 and 16.9 psm, and California integrates its public schools.

1881 – The American Red Cross and the American Federation of Labor are established. President James Garfield is assassinated and Sitting Bull surrenders. Kansas becomes the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.

1882 – The advertising industry begins when Procter & Gamble advertises Ivory soap. John D. Rockefeller founds Standard Oil and controls 90% of all refinery and pipeline business in the U.S.

1883 – The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 passes.

1884 – The first publicly funded state college for women is established in Mississippi, Coney Island opens the first roller coaster in America and NCR is founded. A federal judge orders a halt to hydraulic mining that is destroying the land. Sigmund Freud begins treating his own depression with cocaine.

1885 – AT&T and Westinghouse Electric are founded. California allows districts to create separate schools for Asian Americans and the first Japanese arrive in Hawaii.

1886 – Coca-Cola is invented by Atlanta druggist John Pemberton, who is a morphine addict. Twenty blacks are killed in The Carrollton Massacre in MS, the small town in which the author of this book lived until age nine. France gives the U.S. the Statue of Liberty. U.S. corporations are given the same status and constitutional protections as citizens. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde is published.

1887 – The Dawes Act gives U.S. citizenship to any Indian residing outside the tribe.

1888 – The Department of Labor and Eastman Kodak are founded and the first electric automobile is produced.

1890 – The population reaches 62,947,714 with 21.2 psm, but there are only 1,000 buffalo left in the U.S. The Sherman Antitrust Act is used against labor unions before it came to be utilized to break up corporate monopolies. The Daughters of the American Revolution is founded. Sitting Bull is shot in Grand River SD and the first person is executed in the electric chair. The McKinley Tariff Act greatly increases tariff levels.

1892 – The General Electric Company, the Coca-Cola Company, and the Sierra Club are founded. The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited in public school. Congress orders all Chinese to register or be deported.

1893 – Coca-Cola registers its famous trademark. Another panic at the NYSE begins a severe depression. Sears, Roebuck & Company is founded. President Cleveland grants amnesty to Mormon polygamists and Colorado gives women the right to vote. The first gasoline-propelled car is built in the U.S.

1894 – The repeal of the Enforcement Act makes it easier for blacks to be disenfranchised. Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time. Several labor strikes occur this year, with the largest being the strike of 125,000 railroad workers in Chicago. Hershey Foods and the Bureau of Immigration are established.

1895 – The first pro football game is played, the first pizza parlor opens, and the first Sears & Roebuck catalog is published.

1896 – The Supreme Court allows the states to enforce segregation. The first full-size, comprehensive Sears & Roebuck catalog is distributed.

1897 – There is a ten-week strike by 75,000 coal miners, telephone poles are first utilized, Oldsmobile is founded, and the first auto insurance policy is sold.

1898 – A race riot breaks out in Wilmington, NC, when blacks try to vote in city elections. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Travelers Insurance Company, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange are established.

1899 – Packard is founded.

1900 – The population reaches 75,994,575 with 25.6 psm. US Steel Corporation and Firestone Tire & Rubber Company are founded.

1901 – Blacks are discovered still enslaved in South Carolina and 74,000 Pittsburgh steel workers strike. President McKinley is shot and killed. Roosevelt invites Booker T. Washington to the White House, causing race riots that kill 34. Alabama bans black-white marriages.

1902 – Pepsi Cola enters the soft drink field and 100,000 Pennsylvania coal miners strike, settled by Presidential decree five months later. Cadillac is founded.

1903 – President Teddy Roosevelt sets off a stock market panic with his new trust-busting plan and Buick is founded.

1904 – The hamburger is officially introduced, there are 8000 cars in the U.S., and Georgia farmers burn two million bales of cotton to drive up falling prices.

1905 – Federal law prohibits the direct influence of a state election using corporate or union contributions. The U.S. produces 25,000 automobiles. New York State investigates the insurance industry. Hearst Corporation buys Cosmopolitan and newspapers receive tens of millions of dollars in advertising from patent medicine dealers.

