Over the past 100 years, AAA has made a long and often arduous journey that began with a noisy, smelly, complicated contraption that most Americans — while they don't completely understand it — have come to love and depend on: the automobile. Along the way, AAA has touched on various areas that are important to Americans and to how they live their lives: safety, the environment, taxation, personal rights and many others. Some of these areas are more contentious than others, some earn only accolades. But through it all, AAA's most basic premise has been the same: that safe, efficient transportation is a fundamental underpinning of American society.

This timeline was prepared with the invaluable assistance of the AAA Research Library, and is an ongoing enterprise. Each event in the timeline has been authenticated by more than one source of information. In using this timeline, please be extremely careful with wording used for publication so that the event will not be misinterpreted. Where possible, information on non-AAA related historic events have been provided in italics to bring additional perspective to the timeline. In most cases the acronym "AAA" should be added to the beginning of each item to make a complete sentence.

1902

• March 4, in Chicago, nine auto clubs meet to form the American Automobile Association. Those clubs and their founding dates are: Chicago Automobile Club, 1900; Automobile Club of America, 1899; Automobile Club of New Jersey, 1900; Long Island Automobile Club, 1900; Rhode Island Automobile Club, 1900; Philadelphia Automobile Club, 1900; Princeton University Automobile Club, 1901; Automobile Club of Utica, 1901; Grand Rapids Automobile Club, 1902. Membership totaled approximately 1,500.
• Resolution adopted on Dec. 9, favoring the Brownlow-Latimer Bill, which calls for the appropriation of federal funds for the improvement of national highways.
• First headquarters was one shared with Automobile Club of America in New York City.
• U.S. auto registrations total 23,000.
• On Aug. 22, Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to ride in an automobile.

1903

• Supports the Good Roads Bill, federal legislation establishing the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads (now the Department of Transportation). It wasn’t until 13 years later that President Woodrow Wilson would sign the AAA-sponsored Federal Aid Highway Act, including por- tions of what was formerly the Good Roads Bill that required the federal government to appropriate funds for building and improving roads.
• First transcontinental automobile trip starts in San Francisco on June 18 and arrives in New York City on Aug. 31.
• On Dec. 17, Orville Wright makes the first successful flight in an airplane at Kitty Hawk, N.C.
• Henry Ford organizes Ford Motor Company.

1904

• Vanderbilt Cup Race is the first race held under the auspices of AAA Racing Board. In 1955, AAA abolished its Contest Board and disengaged from automobile racing.
• First AAA-sponsored long-distance auto tour from New York to St. Louis.
• New York City subway opens.

1905

• Publishes its first map, a street map of Staten Island, NY, hand drawn in ink on linen.
• Conducts first contest for the Charles Glidden Touring Trophy from New York City to Bretton Woods, N.H., and back. These tours encouraged manufacturers to produce less troublesome vehicles. The Glidden Tour continued as an annual event sponsored by AAA through 1913 and demonstrated the reliability of the automobile as basic transportation through long-distance competition. After WWII, the Glidden Tour was reintroduced and continues to be co-sponsored annually by AAA and antique car clubs throughout the U.S.
• Enters into first reciprocal agreement with a foreign auto club, the Touring Club of France. AAA’s agreements with foreign auto clubs continue to provide AAA members with some benefits while traveling abroad. Foreign travelers to the U.S. also receive some benefits of their country’s auto club membership from AAA.
• In Daytona Beach, Fla., a Napier becomes the first automobile to exceed 100 miles per hour.

1906

• Adopts its first official emblem — three capital A’s inside interlocking wheels.
• Enters into a contract with Blue Book Publishing Co., publishers of the official Automobile Blue Books.
• San Francisco earthquake and three-day fire leave 500 dead.

1907

• Bureau of Touring Information begins supplying up-to-date information on roads, hotels, garages, and motor vehicle laws.
• Authors a Uniform State Motor Vehicle Bill, which provides for the registration, identification, and regulation of motor vehicles driven on public roads and highways.
• Oklahoma becomes the country’s 46th state.

