Saturday, April 22, 1967: Birth of the Big Mac

The Big Mac -- advertised as a hamburger "made with 2 freshly ground patties, tangy melted cheese, crisp lettuce, pickle and our own Special Sauce" -- is added to the menu at the McDonald's in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, thanks to Jim Delligatti (the franchise owner who created it) and Esther Glickstein (the corporate secretary who named it). Following the Big Mac's success locally, the parent company would make it available nationwide starting in 1968. (The famous "twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasesameseedbun" ad campaign would follow in early 1975.)

-- Above: advertisement in The Morning Herald, Uniontown, April 21, 1967

-- Below: advertisement in The Morning Herald, September 28

* "A Meal Disguised as a Sandwich: The Big Mac" (Pennsylvania Center for the Book, 2009): @

* "McDonald's: Behind the Arches" (John F. Love, 1995): @

* "Golden Arch Angel" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1993): @

* "Michael James Delligatti, Creator of the Big Mac, Dies at 98" (New York Times, 2016): @

* "Woman Who Named Big Mac Finally Recognized" (Associated Press, 1985): @

* Big Mac Museum (North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania): @ (website) and @ (RoadsideAmerica.com) 

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Friday, April 7, 1967: KMPX

Tom Donahue takes over the 8 p.m.-to-midnight shift at FM radio station KMPX in San Francisco, extending the station's embrace of what came to be known variously as underground radio, progressive radio or free-form radio -- in other words, music beyond the bounds of top 40. (In February, Larry Miller had brought the anything-goes format to KMPX with his midnight-to-6 a.m. program.)

     -- Tom Donahue, left, at KMPX in 1967; photo by Michael Ochs

* "A Brief History of 106.9 FM in San Francisco" (Bay Area Radio Museum): @

* "FM 107 KMPX, San Francisco: Tom Donahue" (includes sound clip from May 1967; Bay Area Radio Museum): @

* Larry Miller handbill (Bay Area Radio Museum): @
* KMPX staff, 1968 (photo by Baron Wolman): @

* Donahue biography ("Encyclopedia of Radio," edited by Christopher H. Sterling, 2004): @
* Donahue biography (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame): @

* "One More Page in the Book of Love: Tom Donahue, 1928-1975" (Greil Marcus, 1975): @

* "Birth of Community Rock Radio: A Brief History of KMPX and KSAN-FM" (FoundSF): @

* KMPX entry from www.jive95.com (site devoted to KSAN; includes sound clips): @

* "KMPX San Francisco Radio Workers Strike 1968" (Global Nonviolent Action Database): @

* "Free-Form Revolutionaries of Top 40 Radio / How Donahue, Syracuse Rocked the Bay Area Airwaves" (www.sfgate.com, 1998): @

* "Rock Stations Giving Albums the Air Play" (Billboard, July 22, 1967): @
* "KMPX's Tom Donahue Programs Music with a Wide Open View" (Billboard, December 30, 1967): @
* "The Underground Radio Turn-On" (Look magazine, June 24, 1969; from New York Radio Archive; scroll down for page images): @

* "FM Underground Radio: Love for Sale" (Rolling Stone, April 1970): @

* "Hip Capitalism" (Susan Krieger, 1979): @ 
* "The Republic of Rock" (Michael J. Kramer, 2013): @

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January 1967: 'The Peter Principle'

"The Peter Principle" first appeared as an article in Esquire magazine in January 1967; two years later, Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull turned the material into a best-selling book.

The most memorable tenet -- "in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence" -- was supplemented by Peter's Corollary ("in time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties") and, lastly, "Work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence."

