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This Day in Business History

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December 1

1909		The Pennsylvania Trust Company, a Carlisle, PA-based bank, becomes the first financial institution in the United States to set up Christmas Club accounts.
1913		The first drive-in automobile service station, built by the Gulf Refining Company, opens in Pittsburgh.
1914		The San Francisco Stock & Bond Exchange is the first U.S. exchange to re-open its doors for business since the U.S. markets temporarily shut down to safeguard against a debilitating bear run following the outbreak of World War I.
1995		Michael Monus, former president of the Phar-Mor drug store chain, is found guilty of embezzling roughly $1 billion from the company. Following a long trial, Monus received a 20-year prison sentence and a $1 million fine. Prosecutors accused Monus of funneling money from Phar-Mor to finance his high-flying habits and to prop up a profit-poor minor league basketball venture, forcing massive layoffs and extensive store closings at Phar-Mor. At one point, the situation became so dire that Phar-Mor had to head to federal court to stave off bankruptcy.

December 2

1892		Jay Gould, the ambitious and sometimes unscrupulous financier, dies of consumption at age 56. Born in Roxbury, NY, Gould became a tanner and leather dealer before hitting on railroad stock speculation as a vehicle to pile up cash. By the 1860s, Gould owned a handful of rail companies. Not content with a small-scale empire, Gould used bribes, coercion and "fraudulent" stocks to wrest the Erie Railroad from Cornelius Vanderbilt. Gould closed out the decade with an attempt to conquer the gold market, directly precipitating "Black Friday," an all-out market panic that ravaged the price of gold and ruined many investors. Gould not only escaped the panic unscathed, but managed to add to his already considerable fortune. During the last two decades of his life, Gould continued snapping up rail lines, as well as several media enterprises. By the time of his death, Gould had amassed nearly $77 million.
1930		Desperately seeking ways to halt the United States' financial free fall, President Herbert Hoover goes before Congress to make a plea for a $150 million public works program. A few weeks later, Congress appropriated $116 million to his cause in hopes of putting Americans back to work on various construction projects.
1997		Fed chief Alan Greenspan predicts that the so-called Asian flu would gradually abate and that the afflicted nations would not only rebound, but be stronger for their suffering.

December 3

1901		President Theodore Roosevelt takes the House floor to deliver a 20,000-word consideration of business conglomerations. Roosevelt called on Congress to curb the nation's trusts, though he urged the need for legislation that stayed "within reasonable limits." Despite this caveat, Roosevelt is often remembered as an ardent trust buster who crusaded against the rise of big business. In fact, Roosevelt was hardly a constant foe of the business community: He came from a wealthy family and neither disdained money nor the growth of business combinations. Rather, he plied a more conservative approach and sought policy which balanced free market principles with the "best interests" of the American public, allowing trusts to exist, albeit within carefully measured limits.
1929		Showing extreme optimism, if not foresight, President Herbert Hoover declares to Congress that the nation had shaken off the impact of the recent stock market crash and regained its faith in the economy. Whatever confidence the public may have clung to was no doubt quashed during the ensuing Depression.

December 4

1943		President Franklin Roosevelt announces the end of the Work Projects Administration (WPA), concluding the four-year run of one of the American government's most ambitious public works programs. Inaugurated as part of Roosevelt's New Deal legislation in 1935 as the Works Progress Administration (the name changed to Works Projects Administration in 1939), the WPA was charged with creating jobs for workers idled by the Depression. Fueled by $11 billion of the government's money, the program set Americans to work on an array of projects, including the construction of 650,000 miles of road and 125,000 public buildings. The WPA also served as an umbrella for federal programs that set writers, actors, and artists to work on various public arts projects. Before being shut down, the WPA helped create jobs for roughly 8.5 million people.
1952		The Congress of Industrial Organizations elects United Auto Workers chief William Reuther to be their new president.