1906 – A North Carolina mob defies a court order and lynches three blacks and 21 people are killed in Atlanta race riots. Three thousand blacks demonstrate and riot in Philadelphia. The Governor of Mississippi declares that black men are fiends and the only way to control them is through lynching. The Food & Drug Administration is formed.

1907 - The Panic of 1907 in the stock market causes many banks to fail. Neiman Marcus opens in Dallas and the first gas station in the U.S. opens in St. Louis.

1908 – The New York Board of Education bans whipping in schools. General Motors is organized, while Ford builds a record 10,660 Model T’s.

1909 – The first federal narcotics ban on opium is enacted, GM buys Cadillac, and the NAACP is formed in New York City. The Wright Brothers form a million dollar corporation to build airplanes.

1910 – The population soars to 91,972,266 and 31.0 psm. The Tobacco industry produces nine billion cigarettes and gambling is banned in Nevada. The first black actor appears on Broadway. The Urban League helps Southern blacks adjust to life in Northern cities. Mormons are introduced to marijuana in Mexico.

1911 – The Supreme Court orders the breakup of Standard Oil Company into thirty-four separate entities, giving John D. Rockefeller 25% of Exxon, Mobil, Conoco, Amoco, Chevron, and Arco, etc. Chevrolet is founded.

1912 – MDMA, the predecessor to the drug ecstasy, is discovered. The Titanic is launched and 20,000 textile workers strike over wage cuts. Massachusetts enacts the first minimum wage law in the U.S.

1913 – The Federal Reserve Act reorganizes the banking system. A white man is executed in Alabama for murdering a black man. Ford introduces the moving assembly line, greatly increasing car production, and America’s first paved coast-to-coast highway is built.

1914 – WWI begins in Europe. The Federal Trade Commission is established. The NYSE closes for 4 ½ months, Dodge is founded, and the Harrison Tax Act illegalizes opiates and cocaine.

1915 – The one-millionth Model T Ford is produced and 10,000 blacks march in NYC to protest lynchings. The Birth of a Nation, usually cited as the greatest silent film ever produced, opens in NYC and Twentieth Century Fox is founded. The Utah state legislature criminalizes marijuana use by declaring all religious prohibitions criminal laws.

1916 – Margaret Sanger is arrested for opening the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn and Emma Goldman is arrested for giving a birth control lecture. Margaret Sanger is arrested on obscenity charges for advocating birth control, a term she coined. Margaret Sanger founds Planned Parenthood. The Harrison Drug Act bans cocaine from many patent medicines. A federal estate tax law is enacted. Charles Schwab and Charlie Chaplin have the highest incomes in the U.S.

1917 – The U.S. enters WWI and Congress levies a tax on the excess profits of corporations. Congress passes special rules to allow Mexicans to enter the U.S. due to an expanding economy. The Selective Service Act creates the military draft. Charlie Chaplin signs the movie industry’s first million-dollar contract and Nikon Corporation is founded in Japan.

1919 – Federal troops are called to squelch a Chicago race riot. The Eighteenth Amendment enacting prohibition is ratified in January, and RCA is founded.

1920 – The U.S. population tops one hundred million with 105,710,620 and 25.6 psm. The enforcement of prohibition begins in January and suffrage for women is established. The first radio station goes on the air. A white mob of five thousand whites lynches three blacks in Duluth, MN.

1921 – White Castle is founded as the first fast-food hamburger chain and religious services are first broadcast on the radio. Ten thousand white men attack the black section of Tulsa, OK, in a major race riot that would cause reparations to be approved for the survivors and descendants in 2001.

1922 – The first radio commercials air and T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is published. The National Football League is founded. The Narcotic Drug Import and Export Act criminalizes all narcotics except for medicinal use.

1923 – Time Magazine is first published, the first suburban shopping center opens in Kansas City, MO, and Yankee Stadium opens. Chrysler is founded and Firestone inflatable tires stimulate the bicycle and auto industries.

1924 – The KKK has four million members, one in seven Americans owns a car, and The Heroin Act illegalizes the manufacture of heroin.

