1960's Business and the Economy | Overview

American Century.

In 1941 publishing magnate Henry Luce proclaimed the dawning of the American Century, and by the mid 1960s, if one looked at the business community, there was every reason to believe he was correct. At home and abroad American business was preponderant. The domestic economy was growing, unemployment was down, firms were increasingly productive, and technology was fueling constant innovation. Historians Louis Galambos and Joseph Pratt noted: "It was a good time to be in business in the United States, an era when American efficiency and entrepreneurship were the wonder of the world."

Decade of Affluence.

During the 1960s the United States experienced its longest uninterrupted period of economic expansion in history. Whereas automobiles, chemicals, and electrically powered consumer durables were the leading sectors in the 1950s, they were supplanted by aerospace, housing, and the computer industry in...