December 5

1865		Treasury Secretary Hugh McCulloch makes a plea for greenbacks (paper money minted to support the Union) to be discontinued. In the wake of the Civil War, fiscal conservatives attempted to curtail the use of the currency. However, proponents of greenbacks kept the currency flowing into the 1870s.
1955		Two of the United States' largest labor organizations, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) merge. AFL president George Meaney ascended to the top spot of the newly formed AFL-CIO.
1985		On Wall Street, records tumbled throughout the early morning, as the volume of new contracts on the Standard and Poor 500-stock index surged to new heights, while the Dow snuck past the 1500-point ceiling. However, at some point during the day, "technical" and "psychological" factors, including general skittishness over the markets pushing into "unprecedented price territory," triggered a furious sell-off. Far from celebrating the brief charge into the record books, many traders were left counting their losses and scratching their heads at the sudden turn of events.

December 6

1887		President Grover Cleveland calls for significant tariff reductions and, during the next decade, Cleveland did his best to roll back tariffs, supporting various bills designed to ease foreign trade restrictions.
1994		Orange County's dalliance with high-risk investing forces the affluent California community to file for bankruptcy. The move, which marked the single biggest bankruptcy filing by a municipality, capped off a disastrous run for Orange County and its multi-billion-dollar investment fund. Though top-heavy with low-risk bonds, the fund was a ticking time bomb. Indeed, Orange County officials had built up their holdings through reverse repurchase agreements, a potentially perilous strategy in which investors borrow money to buy securities. In return for the loan, investors put up the securities as collateral; brokers also require additional collateral when "adverse" market events occur. Orange County's fund had been struggling for well over a year, forcing the brokers, which included a number of Wall Street firms, to seek more collateral. Heavily leveraged and heading for trouble, the fund's losses wandered into the neighborhood of $2 billion before county officials decided it was time to file for Chapter 9.

December 7

1941		The bombing of Pearl Harbor causes panicked Wall Street traders to dump their holdings. After a day of frantic action, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 4.08 points to close at 112.52.
1954		A member of the Eisenhower administration concedes that the budget deficit would continue to plague the country throughout the next fiscal year, and attempts to spin the situation, trumpeting the administration's "great progress" in "gaining control" of the deficit as proof of the president's commitment to balancing the budget. Sensing a ripe partisan opportunity, Democrats chided the Republican Eisenhower for failing to fulfill what had putatively been the "foremost plank" of his presidential campaign. Democrats also hammered at the administration's failure to translate the nation's stunning peace-time prosperity into a sound budget plan.

December 8

1860		Angered by Abraham Lincoln's election to the residency, Howell Cobb resigns his post as Secretary of the Treasury. Following his flight from the Treasury, the secession-minded politician from Georgia became a leader in the Confederacy movement and later served as a major general in the Southern army.
1886		Fed up with the stifling grip of the Knights of Labor, a group of craft unions meet in Columbus, Ohio to mull over forming their own labor organization. Under the leadership of Samuel Gompers and Adolph Strasser, the disgruntled unionists decided to band together as the American Federation of Labor (AFL), vowing to uphold the core principles of craft unions, meaning, in part, that the 100 national and international member organizations would remain largely independent entities. The AFL acted as a "loose" thread between the groups, largely serving as a safeguard for union members and adjoining "industrial territories." While this policy sparked some turf wars, the AFL pushed on, growing at a healthy clip during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

December 9

1865		The New York Stock Exchange threw open the doors on its new home, located at 10-12 Broad Street in lower Manhattan.
1878		Greenbacks, paper money issued during the Civil War to support the Union, pull even with gold for the first time since 1862. Along with matching the precious metal, greenbacks also hit "face value" on the currency market. But the victory was short lived, as the next months saw a good chunk of the greenback supporters shift their allegiance to the burgeoning silver movement.
1996		Many traders in the investment community brace themselves for an "inevitable" market correction after a two-year hot streak.

December 10

1845		President James Polk gives Congressman John Slidell the go-ahead to settle a border dispute concerning Texas, as well as to purchase New Mexico for $5 million and California for $25 million, from Mexico. However, Mexico refused the offer, emboldening the president to marshal a war effort in the name of "reannexing" the territory.
1972		The dollar posts what some traders deem the U.S. currency's steepest one-day drop on the Tokyo market. Following a day of frantic action, the dollar shed 3.7 percent of its value to close at 231.25 yen. Japanese currency dealers attempted to explain the dollar's drubbing, but, rather than finger one major culprit, they blamed a few small-scale factors, including growing "uncertainty" about the dollar. Indeed, some dealers pointed to Japanese newspapers, which predicted the imminent decline of the dollar. This conjecture soon quickly spread from the printed page to Tokyo's financial community, triggering a "bandwagon effect," as dealers desperately rushed to dump the fast-fading dollar.