1925 – The first Sears retail store opens in Chicago and 200,000 KKK members march on Washington. The U.S. Government seizes 173,000 illegal stills, while the unemployment rate is 3%. Tennessee prohibits the teaching of evolution and The Scopes Monkey Trial occurs.

1926 – RCA founds NBC and the first Montgomery Ward store opens in Plymouth, IN. The first radio network is organized and Walt Disney Studios is established.

1927 – Hitler holds the first Nazi meeting in Berlin. Police use machine guns against striking mine workers in Colorado. The fifteen-millionth Model T is produced and Ford introduces the Model A. Sears creates its ubiquitous Craftsman and Kenmore brands.

1928 – This would be the last year that cocaine was an ingredient in Coca-Cola, the first sponsor of the Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Mickey Mouse and Scotch tape are introduced.

1929 – The Stock Market Crash sets off The Great Depression of the ‘30’s. U.S. auto production reaches 5,337,087. The first roller coaster opens in the U.S. and the first group hospital insurance plan is offered in Dallas.

1930 – The population is 122,775,046 with 41.2 psm. One-third of federal prison inmates are prohibition offenders, while the Supreme Court rules that purchasing liquor does not violate the Constitution. Eastern Airlines is founded, 123 billion cigarettes are produced, and 1300 U.S. banks fail.

1931 – The Empire State Building is completed and 3000 U.S. banks fail. Nevada legalizes gambling and Allstate Insurance Company is founded. There are 20,000 suicides and 21 hurricanes during the year.

1932 – Gallup releases its first syndicated opinion poll. The U.S. government begins the Tuskegee Syphilis Study on black men in Alabama that does not conclude until 1972. RCA severs ties to General Electric and Westinghouse, 5700 U.S. banks fail, and unemployment reaches 24%. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is published.

1933 – Roosevelt introduces his New Deal, prohibition is repealed, and the FDIC is formed. The Nazi Party receives 92% of the vote in Germany and the Gestapo is established.

1934 – Trans World Airlines, the Securities & Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Housing Administration, and the U.S. Federal Savings & Loan Association are established. The Federal Credit Union Act is passed. Banking secrecy laws are established in Switzerland while 4.7 million U.S. families are receiving welfare payments. Athletes are pictured on Wheaties boxes for the first time.

1935 – The Social Security Act is passed and the Works Progress Administration provides 8.5 million jobs for the unemployed. The United Auto Workers of America is founded.

1936 – Life Magazine & Consumer Reports are first published. Japan passes a protectionist law and kicks GM and Ford out of the country. Federal court legalizes the prescription of contraceptives by physicians.

1937 – The first state contraceptive clinic opens in Raleigh, NC. Route 66 is completed and the Bob’s Big Boy Restaurant chain is established. The Marijuana Tax Act gives pot the same status as narcotics.

1938 – LSD is first synthesized and the FDA is given national control of drug safety. FNMA (Fannie Mae) is established. The first breath test for alcohol is utilized in Indiana. Drug companies are given control of defining which drugs they manufacture will have prescription-only status.

1939 – Lay’s Potato Chips enter the marketplace. The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind are the big movie releases. The first televised baseball game and the first televised college football game happen during this year. The Supreme Court outlaws sit-down strikes.

1940 – The first McDonald’s opens in the year the population reaches 131,669,275 and 44.2 psm. Woody Guthrie first sings This Land Is Your Land.

1941 – Pearl Harbor is attacked and the U.S. enters WWII. The first U.S. Savings Bonds are issued and commercial television broadcasting begins.

1942 – Hewlett-Packard opens its first factory in Silicon Valley. Congress outlaws the growing of the opium poppy; previously the USDA had taught farmers how to grow opium. All U.S. aliens are ordered to register with the federal government.

1943 – The Supreme Court rules that school children cannot be forced to salute the flag if it conflicts with their religious beliefs. The first of fifty-one Tucker cars are built, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is founded, and 1800 are arrested when federal troops are brought in to stop a race riot in Detroit.