* Esquire, January 1967 (online subscription required): @

* "The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong" (1969 book): @

* "How the Peter Principle Works" (money.howstuffworks.com): @

* Peter obituary (New York Times, January 1990): @

* "Laurence Peter" (The Economist, January 2009): @

* "Lawrence J. Peter & Raymond Hull" (Literary Landmarks, Vancouver Public Libary; includes links to short biographies of Peter and Hull): @
* "Overcoming the Peter Principle" (Andrea Ovans, Harvard Business Review, December 2014): @ 

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Friday, July 1, 1966: The end of Prohibition

Mississippi, the first state to ratify national prohibition in 1918, today ended the last statewide ban on liquor. Although liquor became legal at 12:01 a.m., it won't really be legal until a county votes itself wet -- which will take at least 16 days. Gov. Paul B. Johnson has vowed strict compliance with statewide enforcement of prohibition until such referendums are held. It was Johnson who called for legalization earlier this year, terming prohibition a farce.

     -- Associated Press: @

* 1962: "A tax on lawbreakers only" (Life magazine, May 11): @

* 1965: "Mississippi's dry -- in a wet sort of way" (Associated Press, January 21): @

* July 27, 1966: "Legal Booze Brings Joy to Thirsty Biloxi Tipplers" (AP): @

* August 6, 1966: First legal liquor store: @

* Wet/dry map (Alcoholic Beverage Control, Mississippi Department of Revenue): @

* Wet/dry map for beer and light wine (Alcoholic Beverage Control, Mississippi Department of Revenue): @

* "Forty Years of Legal Liquor: It's Mostly Ho-Hum" (Bill Minor, 2006): @

* "Mississippi Moonshine Politics" (Janice Branch Tracy, 2015): @ 

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Wednesday, June 8, 1966: NFL-AFL merger

The National Football League and American Football League announced plans Wednesday for a merger into a giant circuit of 26 teams in 25 cities under a single commissioner. The commissioner will be Pete Rozelle of the NFL, who, according to the joint announcement, will administer all inter-league business under a structure similar to major league baseball. The actual merger will not take place until 1970 after existing contracts expire. 

-- Story by Associated Press: @. Photo of Pete Rozelle by Bob Gomel.

* Summary from www.history.com: @

* "How Merger Will Operate" (Associated Press): @

* "Here's How It Happened" (Tex Schramm, Sports Illustrated, June 20, 1966): @
* "Birth of the new NFL: How the 1966 NFL/AFL Transformed Pro Football" (Larry Felser, 2008): @

* "The AFL-NFL merger was almost booted ... by a kicker" (Ken Rappoport, NFL.com, 2009): @
* "The American Football League's Foolish Club" (Jim Morrison, Smithsonian magazine, 2010): @
* NFL history by decade, 1961-1970 (www.nfl.com): @

* "The Merger: Forming the Conferences" (video, www.nfl.com): @
* www.remembertheafl.com: @

* afl-football.50webs.com: @

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1966: 'The Green Book'

First published in 1936, "The Green Book" -- variously titled "The Negro Motorist Green Book" and "The Negro Travelers' Green Book" -- provided information on how blacks could travel more safely. The last edition was published in 1966; the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 had lessened the need for such a guide.

     -- Image from National Postal Museum: @

Note: Most of the editions can be viewed online at The New York Public Library's Digital Collections site: @ (Also see the NYPL's "Navigating The Green Book": @)

Summaries
* "The Green Book" (The Postal Record, 2013): @
* "An atlas of self-reliance: The Negro Motorist's Green Book" (National Museum of American History, 2015): @
* "The segregation-era travel guide that saved black Americans from having to sleep in their cars" (Vox, 2015): @ 

Similar guides
* "Directory of Negro Hotels and Guest Houses in the United States" (1939, National Park Service): @

* "Travel Guide of Negro Hotels and Guest Houses" (1942, David Rumsey Map Collection; search for title): @ 
* "Go: Guide to Pleasant Motoring" (1959, The Newberry, Chicago): @

Books
* "Technology and the African-American Experience: Needs and Opportunities for Study" (Bruce Sinclair, 2004): @
* "Republic of Drivers: A Cultural History of Automobility in America" (Cotten Seiler, 2008): @
* "Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways, Transforming American Life" (Tom Lewis, 2013): @

