Timeline for a Psychotic Nation
Accelerating into Madness
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 Histerical 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....
1692 - The Salem Witch Trials
1773 - The year we threw the tea in the lake
1776 - The nation was officially founded
1861 - The Civil War begins
1865 - The Civil War ends and the slaves begin a long journey into freedom
1886 - Coca-Cola invented by an Atlanta druggist
1896 - First full-size, comprehensive Sears & Roebuck catalog
1904 - The hamburger makes its official debut at The World's Fair in St. Louis
1921 - White Castle becomes the first fast-food hamburger chain
1925 - First Sears retail store opens in Chicago
1927 - The birth of the Craftsman and Kenmore brands
1928 - The last year that cocaine was an ingredient in Coca-Cola
1929 - The Stock Market Crash sets off The Great Depression of the '30's
1940 - The first McDonald's opens
1945 - Sears exceeds $1 billion in sales
1948 - World War II is over and the Baby Boomers have already begun
1950 - The beginning of the ultra-conservative '50's - The "I Like Ike" years continue
1951 - The first Jack in the Box opens in San Diego
1953 - The Corvette and Playboy Magazine are launched
1954 - Brown v. Board of Education - The first Burger King opens in Miami
1955 - The T-bird takes flight, Chevy and Ford both introduce small-block V-8's, and Elvis gets famous for swiveling hips and a quivering lip - Disneyland opens
1956 - Elvis performs his last small-town concert in Tupelo, MS
1957 - Car tailfins expand and proliferate - fuel injection makes its appearance
1958 - The T-bird becomes the first "Personal Luxury Car"
1959 - The first Honda motorcycles come to America - 100 McDonald's nationwide
1960 - Sony brings the transistor radio to America
1961 - The lunch counter sit-in by four black students in Greensboro, NC
1962 - The first Wal-Mart opens in Rogers, AR (home of Daisy BB guns) - James Meredith enrolls at Ole Miss - Jeep introduces the Wagoneer, the first U.S.-built SUV
1963 - The Beatles appear on The Jack Paar Show via videotape - "The Times They Are A'Changin" - The Corvette Sting Ray and the last model of Studebaker, The Avanti, appear - the one-billionth McDonald's hamburger sold - 500 McDonald's nationwide - Ronald McDonald appears - the assassinations begin with JFK
1964 - The Civil Rights Act and The Beatles come to America - Mustang & GTO arrive - the most famous Civil Rights slaying by the KKK in Neshoba County, MS
1965 - Vietnam - The Sexual Revolution - musclecars - "Like a Rolling Stone" - Honda brings its first car to California, The S-600 Convertible
1966 - Six Flags Over Texas opens - Ford introduces the Bronco - Revolver (Yes, Maybelle, The Beatles do smoke pot.) - John Lennon quotes "We're more popular than Jesus now."
1967 - Jimi Hendrix - Cream - Jefferson Airplane - Haight-Ashbury - Monterey Pop - Sgt. Pepper
1968 - Electric Ladyland - Wheels of Fire - Stingray - Toyota Corona distributed nationwide - the first Big Mac - 1000 McDonald's - "The Graduate" hears about plastics - 2001: A Space Odyssey
1969 - the peak of America's best days - The first Wendy's opens in Columbus, OH
1970 - You can never go home again - the beginning of the end - Ross Perot introduces his town meeting concept on national television
1971 - The Egg McMuffin test marketed
1972 - 2000 McDonald's
1973 - The Oil Embargo - Six Flags starts a trend with the first of the new generation of supercoasters at its Atlanta park, The Great American Scream Machine - Egg McMuffin officially introduced
1974 - 3000 McDonald's
1975 - The Wal-Mart Cheer introduced to employees by Sam Walton - first McDonald's Drive-Thru opens in Arizona
1976 - Watergate - Did we learn anything from it? - Honda Accord introduced - Cadillac swears that it is building its last convertible - 4000 McDonald's
1977 - Star Wars is born - The King is Dead
1978 - Ford enlarges the Bronco
1979 - First Home Depot opens in Atlanta
1980 - Let's elect an actor President. Yeah, that's the ticket (to our insanity)! - John Lennon assassinated - 6000 McDonald's
1982 - 7000 McDonald's
1983 - The first Sam's Club opens in Midwest City, OK - Chicken McNuggets
1984 - 50 billionth hamburger sold - 17 million customers daily - 22 people shot in McDonald's in San Diego - Apple Macintosh introduced during the Superbowl
1985 - First Dell computer - Microsoft Windows introduced - Sears introduces Discover card
1986 - Sixty Home Depot stores
1987 - The next big stock market crash - 20 million McDonald's customers daily
1988 - Bush, Sr., continues the downhill slide of the American economy - the first Wal-Mart Supercenter opens in Washington, MO
1989 - Fox Network premiers the first reality TV show, Cops
1990 - Wal-Mart becomes the nation's #1 retailer
1991 - 174 Home Depot stores
1992 - The death of Bill Hicks, the most poignant comic of '80's era - Bush Sr. gives Sam Walton the Medal of Freedom
1993 - Wal-Mart has its first $1 billion sales week
1994 - 15,000 McDonald's
1995 - 423 Home Depot stores
1996 - $200 million McDonald's marketing blitz
1997 - Wal-Mart becomes the #1 employer in the U.S. - annual sales of $105 billion
1998 - 761 Home Depot stores
1999 - The biggest stock market bubble in our nation's history - Wal-Mart becomes the largest private employer in the world
2000 - The tech bubble pops - 1123 Home Depot stores
2001 - The airline industry crashes and the Dow falls on its face - Enron - Worldcom - Wal-mart sells $1.25 billion on the day after Thanksgiving
2002 - Bush starts a war just to please his oil company cronies - Fortune Magazine ranks Wal-Mart as the #1 "Most Admired Company in America" - 1532 Home Depot stores
2003 - The national deficit sets new records - Fortune Magazine ranks Wal-Mart #1 again - Cedar Point features 16 roller coasters
2004 - Karl Rove comes to power to destroy America through his puppet, Dubya - Wal-Mart has 1625 Supercenters and employs 1.2 million in the U.S. alone - FCC slaps Fox Network with $1 million indecency fine, the largest in history - 23 Six Flags theme parks in the U.S.
2005 - KKK member / Baptist preacher Edgar Ray Killen arraigned in Philadelphia MS for the murder of the three Civil Rights workers in 1964 - 1800 Home Depot stores - a new Home Depot store opens every 48 hours - Hurricane Katrina destroys New Orleans & Dubya still does not want to discuss global warming. Hurricane Rita forces the evacuation of Houston only three weeks later - and he still doesn't want to talk about it!
2006 - What disaster will top Katrina?
2010 - It's all over but the crying.
The Last Horizon Go Back to Sleep, America! Suck the Boob Traffic
07/01/07
Copyright 2005 Floyd M. Orr