BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: American Enterprise

DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: American Enterprise:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIAHEN_150701_002.JPG: Debating Enterprise The Consumer Era (1940s-1970s) After World War II, Americans enjoyed expanded opportunities and material prosperity. But income inequality persisted, and people questioned whether the government should intervene to balance the scales.
2. SIAHEN_150701_005.JPG: "The affluent society makes no meaningful distinction between luxury and necessity." -- Economist John Kenneth Galbraith argued that an unregulated marketplace resulted in "private opulence and public squalor." "The only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off." -- Philosopher Ayn Rand invoked the benefits of a free and unregulated marketplace where the most competitive individuals could thrive. "A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess." -- Labor and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph argued that equality of opportunity could not be left to the marketplace.
3. SIAHEN_150701_017.JPG: Howdy Doody puppet, 1950s: Howdy Doody was one of many licensed products for sale. As a TV character, Howdy sold advertising sponsorships and pitched the sale of RCA color sets.
4. SIAHEN_150701_022.JPG: Sesame Street sign, 1979: Used on the set of Sesame Street that aired in 1969 on the newly-created Public Broadcasting Service.
5. SIAHEN_150701_028.JPG: From War Production to Home Consumption: Many products developed for the military during World War II made the transition to American homes: power tools, insecticides, batteries, and candles. First sold to the military, M&Ms became an early adopted of television advertising, sponsoring children's shows like Howdy Doody.
6. SIAHEN_150701_034.JPG: MTV: Debuting in 1981, MTV defined niche markets and changed the look of advertising. Must-see videos and frenetic advertising attracted a youthful audience and put off older viewers, intentionally creating a narrow community of consumers. Although the music channel had difficulty securing sponsors at first, it ultimately achieved success. VJs promoted artists, sold music, and positioned brands in a seamless mix of performance, video art, and advertising.
7. SIAHEN_150701_047.JPG: "Fail Harder" -- Wieden + Kennedy agency slogan Dan Wieden and David Kennedy of Wieden+Kennedy licensed popular music and enlisted famous characters like Bugs Bunny to create the first animated Super Bowl commercial for Nike. In 1985, Vince and Larry, crash test dummies, began starring in an award-winning PSA campaign about auto safety. Reworking traditionally serious auto safety PSAs, creators Jim Ferguson and Joel Machak at Leo Burnett humorously conveyed the message that Americans should buckle up! Joel Machak, Jim Ferguson, and creative team at Leo Burnett accept the Clio Award for Crash Test Dummies PSA, 1986. [This was controversial, actually. The NHTSA had paid for the design of the crash test dummy campaign only to see the licensing rights sold by the advertising company to Leisure Concepts and Tyco Toys. Rumors had said that NHTSA didn't get any of the revenue resulting from the sale of these items.]
8. SIAHEN_150701_050.JPG: Japanese McDonald's sign, 1975 In 1971, McDonald's expanded to Japan. Some people worried that American brands endangered local traditions. Others argued that successful brands adapted to local culture.
9. SIAHEN_150701_060.JPG: Glass paperweight, 2001: Knickknacks remind senior managers to "think globally." This paperweight, recovered from the debris of the World Trade Center, is a symbol of globalizing gone wrong.