* "Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism" (James M. Loewen, 2013): @

Other resources
* Map of 1956 listings (University of South Carolina): @

* "Driving While Black: The Car and Race Relations in Modern America" (Thomas J. Sugrue, Automobile in American Life and Society): @

* "The Architecture of Racial Segregation: The Challenges of Preserving the Problematical Past" (Robert R. Weyeneth, 2005): @

* "Route 66 and the Historic Negro Motorist Green Book" (National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, National Park Service): @

* Mapping The Green Book: @

* The Green Book Chronicles: @

* The Green Book Project: @

* " 'Green Book' Helped African Americans Travel Safely" (NPR, 2010): @

* "The Green Book" (podcast): @ 

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Tuesday, November 30, 1965: 'Unsafe at Any Speed' published

From the dust jacket:

     You have been told many times that thousands of people are killed each year by automobiles and millions more injured by them. But when you read this book you will know for the first time that the main causes of these deaths and injuries are automobiles that are unnecessarily dangerous.

     UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED is the full story of how and why cars kill, and why the automobile manufacturers have failed to make cars safe, even though the knowledge and technical skill to do so have been in their hands for years. The documented history of the industry's intransigence is here, along with the detailed background of the campaign to convince us all that only a changed driver can prevent the ravages of the traffic toll.

     It is the thesis of this book that it is easier to redesign automobiles to make them safe than to revise the nature of the people who drive them. In proof of this point, Ralph Nader has done the first thoroughgoing study not only of the major producers of automobiles, but also of the men and women who make up the safety propaganda establishment, the staffs of the peculiarly constituted standards groups (and the inadequate standards they set), and the scientists who what the automotive engineers and stylists could do if their full capabilities were used.

* "Writer Declares Auto Safety Takes Back Seat" (New York Times, December 1965): @

* Preface of book (Automobile in American Life and Society): @

* Excerpt: "The Sporty Corvair" (American Journal of Public Health): @

* "The Corvair In Action!" (Promotional film, 1960): @

* Excerpt: "The Stylists" ("The Industrial Design Reader," 2003): @
* "Ralph Nader and the Consumer Movement" (Digital History): @

* "Safety Crusaders" ("America on the Move," National Museum of American History): @

* "G.M. & Ralph Nader" (The Pop History Dig): @

* "Head-Cracking Assault on the Problem of Car Safety" (Life magazine, May 8, 1966): @

* "The Anxieties of Affluence: Critiques of American Consumer Culture, 1939-1979" (Daniel Horowitz, 2005): @ 
* "Car Safety Wars: One Hundred Years of Technology, Politics, and Death" (Michael R. Lemov, 2015): @
* "Unsafe at Any Speed -- Fiftieth Anniversary" (The Nader Page): @
* Center for Auto Safety: @
* American Museum of Tort Law: @
* "The Ralph Nader Reader" (2000): @

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1965: Pillsbury Doughboy

Leo Burnett creative director Rudy Perz was sitting at his kitchen table in the mid-1960s when he dreamed up the idea of a plump, dough figure that would pop out of a tube of refrigerated rolls. Since then, Pillsbury has used Poppin' Fresh in more than 600 commercials for more than 50 of its products.

     -- Summary from Advertising Age: @

     -- Image from Life magazine ad, June 10, 1966

Note: The exact date of when the first ad ran (print or TV) is unclear. In an email, Leo Burnett Worldwide says the agency won the company's refrigerated dough account in March 1965, with the idea for the Doughboy conceived in the fall of 1965, making it more likely that the character did not appear until 1966.