December 11

1930		New York's branch of Bank of the United States announces that it had gone belly-up. Until its downfall, the Bank held the savings of some 400,000 depositors, including a number of immigrants; its subsequent demise imperiled the finances of roughly one-third of New York and stood as the nation's single worst bank failure.
1968		The Labor Department announces that the nation's unemployment rate had dwindled to 3.3%, the lowest mark in 15 years.

December 12

1805		Henry Wells, one of the fathers of speed-conscious delivery and banking services, is born in Thetford, VT. Wells cut his teeth working as an agent for Harden's Express in upstate New York. Clearly taken with the express transport business, Wells set up his own shop, Livingston Wells and Pomeroy's Express, which ferried "goods, valuables, and specie" between Buffalo and Albany. By 1844, Wells joined forces with William Fargo and Daniel Dunning to start Wells and Company, which would service terrain beyond the upper reaches of New York. While this was all fairly ambitious maneuvering, the 1850s saw Wells make an even stronger move to conquer the express market. First, in 1850, he merged his two concerns into the American Express Company, which initially covered California and the Eastern seaboard and later stretched to Latin America. Then, in 1852, he linked up with Fargo again to form Wells, Fargo and Company, a joint-stock venture that served as a holding company for the Wells Fargo Bank. Along with bankrolling business ventures, Wells used his fortune to aid the plight of chronic stutterers, as well as to establish Wells College for women.
1900		Charles Schwab announces the formation of U.S. Steel, after assuaging Andrew Carnegie's and J. Pierpoint Morgan's egos, and brokering a delicate financial agreement.
Born on December 12
1923		Game show impresario Bob Barker is born. Barker's main claim to fame is his long standing run as the host of The Price Is Right, the daytime television favorite that features cost-conscious contestants testing their skills as consumers in a variety of pricing games.

December 13

1816		The Provident Institution for Savings, America's first savings bank, is chartered for operation.
1978		The United States mint starts production on the Susan B. Anthony dollar; 850 million coins hit the streets by the summer of 1979. While well-intentioned, the Susan B. Anthony dollar was a flop: people confused it with the quarter and the Susan B. Anthony coin fell out of favor (an understandable mistake considering that the Susan B. dollar was silver and not much bigger than a quarter).

December 14

1790		While giving his take on the young nation's hefty war debt, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton floats a proposal for the Bank of the United States. Under Hamilton's plan, the bank would assume responsibility for easing the nation's debt, as well as establishing a healthy line of credit. The bank's distinctly Federalist bent angered planters and states' rights proponents, who not only charged Hamilton with catering to "monied interests," but also derided his plan as unconstitutional. However, after a few months of wrangling and debate over the constitutionality of the proposal, President Washington finally signed the bill for the bank on February 25, 1791.
1995		After 69 grueling days on the picket line, machinists for the Boeing Company give the go-ahead to a new contract. The deal was studded with labor-friendly items, including a bonus, an hourly-wage increase, and an improved health plan, prompting union leaders to declare victory in the strike. The 33,000-striking machinists also gained some ground on safeguarding workers whose jobs are sent overseas. Indeed, Boeing agreed to retain and re-train anyone affected by "subcontracting" to cheaper international plants. However, some analysts tempered labor's celebration, noting that Boeing still intended to send 52 percent of its work overseas or to non-union U.S. plants.

December 15

1886		Turbulence reigns over Wall Street as a record 1.2 million shares changes hands in a day of frantic trading.
1914		After being closed for over four months, the New York Stock Exchange reopens, albeit with a tight set of trading restrictions designed to prevent fiscal disaster. The outbreak of fighting in Europe triggered the closing of the NYSE, as market officials looked to prevent a rapid-fire liquidation of the European account, then worth roughly $2.4 billion.
1995		The New York Stock Exchange posts a new mark for trading volume, as 652.8 million shares change hands, topping the old mark of 608.2 million shares set on October 20, 1987. Leading the way was the discount store chain Kmart, which saw 24.3 million shares of its stock get traded before the end of the day. However, Kmart's stock plunged to its lowest point in thirteen years. Nor did heavy trading volume translate into a financial boon for the Exchange, which suffered through a day of modest losses.