10. SIAHEN_150701_064.JPG: Milton Friendman's briefcase, about 2004: Many economists, including Nobel Prize-winning Milton Friedman, recommended less government regulation of financial markets. President Ronald Reagan built his economic policy on Friedman's arguments. Laffer curve napkin, 1974: Economist Art Laffer sketched a new direction for the Republican Party on this napkin, illustrating his theory that lowering taxes increased economic activity. Wall Street Journal editor Jude Wanniski popularized it, and politicians Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney carried it out. Laffer curve From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In economics, the Laffer curve is one possible representation of the relationship between rates of taxation and the hypothetical resulting levels of government revenue. The Laffer curve claims to illustrate the concept of taxable income elasticity -- i.e., taxable income will change in response to changes in the rate of taxation. It postulates that no tax revenue will be raised at the extreme tax rates of 0% and 100% and that there must be at least one rate which maximises government taxation revenue. The Laffer curve is typically represented as a graph which starts at 0% tax with zero revenue, rises to a maximum rate of revenue at an intermediate rate of taxation, and then falls again to zero revenue at a 100% tax rate. The shape of the curve is uncertain and disputed. One implication of the Laffer curve is that increasing tax rates beyond a certain point will be counter-productive for raising further tax revenue. A hypothetical Laffer curve for any given economy can only be estimated and such estimates are controversial. The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics reports that estimates of revenue-maximizing tax rates have varied widely, with a mid-range of around 70%. Although economist Arthur Laffer does not claim to have invented the Laffer curve concept, it was popularized in the west with policymakers following an afternoon meeting with Ford Administration officials Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld in 1974 in which he reportedly sketched the curve on a napkin to illustrate his argument. The term "Laffer curve" was coined by Jude Wanniski, who was also present at the meeting. The basic concept was not new; Laffer himself notes antecedents in the writings of the 14th-century social philosopher Ibn Khaldun.
11. SIAHEN_150701_080.JPG: Ross Perot campaign material, 1992: Business leader Ross Perot ran for president of the US in 1992. He argued for balancing the federal budget and protecting American jobs.
12. SIAHEN_150701_085.JPG: PC's Limited computer, 1985: This machine was among the first made by Michael Dell. He and others pioneered low-cost computers that gave consumers desktop power and Internet access.
13. SIAHEN_150701_091.JPG: FBI most wanted poster, 2014: Sometimes cyber-crime was vandalism by youthful hackers. Sometimes it was organized criminals seeking to defraud. And sometimes it was the theft of industrial secrets authorized by foreign governments.
14. SIAHEN_150701_095.JPG: Corkboard server, 1999: Stanford graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin scrounged used parts to build servers, including this one, as they redefined web searching and created Google.
15. SIAHEN_150701_100.JPG: Cartoon and graduation tassel, 2010s: In 2011, nearly 20 percent of US households owed a total of about one trillion dollars in student loans. Bankruptcy provided no relief from student loans.
16. SIAHEN_150701_106.JPG: Debating Enterprise The Global Era (1970s-2010s) Since the founding of the country, opinion makers had debated the role of government in the lives of producers and consumers, the regulation of business, and the issue of opportunity and equality. Now the debate had global ramifications.
17. SIAHEN_150701_110.JPG: "I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself." -- Stockbroker Ivan Boesky believed that accumulating money and goods was no sin. "I'm not an anarchist, but I am persuaded that the problem of our society today is too much government, not too little." -- Economist Milton Friedman advocated a limited role for government in the American economy. "The liberal idea is that everyone should have fair access and fair opportunity. This is not equality of result. It's equality of opportunity. There's a fundamental difference." -- Secretary of Labor Robert Reich maintained that access to opportunity was the right of all American citizens.
18. SIAHEN_150701_113.JPG: Marlowe family 1961 Poverty Victims In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared a "War on Poverty," citing the abysmal conditions of Appalachian families. Lady Bird Johnson selected images of the Thomas Marlowe family to help publicize the campaign. Congress soon passed legislation that led to Head Start, Job Corps, Medicare, and Medicaid.
19. SIAHEN_150701_124.JPG: Paul Revere 1734-1818 Master Craftsman Revere learned the art of silver and goldsmithing from his father, Apollos Rivoire, a French Huguenot immigrant. Master of his craft shop, Revere created work that his contemporaries admired. To supplement his income as an artisan, Revere also worked as a copper plate engraver and a dentist.
20. SIAHEN_150701_127.JPG: Sugar tongs made by Paul Revere, about 1792
21. SIAHEN_150701_134.JPG: Edison talking doll, about 1900
22. SIAHEN_150701_138.JPG: Thomas Edison 1847-1931 Winner and Loser Edison's relentless self-promotion ensured that Americans remembered his successes and forgot his failures. His electric lighting system, for example, was a triumph. But in 1890 he made talking dolls that were expensive and heavy, with poor voice quality. He called them his "little monsters" when they flopped in the marketplace.