* "The creation of Poppin' Fresh" (General Mills): @

* Entry from "Food and Drink in American History: A 'Full Course' Encyclopedia" (edited by Andrew F. Smith, 2013): @

* Pillsbury Doughboy Collectibles: @

* Early TV ad: @

* Obituaries for Rudolph Perz, who died in 2015: @ (Advertising Age) @ (New York Times) and @ (Washington Post) 
* Top 10 icons of 20th century (Advertising Age): @
* "Memorable advertising icons" (CBS News): @

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October 1965: Gatorade

    Gatorade was the result of an offhand question posed in 1965 by assistant football coach Dewayne Douglas to Dr. J. Robert Cade, a professor renal medicine: "Why don't football players ever urinate during a game?" Cade and his team of researchers -- Drs. Alejando de Quesada, Jim Free and Dana Shires -- began investigating dehydration on the sports field -- a topic on which no reliable data existed.

     They soon designed and tested a drink that replaced the electrolytes lost through sweat during intense exercise. With the permission of the coaches, Cade's team was allowed to test the drink on the freshman football team, which unexpectedly beat the upperclassmen in a practice session (Friday, October 1). Ray Graves, Florida's head coach, immediately ordered up a large batch for his varsity squad, and on Saturday, October 2, the Gators upset the fifth-ranked LSU Tigers, 14-7.

     -- Summary from Cade Museum for Creativity + Invention, Gainesville, Florida

     -- Photo of Florida offensive coordinator Ed Kensler and quarterback Steve Spurrier, September 1966; in the early days players drank the mixture from milk cartons provided by the university's Department of Dairy Science. Image from University of Florida.

* "Gators Do It Again, 14-7" (Ocala Star-Banner, October 3, 1965): @

* "The Taste That's Gatorade" (Newspaper Enterprise Association, April 18, 1967): @
* "Gatorade Gives the Gators Their GO!" (All Florida magazine, April 23, 1967): @
* "Guzzling Gatorade" (Red Smith, September 7, 1967): @
* "The Bottle and the Babe" (Sports Illustrated, July 1, 1968): @
* Interview with Robert Cade (1996; University of Florida Digital Collections): @
* "Gatorade: The Idea That Launched an Industry" (Office of Research, University of Florida, 2003): @ 
* "First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat Into a Cultural Phenomenon" (Darren Rovell, 2006): @
* University of Florida historical marker (dedicated 2007): @

* "Raise a Glass to the Father of Energy Drinks" (New York Times, 2007): @
* A Little Glucose, A Little Sodium, One Giant Legend" (The Post, Health Science Center, University of Florida, December 2007-January 2008, page 4): @
* "Dr. Cade Wins the Orange Bowl" (chapter from "It Happened in Florida: Remarkable Events That Shaped Florida History," 2009): @ 
* "Waterlogged: The Serious Problem of Overhydration in Endurance Sports" (Tim Noakes, 2012): @
* "Gator Go: The Story of a Failed Sports Drink" (Home: Living in the Heart of Florida magazine, October 2014): @ 
* "Lightning in a Bottle" (SportsBusiness Daily, 2015): @
* "Innovation Turns 50" (Office of Research, University of Florida): @
* "The Sweat Solution" (ESPN Films, 2015): @

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1965: 'Things Go Better with Coke'

Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, The Who, Petula Clark, Roy Orbison, the Supremes, Tom Jones ... these were just some of the popular musical artists who recorded advertising spots using Coca-Cola's slogan "Things Go Better With Coke" starting in 1965. The artists did not perform a standard jingle; instead, the radio ads mirrored their musical styles (or their hit songs) and incorporated the slogan.

* "How Coca-Cola Invited Music's Biggest Stars to 'Swing the Jingle' in the 1960s" (from Coca-Cola Co.): @

* "Swing the Jingle!" (partial list of artists; Coca-Cola Co.): @

* "Coca-Cola Commercials" (YouTube channel): @

* Record covers (www.vinylbeat.com): @
* "Things Go Better with Coke: Sixties Coca-Cola Commercials 1965-69" (CD; www.discogs.com): @
* "Coca-Cola Commercials" (CD; www.discogs.com): @
* "Coca-Cola Uncorks Teen Radio Drive" (Billboard magazine, July 10, 1965): @
* "Coke to Aim at Ethnic Groups" (Billboard, October 15, 1966): @
* "A History of Coca-Cola Advertising Slogans" (Coca-Cola Co.): @
* "Brand Image" (Michael Austin; from "Music in the Social & Behavioral Sciences: An Encyclopedia, 2014): @ 
* "For God, Country, and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It" (Mark Pendergrast, 2013): @

* "As Heard on TV: Popular Music in Advertising" (Bethany Klein, 2009): @

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August 1965: Super Ball

This invention relates to a toy and more particularly to a ball or sphere having extremely high resilience and a high coefficient of friction.