December 16

1935		A fire ravages the hub of the financial community in lower Manhattan. The inside of the Merchants' Exchange building was nearly destroyed, leaving the New York Stock and Exchange Board without a home. However, the Board scrambled fast to find new lodgings and was up and running again the next day in the space above John Warren's Reading Room. In 1842, the Exchange moved back to its resuscitated and refurbished quarters in the Exchange Building.
1978		Cleveland, OH becomes the first city in the post-Depression era to default on its loans. Plagued by political sniping between its mayor and city council, as well as an eroding economic base, Cleveland managed to pile up $14 million in debt to a number of local banks.
1982		The Federal Reserve releases a report indicating that the operating capacity of U.S. factories had plummeted to 67.8 percent, the nation's lowest mark since the indicator was introduced in 1948.
1993		The Dow Industrial Average soars to a record high of 3710.77, marking the first time that markets closed above 3,700 points. Wall Street eagerly anticipated the passage of the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). After months of heated political wrangling, in which pro-labor forces and hard-line protectionists took their best shot at derailing NAFTA, the bill looked likely to make its way into the law books, putting traders in a giddy mood.

December 17

1878		The United States' Gold Exchange shuts down; the rise of the silver movement and rampant currency deflation had taken their toll on gold. The premium on the precious metal had virtually vanished, leaving gold traders with little work to do. However, the dawn of 1879 saw a reversal of gold's fortunes and the Exchange re-opened its doors for business.
1983		Congress passes a 1,379-page tax overhaul bill that, in the words of The Wall Street Journal, promised to "alter almost every corner of the tax code." Despite President Ronald Reagan's claim that the legislation was his "top domestic priority," the bill was packed with seemingly Democrat-style initiatives, including the eradication of a fleet of tax preferences and the pledge to remove roughly 6.3 million "working poor" families from the tax rolls. Part of the president's support came from his avowed desire to shift the perception that the GOP was a bedfellow of big business. Nor did it hurt that the legislation featured another round of tax cuts and was designed to goose business and economic growth.

December 18

1987

Federal Judge Morris E. Lasker sentences the once mighty arbitrageur Ivan Boesky to a three-year prison term. Boesky, who had been one of the wealthiest and most powerful players on Wall Street, was found guilty of insider trading, as well as a series of sizable but shady transactions, crimes that constituted what The Wall Street Journal deemed the "largest scandal in Wall Street's history." While Lasker chided Boesky for committing offenses "of the highest seriousness," the arbitrageur cushioned his fall by agreeing to implicate other firms and figures suspected of securities crimes. The result was a relatively lenient ruling that raised a number of eyebrows. A share of the criticism was directed at Rudolph Giuliani, the U.S. District Attorney for Southern New York, who was accused of using the insider trading scandals as a vehicle to forward his political ambitions. The high-profile Wall Street convictions certainly didn't hurt Giuliani's career, as the D.A rode his newfound status as a hard-driving crime fighter to become mayor of New York City. As for Boesky, the fallen arbitrageur ended up serving two years of his prison term and handed over $100 million in fines.

December 19

1979		The struggling Chrysler Corporation gets a generous $1.5 billion loan from the Senate to help put the company back on its feet. In the short term, though, the loan did little to stanch the bleeding: 1980 saw Chrysler rack-up record losses of well over $1.7 billion.
1983		After a grueling and sometimes bloody six weeks on the picket line, striking Greyhound workers agree to sign off on a new contract and head back to work. Though the Amalgamated Transit Union overwhelmingly approved the deal, voting 7,404 to 2,596 in its favor, the strike was a hardly a victory for the workers. Indeed, the new contract carried severe cuts, including a 14.8 percent annual reduction in wages and benefits. Greyhound officials were pleased with the pact, which, during the first year of the contract, promised to pad the company's coffers by roughly $40 million to $60 million. Greyhound chief John W. Teets defended the hard-ball economics as a necessity for keeping pace with the rail, plane and other bus lines that were all jockeying for the nation's transportation dollars. However, this was cold comfort for Greyhound workers, as well as the nation's labor movement, which, in the wake of the disastrous air traffic controllers strike of 1981, hardly needed to suffer another humiliating defeat.