23. SIAHEN_150701_144.JPG: Single-pole magneto telephone exhibited by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876
24. SIAHEN_150701_146.JPG: Alexander Graham Bell 1847-1922 Sound Investor Concerned with the condition of his deaf mother, Bell explored the elements of sound. In 1876, his scientific experiments led to the first patent for the telephone, which used electricity to transmit sound. Demonstrated at Philadelphia's Centennial Exhibition, Bell's invention became the foundation of the Bell Telephone Company.
25. SIAHEN_150701_149.JPG: The Hookless #2 Sundback zipper, about 1914
26. SIAHEN_150701_151.JPG: Gideon Sundback 1880-1954 Zipper-Upper The Hookless #2, Sundback's innovative zipper, changed the history of fashion and design. Manufacturers first used the fastener with interlocking metal teeth on booths and tobacco pouches. It took nearly 20 years for the zipper to appear on clothing.
27. SIAHEN_150701_156.JPG: King Gillette 1855-1932 Disposable Pioneer As a traveling salesman of disposable bottle caps, Gillette knew the commercial value of a product that could be discarded. In 1901, sensing opportunity in a morning shave, he and his partner invented a safety razor that used inexpensive, replaceable steel blades.
28. SIAHEN_150701_161.JPG: Madame C.J. Walker 1867-1919 Hair-care Millionaire After years as a laundress, Walker launched a hair care company in 1910. Employing thousands of licensed agents, she sold her products across the country. To promote the careers of African American women, she established hair care schools that used the "Walker method." She gave generously to African American causes.
29. SIAHEN_150701_164.JPG: Addie Card 1897-1993 Child Laborer Twelve-year-old Card worked as a spinner in a Vermont cotton mill. Lewis Hine's photograph of her became a symbol of child labor and a part of the National Child Labor Committee's effort to persuade state governments to regulate child labor. Ironically, Card never saw the photograph.
30. SIAHEN_150701_176.JPG: Ida Rosenthal 1886-1973 Undercover Agent In 1921, Ida and her husband designed and sold a new concept in undergarments, the bra. In less than a decade, the Maidenform bra had become a staple of women's clothing. By 1940, the well-advertised Maidenform brand was recognized around the world.
31. SIAHEN_150701_186.JPG: Ruth Handler 1916-2002 Barbie Mama Observing her daughter, Barbara, playing with paper dolls, Handler had the idea that dolls could be styled as adults. In 1959, she convinced her husband, co-owner of Mattel, to develop and adult fashion doll, Barbie. TV marketing made it the world's best-selling toy.
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Description of Subject Matter: American Enterprise
July 1, 2015 – Permanent
American Enterprise chronicles the tumultuous interaction of capitalism and democracy that resulted in the continual remaking of American business—and American life. It traces the development of the United States from a small dependent agricultural nation to one of the world's largest economies through the following 4 chronological eras: the Merchant Era (1770s – 1850s), the Corporate Era (1860s – 1930s), the Consumer Era (1940s – 1970s), and the Global Era (1980s – 2010s). Highlights include:
* John Deere’s plow
* Eli Whitney’s cotton gin
* Barbara McClintock’s microscope
* Stanley Cohen’s recombinant DNA research notebook
* Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephones
* Alfred Bloomingdale’s personal credit cards
* a New York Stock Exchange booth from 1929
* an early Monopoly board game
* one of Michael Dell’s early computers
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: American Enterprise) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2016_DC_SIAH_Enterprise: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: American Enterprise (687 photos from 2016)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [(Smithsonian) American History Museum (Everything)] [(Smithsonian) American History Museum (Non-Events)] [Museums (History)]
2015 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. I retired from the US Census Bureau in god-forsaken Suitland, Maryland on my 58th birthday in May. Yee ha! Trips this year: a quick trip to Florida. two Civil War Trust conferences (Raleigh, NC and Richmond, VA), and my 10th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Los Angeles). Ego Strokes: Carolyn Cerbin used a Kevin Costner photo in her USA Today article. Miss DC pictures were used a few times in the Washington Post. Number of photos taken this year: just over 550,000.
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