     -- "Highly Resilient Polybutadiene Ball" (U.S. Patent Office; filed August 25, 1965; patented March 22, 1966): @

Here's the new SUPER-BALL that bounces like nothing you've ever seen before. Its strange, lively antics will distract classrooms and disrupt the dignity of business offices. Everybody is fascinated by SUPER-BALL, the handball-sized black ball that mysteriously leaps high into the air, darts this way and that, or bounces back in unlikely directions with a new twist.
     -- Advertisement (Family Weekly, November 14, 1965): @ 

Note: The earliest ad I could find was dated August 4, 1965.

* Wham-O product site: @

* www.superballs.com (tribute site): @

* "Kinematics of an Ultraelastic Rough Ball" (Richard L. Garwin, Columbia University, published in American Journal of Physics, January 1969): @

* "How Super Balls Work" (www.howstuffworks.com, 2011): @

* "A Boom with a Bounce" (Life magazine, December 3, 1965): @

* "Can You Invent a Million-Dollar Fad?" (Popular Science, January 1966): @

* "Corny Name, 'Super' Game" (Associated Press, January 6, 1970): @
* Entry from "Toys and American Culture: An Encyclopedia" (Sharon M. Scott, 2010): @

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April-May 1965: Super 8

Eastman Kodak Co. introduces its Super 8 film format, with press releases in April followed by a public debut on May 1 at the International Photography Exposition in New York. One of the main selling points: the plastic cartridge that made loading the film much easier. (Around the same time, Fuji Photo Film Co. was launching a similar system known as Single 8.)

     -- Advertisement from Life magazine, August 6, 1965 (linked below)

* "Super 8 mm Film History" (Kodak): @
* www.super8data.com (database): @
* "Instamatic Technique Goes to the Movies" (J. Walter Thompson Company News, April 30, 1965, from Duke University Libraries): @

* "Bigger Format for Movie Fans" (United Press International, April 11, 1965): @
* Advertisements in Life magazine, June 11 and August 6, 1965: @ and @

* "Kodak's Revolution in Home Movies" (Popular Science, June 1965): @

* "War of the Photo Systems" (Popular Science, July 1965): @ 

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Thursday, December 31, 1964: Bracero program

The Mexican Farm Labor Program, also known as the Bracero Program, was the result of a series of agreements between Mexico and the United States in response to the demand for agricultural labor during World War II. ... The Mexican workers were called braceros because they worked with their arms and hands (bracero comes from the Spanish brazo, or arm). The bilateral agreement guaranteed prevailing wages, health care, adequate housing, and board. ... Nationally, the Bracero Program continued until December 31, 1964, with nearly 4.5 million Mexicans making the journey during the program's twenty-two year existence. Braceros entered the United States under six-month to twelve-month contracts and were assigned to regions throughout the country. ... Once the contract expired, each bracero was required to return to Mexico and sign another contract in order to return to the United States to work. 