December 20

1803		The U.S. and French governments put the finishing touches on the Louisiana Purchase. For the relatively paltry price tag of $15 million, the U.S. acquired an area that effectively doubled the size of the nation. The bargain price reflected French fears that their army, already occupied with the Napoleonic Wars, would not be able to stave off revolutionaries in New Orleans. U.S. officials, meanwhile, coveted New Orleans as a duty-free port for American goods that were about to be shipped. Of course, the resulting deal provided the U.S. with much more than a port; indeed, the nation now owned the land that would become Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, the Dakotas, as well as chunks of Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and of course, Louisiana.
1820		Missouri puts a price on bachelorhood, instituting legislation that forced single men between the ages of 21 and 50 to hand over an annual tax of one dollar.
1968		Henry Fowler's reign as the Secretary of the Treasury ends. A Yale Law School grad and government servant since the mid-1930s, Folwer apprenticed as the Under Secretary of the Treasury for three years before rising to the department's top spot on April 1, 1965. During his tenure, Fowler helped give birth to a new international monetary reserve system, alternately known as "Special Drawing Rights." President Lyndon Johnson gave a special nod to Fowler's work on SDR, hailing the Secretary as "...the grand architect of the most significant reforms in the international monetary system since Bretton Woods." Fowler also helped establish a "two-tier" gold system, unveiled in 1968.

December 21

1908		Andrew Carnegie, who monopolized the steel industry and promoted the cause of unfettered "Individualism," lectures a House panel on the evils of tariffs. Carnegie vigorously defended corporate America's competitive virility in the global marketplace, imploring Congress to "(t)ake back (their) protection; we are now men and we can beat the world." However, Carnegie's words failed to sway protectionist forces who helped to usher a round of steep tariffs into the law books.
1988		Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. pleads guilty to charges of mail, wire, and securities fraud. As part of the settlement, Drexel agreed to hand over a record $650 million in fines, as well as to cooperate with authorities in their ongoing investigation of other Wall Street figures. Drexel in fact helped snare one of its own fallen stars, Michael Milken, as the firm provided evidence that helped mount a damning case against the deposed junk-bond king. Thanks to his former firm, Milken was indicted in 1990 on nearly one hundred counts of racketeering. Nor was the outcome of the scandal particularly kind to Drexel. The firm's finances had already been hit hard by the waning junk bond market of the late '80s; the mammoth fraud settlement further depleted their rather barren coffers. In February of 1990, Drexel filed for Chapter 11.

December 22

1807		The House passed President Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act, which barred trading between the United States and European nations. In Jefferson's eyes, the Embargo Act was not merely a defensive measure; he also hoped to demonstrate the U.S.' growing power as a trade partner. But the Embargo Act not only took a severe toll on U.S. agricultural and mercantile interests, it also proved to be a financial boon to British and French traders. By 1809, angry farmers, mercantilists, and political critics forced Jefferson to repeal the Embargo Act and re-open the doors to trade with Europe, save for Britain and France.
1997		Coca-Cola buys Orangina, the "sparkling" French beverage formerly owned by Pernod Richard, for a cool $840 million, catching Wall Street off-guard; financial insiders believed that Orangina's price tag had originally been in the $600 to $700 million range. However, Coca-Cola officials were angling to expand their roster of "non-cola" drinks and Orangina, which ranked second to Coke in overall market share in France, seemed like a potentially savvy addition to the American soft-drink giant's roster of beverages. Meanwhile, Pernod Richard planned to use the money from the deal to boost its international offerings of wines and spirits.

December 23

1913		Congress approves President Woodrow Wilson's Federal Reserve Act, which paved the way for the Federal Banking System, a network of twelve regional banks. To help forward this plan, the act also called for all national banks to join the federal system via hefty one-time deposits into a pooled account. In turn, the Federal Reserve banks were charged with serving as resources to aid and stabilize the nation's other banks. The resulting network of banks was tied together by the Federal Reserve Board, as well as the newly minted Federal Reserve note.
1982		The Senate finally gives the go-ahead to President Ronald Reagan's gas tax bill. The legislation called for a five-cent hike in the federal tax on gasoline, which, on paper, was expected to haul in $5.5 billion a year to fund highway and bridge repairs. Though Reagan was an avowed opponent of using public funds to spark job growth, the tax increase nonetheless promised to create 320,000 jobs. The president signed the bill into law on January 6, 1983.