1944 – The Supreme Court rules that black citizens can vote in all elections and the U.S. Army is desegregated. The CIA is established and the FCC increases the limit from three to five of the number of television stations that can be owned by a single entity.

1945 – Sears exceeds $1 billion in sales. Atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The U.S. Navy is desegregated and 1000 white children walk out of school in Gary, IN, to protest integration. Congress officially recognizes The Pledge of Allegiance.

1946 – Labor strikes are the worst in U.S. history as 400,000 miners strike. Seven thousand TV sets are sold and 8.8 million ride the NYC subway system.

1947 – Ronald Reagan and wife Jane Wyman provide names to the FBI of actors they think are Communist sympathizers. What many believe was a UFO crashes in Roswell NM. The number of television sets in the United States has increased to 14,000.

1948 – The Supreme Court rules that religious education in public schools is unconstitutional. The Pogo comic strip appears and the number of TV sets in America has exploded to one million.

1949 – George Orwell’s 1984 is published. Pennsylvania passes a state law requiring the recitation of ten Bible verses, The Lord’s Prayer, and the Pledge of Allegiance daily in public schools. The first Volkswagen Beetle is imported into the U.S.

1950 – The population has increased to 150,697,361 with 50.7 psm. The I Like Ike years continue as the ultra-conservative Fifties begin. Civil Rights: The First African-American receives the Nobel Peace Prize. The University of Tennessee defies the court order to integrate and the first black player enters the NBA. Entertainment: Nine-percent of U.S. homes have TV’s. Politics: Richard Nixon enters the Senate and military spending reaches $12 billion.

1951 – The hydrogen bomb is tested. Business: The first Jack in the Box opens in San Diego. Civil Rights: A mob tries to stop a black family from moving into Cicero, IL, and the Supreme Court rules that inciting a riot is not protected speech. The U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice includes a ban on sodomy. Mandatory sentences for narcotics violations are established. Politics: The 22nd Amendment limits Presidential terms to two. The Rosenbergs are convicted of selling atomic secrets to the Soviets and President Truman fires General Douglas MacArthur.

1952 – Business: Holiday Inn is founded in Memphis, Adelphia Communications is founded in PA, and the first bank credit card is issued. Civil Rights: There are no lynchings for the first time in 71 years and the first black student is admitted to the University of Tennessee. Politics: The Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant opens in Colorado. The first political ads appear on U.S. television.

1953 – DNA is discovered and lung cancer is directly linked with cigarette smoking. Civil Rights: The first black housing project opens in Chicago. Entertainment: The Moon is Blue squeaks by the Motion Picture Production Code with its allusions to sex and seduction in the lightest and mildest of manner. Hawkeye and B.J. would be disappointed by the film’s lack of prurient content in an episode of M*A*S*H two decades later. RCA releases the color TV, and TV Guide, the Corvette, and Playboy Magazine are launched. Politics: The Korean War ends and the Department of Health, Education & Welfare is established.

1954 – Business: IBM computers are launched and 35% of the U.S. work force are union members. The first liability suit is filed against the tobacco industry. Civil Rights: MLK becomes a Baptist pastor in Montgomery, Alabama. Entertainment: The Lord of the Rings is published, Elvis releases his first recording, and Rock Around the Clock officially launches the rock and roll era. Politics: The Brown vs. Board of Education case rocks the nation. Congress inserts the words under God in the Pledge of Allegiance and President Eisenhower signs it.

1955 – Business: The U.S. produces nine million vehicles, the Ford Thunderbird takes flight, and both Chevy and Ford introduce their first small-block V-8's. Elvis gets famous for swiveling hips and a quivering lip. Disneyland opens in Anaheim and the first franchised McDonald’s opens in Des Plains, Illinois. Civil Rights: Emmett Till is murdered, Rosa Parks refuses to sit down and shut up, and the bus boycott in Montgomery draws attention to Alabama. Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus, spawning the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Supreme Court orders school desegregation. Politics: The AFL-CIO is founded and the NYSE loses $44 million on the news that President Eisenhower has had a heart attack.