-- Text from "Bracero Program" (The Oregon Encyclopedia): @
-- Image from "Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program, 1942-1964" (Smithsonian Institution): @

* Bracero History Archive: @

* "Los Braceros" (www.farmworkers.org): @

* "Los Braceros: Strong Arms to Aid the U.S.A." (KVIE, Sacramento, Calif.): @

* "Bracero Program" (Texas State Historical Association): @

* "Bracero Program" (University of Texas): @

* "Bracero Program Establishes New Migration Patterns" (Oakland Museum of California): @

* "Braceros: History, Compenstion" (Rural Migration News, University of California Davis): @

* "The Bracero Program and Its Aftermath: An Historical Summary" (State of California, 1965): @

* "Opportunity or Exploitation: The Bracero Program" (National Museum of American History): @

* "Bracero program ends ... who'll harvest?" (Associated Press): @
* "Mexico Immigrant Labor History" (PBS): @ 

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1964: Gentrification

Writing in the book "London: Aspects of Change," British sociologist Ruth Glass coins the term and explains the concept:

     One by one, many of the working class quarters of London have been invaded by the middle classes -- upper and lower. Shabby, modest mews and cottages -- two rooms up and two down -- have been taken over, when their leases have expired, and have become elegant, expensive residences. Larger Victorian houses, downgraded in an earlier or recent periods -- which were used as lodging houses or were otherwise in multiple occupation -- have been upgraded once again. Nowadays, many of these houses are being sub-divided into costly flats or "houselets" (in terms of the new real estate snob jargon). The current social status and value of such dwellings are frequently in inverse relation to their size, and in any case enormously inflated by comparison with previous levels in their neighbourhoods. Once this process of "gentrification" starts in a district, it goes on rapidly until all or most of the original working class occupiers are displaced, and the whole social character of the district is changed.

* Text of Glass' essay (from "The Gentrification Debates: A Reader," edited by Japonica Brown-Saracino, 2013): @

* Glass biography (from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography): @

* "Gentrification" (Oxford Bibliographies): @

* "The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City" (Neil Smith, 2005): @

* "There Goes the 'Hood: Views of Gentrification from the Ground Up" (Lance Freeman, 2006): @

* "Gentrification" (Loretta Lees, Tom Slater and Elvin Wyly, 2008): @

* "As 'Gentrification' Turns 50, Tracing Its Nebulous History" (curbed.com, 2014): @

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Tuesday, November 3, 1964: Pay television

Californians have voted to outlaw pay television and, in the process, dealt a crippling blow to the ambitious firm that hoped to pioneer the medium across the nation.
     Sylvester L. (Pat) Weaver, president of Subscription Television, Inc., now operating in Los Angeles and San Francisco, declined comment until more votes are counted.
     But a spokesman for the firm said the defeat, by a better than 2 to 1 margin, will be appealed in the courts.
     "You can't vote down free enterprise," said the spokesman. "It's patently unconstitutional, clearly a violation of the First Amendment."
     Proposition 15, an initiative backed by a $1.5 million kitty from theater owners, declared pay TV "contrary to public policy."
     A leader of the fight against pay TV was Eugene V. Klein, president of National General Corporation, which operates 217 theaters, mostly in California.
     "It's obvious that the people of California are for free TV to pay TV.  Californians find it obnoxious to pay $1.50 to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants while the rest of the country gets their baseball on free TV," said Klein.
     The subscription system transmits its program by coaxial cable to a little box which attaches to the customer's regular TV set. There are three channels. Picture, quality and sound are of high caliber.
     The box permits reception of sound and picture and sends back impulses so the firm can know by electronic bookkeeping how much to bill subscribers.
     -- Associated Press, November 4
     -- Image from campaign against pay TV  (videos: @ and @)

* California ballot proposition, 1964 (University of California Hastings Law Library): @

* "The Box: Will it revolutionize TV, reshape the movies, retune the American mind?" (Life magazine, July 17, 1964): @

* "Pay TV: The Day The Money Stopped" (New York Times, November 15): @

* "Stupid Question, Stupid Answer" (Life, November 20): @

* "California High Court Voids Ban on Pay TV" (United Press International, March 3, 1966): @

* "Court Hits California Pay-TV Ban" (Associated Press, October 10, 1966): @
* "Pay Television" (Museum of Broadcast Communications): @

* "Hollywood in the Age of Television" (edited by Tino Balio, 1990): @ 

* "The Rise of Cable Programming in the United States: Evolution or Revolution" (Megan Mullen, 2003): @

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