December 24

1827		A group of Congressmen allied with Andrew Jackson helped scuttle the Harrisburg Convention's recommendations for protecting U.S. goods, including their call for high tariffs. In late January of 1928, the Jacksonians drafted a tariff bill that, with its package of preposterously high duties, was designed not only to fail, but to permanently tarnish the reputation of their arch-enemy, President John Quincy Adams. The gambit was only partially successful: as planned, the House killed the bill, prying open the door for debate that threatened to sink Adams and his fellow tariff proponents. In the short term, though, the president prevailed, as he helped push a tariff bill the into the law books. However, the legislation, dubbed the "Tariff of Abominations," was the target of considerable scorn and a handful of states challenged its constitutionality. In 1829, Jackson had the last laugh, as the Democratic firebrand triumphed over Adams to become the nation's new president.
Born on December 24
1905		Howard Hughes, the manufacturing magnate, Hollywood mogul, and record-setting aviator, is born in Houston. Hughes entered the business world at 17, taking the reins of his family's Texas-based tool company after his father passed away. In 1926 he headed to Hollywood to become a producer of gritty classics like Hell's Angels and Scarface. In 1948, Hughes snapped up a "controlling interest" in RKO Pictures, though a few years later he relinquished his shares in the company only to buy the studio outright in 1954. However, in 1955 Hughes reversed course again and sold RKO. Along the way, the eccentric millionaire indulged his passion for aviation, establishing the Hughes Aircraft Company and later buying a majority stake in Trans World Airlines. During the 1930s, Hughes flew his own custom-made plane into the record books, breaking various speed and flight-time records. Despite his glittery achievements and hefty bankroll, Hughes was never one for publicity. As the years wore on, his reclusive tendencies increased: Hughes eventually sequestered himself away in an ever-rotating series of luxury hotels, where he would toil on end for days, surviving on a diet that leaned heavier on drugs than food. Hughes died in 1976 while on a flight back to his hometown of Houston.

December 25

1992

Shoppers hit America's stores for what proved to be a festive holiday spending spree. When the books closed on the '92 Christmas buying season, retail sales had exploded by 8 percent over the previous year. However, although the economy continued its bullish ways throughout the decade, the nation's strong growth and low unemployment didn't translate into stronger holiday seasons. After 1992, stores' sales barely kept pace with the inflation rate. Even 1997, when an exceptionally robust economy led some analysts to predict bullish sales, proved to be a disappointment, as sales only bested the figures from 1996 by 2-3 percent.

December 26

1833		Henry Clay takes to the Senate floor to deliver a stern rebuke of his arch-rival, President Andrew Jackson. Clay's two sharply worded resolutions, stemmed from the president's controversial decision to transfer the government's funds from the Bank of the United States to state institutions. Clay also moved against the Treasury Department and targeted the second resolution at Secretary Roger Taney, who was installed in the Treasury post when the acting secretary defied Jackson's orders to remove the government's funds from the Bank of the United States. After considerable debate and deliberation, the Senate green-lighted the resolutions in March of 1834.
1933		The Nissan Motor Company is organized in Tokyo under the name Dat Jidosha Seizo Co. It received its present name the next year. Nissan began manufacturing cars and trucks under the name Datsun. During World War II, Nissan was converted to military production, and after Japan's defeat operated in a limited capacity under the occupation government until 1955. Since then, Nissan has grown into one of the world's premier car companies.