1956 – Civil Rights: 650,000 steel workers strike. A white mob prevents the enrollment of black high school students in Mansfield, TX, and tanks are used against racial demonstrators in Clinton, TN. Riots prevent the first black student from enrolling at the University of Alabama. Mississippi sets up a secret agency to combat integration, collecting information on 87,000 people suspected of subversion. The Narcotics Control Act increases mandatory sentences. Entertainment: The shopping mall explosion begins. Hound Dog and Heartbreak Hotel are megahits and Elvis performs his last small-town concert in Tupelo, MS.

1957 – Car tailfins expand and proliferate and fuel injection makes its first appearance. Business: Procter & Gamble buys Charmin Paper Company. Civil Rights: Little Rock High Schools are desegregated and President Eisenhower sends federal troops to Little Rock to protect nine black high school students. Entertainment: The first Whopper is served at Burger King. Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, Walter Cronkite, and Leave It to Beaver lead America where it wants to go.

1958 – Business: A recession brings 7.7% unemployment. The last Packard is built, while Toyota and Datsun enter the U.S. market. The T-bird becomes the first Personal Luxury Car. McDonald’s hits the 100 million sold mark, the first Burger Chef restaurant opens in Indianapolis, the first Pizza Hut fries its pies in Wichita, KS, and the first IHOP pans its cakes in CA. Subliminal ads are banned. Civil Rights: MLK is arrested in AL for loitering during a protest and he is stabbed by a woman in Harlem during a book signing. Entertainment: The Hula Hoop spins for the first time, the BC comic strip is launched, and Ricky Nelson, Fabian, and Alvin & the Chipmunks are singing our tunes. Politics: Saddam Hussein is recruited as an assassin and the John Birch Society is formed.

1959 – Business: There are now 100 McDonald’s nationwide and the first Sonic Drive-in opens in Shawnee, OK. Denny’s Donuts (founded in 1963) changes its name to just Denny’s and opens twenty locations. The first Honda motorcycles come to America. Entertainment: The big tailfins on cars peak in both size and widespread use, although they will not disappear completely from large Cadillacs until The Seventies. Barbie launches Mattel into the American lexicon and 100 million Hula Hoops are sold. We are all doing The Twist and watching The Twilight Zone. Politics: Ronald Reagan makes 200 speeches as a Democrat for Nixon.

1960 – The population is 179,323,175 with 50.6 psm. Sony brings the transistor radio to America to change a lot of American habits and the birth control pill changes the rest. Pat Robertson launches the Christian Broadcasting Network and Vance Packard authors a critique of the consumer society entitled The Waste Makers. Business: The first REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is formed. The Corvair, Falcon, Dart and Valiant are introduced to try to stem the Beetle tide. Domino’s Pizza is founded. Civil Rights: Woolworth’s makes the news with the lunch counter sit-in in Greensboro, NC. The poll tax is banned by the U.S. Senate and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 is enacted. Two thousand riot in the streets of New Orleans after integration is forced in the public schools and We Shall Overcome becomes the theme song of Civil Rights. Entertainment: Elvis returns home from the army, Psycho is the big movie, The Andy Griffith Show premieres, and the first Playboy Club opens in Chicago. The skateboard is invented as an offshoot of the surfing craze. Politics: The U.S. sets up an embargo on products to Cuba and OPEC is founded.

1961 – Business: Pampers and Eastern Airlines are launched. Civil Rights: The bus carrying the first load of Freedom Riders is bombed and burned in Alabama and 27 Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, MS. Entertainment: The first Six Flags opens in Arlington, TX, and Chevrolet debuts its Impala Super Sport. The Beach Boys’ Surfin’ and Dave Brubeck’s Take Five represent hits from two separate genres. The Dick Van Dyke Show and ABC’s Wide World of Sports premiere.

1962 – Business: Jeep introduces the 1963 Wagoneer, the first U.S. built SUV, while Studebaker declares bankruptcy. K-Mart opens its first store in Garden City, MI, and the first Target opens in Roseville, MN, while the first Wal-Mart opens in Rogers, AR, (the home of Daisy BB