December 27

1943		President Franklin Roosevelt steps in to serve as a negotiator imploring the rail unions to give America a "Christmas present" and settle the smoldering wage dispute. But as Christmas came and went, only two of the five railroad brotherhoods agreed to let Roosevelt arbitrate the situation. So, on December 27, just three days before the scheduled walk-out, the President shelved his nice-guy rhetoric and seized the railroads. Lest the move look too aggressive, Roosevelt assured that the railroads would only be temporarily placed under the "supervision" of the War Department; he also pledged that the situation would not alter daily rail operations. The gambit worked, as officials for the recalcitrant brotherhoods made an eleventh-hour decision to avert the strike.
1983		The recession of the early 1980s took a toll on one of the nation's landmark companies, U.S. Steel, which announced that it would slash its steelmaking capacity by roughly 20 percent, as well as take a $1.2 billion pre-tax write-off for the year. The write-off marked the biggest pre-tax charge in the steel industry, as U.S. Steel nudged past Bethlehem Steel, which had taken a $930 million write-off earlier that year. Along with this rather ignominious distinction, U.S. Steel's moves also brought a fresh round of lay-offs for 4,600 workers. All told, the plant closings and write-offs impacted 15,400 U.S Steel employees, as 10,800 workers who were previously laid off had now permanently lost their jobs.

December 28

1990		The American government reports that the Index of Leading Indicators, a chief fiscal benchmark, had dwindled to 1.2 percent. The figure marked the fifth month in a row that the figure had posted a decline, which strongly suggested that the nation was sailing into rough financial waters. By the time 1991 was in full swing, the economy was mired in a recession that helped cost President George Bush his job.
Born on December 28
1929		Born in a tiny town in Michigan, Owen Bieber was a lifelong labor leader in the state's auto industry. Shortly after landing his first job at a Hudson and Chevrolet plant, the 19-year-old Bieber became the shop's union steward. By 26, he had risen to chief of Grand Rapids' Local 687. After years of service to Michigan's auto unions, Bieber finally ascended to the national stage in 1980, when he was elected vice president of the United Auto Workers (UAW). Bieber was also given the nod to run the General Motors division, which, in 1983, helped propel him to the top spot in the UAW.

December 29

1845		Texas starts its run as a member of the United States; U.S. Customs conferred fiscal legitimacy on Texas's admission to the Union and began to collect revenue in the state.
1950		The Celler-Kefauver Anti-merger Act, a potent piece of anti-trust legislation, passes into the law books. Drafted by Senate stalwart Estes Kefauver and Emanuel Celler, a trust-busting Congressman from Brooklyn, the legislation was designed to expand and enhance the landmark Clayton Anti-Trust Act and help staunch monopolistic mergers and acquisitions, as well as reign in super-sized corporations that threaten competition. Along with barring corporations from monopolizing other company's land, equipment and/or property, Celler-Kefauver extended the Clayton Act to cover competition-killing, cross-industry mergers. While the Celler-Kefauver Act no doubt warmed the hearts of anti-trust advocates, it represented the last major anti-monopoly legislation meted out during the century.

December 30

1936		Workers at the General Motors plant stop work en masse. The gambit proved effective: a series of successful sit-down strikes, coupled with the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act) forced GM's hand. On February 11, 1937, GM acknowledged the United Automobile Workers as its employees' official "bargaining agent," sending ripples throughout the industry, as other auto makers gradually accepted the legitimacy of the union.
1969		President Richard Nixon signs off on what was then the most far-reaching tax reform bill in U.S. history. The legislation relieved nine million low-income citizens of the burden of paying taxes; it also slashed tax rates for individuals by five percent.

December 31

1933		William Woodin's brief but action-packed term as the 51st secretary of the Treasury ends. A high-profile industrialist and businessman, Woodin helped guide a bank, manufacturing plant, and shipping firm before being tabbed by President Franklin Roosevelt for the Treasury post in March of 1933. Woodin stepped into office while America was deep in the throes of the Great Depression and was charged with reviving the nation's faith in the economy. Woodin and Roosevelt wasted little time taking action: just four days into the secretary's term, Roosevelt closed the nation's banks to mete out a new series of fiscal regulations. Ten days later, the president lifted the so-called "banking holiday" and handed Woodin the responsibility of steering banks along a strict and sound financial course. The secretary was also charged with infusing the economy with a hefty batch of Federal Reserve notes, as well as helping the newly elected president kick start the New Deal program of economic initiatives. However, the strain of guiding the nation back to prosperity took a fast and severe toll on Woodin; he suffered a breakdown in December of '33 and was forced to step down after less than a year on the job. Woodin passed away in the spring of 1934.
1955		General Motors announces that it had hauled in $1,189,477,082 during the past year, making the auto giant the first U.S. corporation to push its earnings past the billion-dollar mark.