1908

• Co-sponsors the first National Good Roads Convention, the start of AAA’s Good Roads Movement, which plays an important part in the growth of the nation’s highway system. Other sponsors include National Grange and American Road Makers Association.
• Joins with the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers. NAAM bails AAA out of financial difficulties.
• U.S. Supreme Court in Danbury Hatters’ case outlaws secondary union boycotts.

1909

• Membership totals approximately 10,000.
• Creates American Motorist, a monthly magazine featuring travel articles, maps, road reports, hotel and garage listings, state motoring laws, and club news.
• Sets up European Touring Bureau in Paris to meet the needs of members traveling in Europe.
• North Pole reached by American explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew Henson.

1910

• AAA lobbies for passage of the Federal Registration Bill, which would eliminate state barriers to interstate travel.
• Begins selling American Express travelers checks.
• Boy Scouts of America incorporated.

1911

• Publishes its first European map and Trail to Sunset, a booklet of strip maps detailing a AAA Pathfinder’s route from New York to Jacksonville. Strip maps are combined to make what is now known as the famous AAA TripTik® strip maps.
• Contest Board supervises the first Indianapolis 500 race on Memorial Day.
• White lines denoting traffic lanes are used for the first time in the U.S. in Wayne County, Mich.

1912

• Present-day oval shape makes its debut in the AAA logo. The AAA logo has changed several times over the years, most recently in 1997, but since 1912 the popular oval has always been incorporated into the logo.
• Makes its first foray into the insurance industry when the Automobile Club of Southern California establishes an auto insurance underwriting organization.
• Publishes its first transcontinental map in sheet map form. It is the first map AAA copy- righted, and it sold for 25 cents. AAA also published a series of guidebooks for planning trips from the north to the south and sold them for $1 each: Lakes to Gulf, Dixie Trails, and Seminole Trails.
• Titanic sinks on maiden voyage. More than 1,500 drown.

1913

• AAA National Office moves from New York City to Washington, D.C.
• On Sept. 10, the Lincoln Highway opens between New York City and San Francisco. It is the first paved road running from coast to coast.

1914

• Successfully opposes legislation to levy a registration fee, wheel tax, and excise tax on automobiles.
• Auto Club of Southern California begins transcontinental highway signing project, which erected 4,000 road signs between Los Angeles and Kansas City to designate the National Old Trails route.
• AAA and the American Highway Association create the American Association of State Highway Officials.
• World War I begins.
• Panama Canal officially opens.

1915

• AAA’s signature benefit, Emergency Road Service (ERS), is first provided by the Automobile Club of St. Louis. In its earliest forms, service included fixing tires, engines, or small problems rather than towing. The first providers of this service were five men on motorcycles, called the First Aid Corp, who would drive the streets of St. Louis on Sundays looking for stranded motorists. They assisted motorists in getting back on the road whether or not they were auto club members.
• Albert Einstein writes General Theory of Relativity.

1916

• Congress establishes the National Park Service and through AAA efforts Yellowstone National Park opens to automobile traffic for the first time. Other national parks opened to automobiles in 1913 through the efforts of Automobile Club of Southern California. Today, AAA continues to work with public officials to identify ways to better manage access to the national parks so that all visitors can enjoy and appreciate their unique natural beauty.
• Annual passenger car production exceeds 1 million.

1917

• Publishes first hotel directory in a single publication. Previous directories had been published in American Motorist.
• Issues first pedestrian resolution, requiring pedestrians to abide by traffic officer signals and cross only in designated places. Jaywalking would be considered evidence of carelessness.
• The world’s first automobile tow truck, the Holmes Wrecker, makes its debut.
• U.S. declares war on Germany, entering World War I.

1918

• Successfully opposes a 2-cents-per-gallon federal gasoline tax.
• Calls on the War Industries Board to put road materials and machinery on priority lists. Due to lack of official recognition, highway construction and maintenance were becoming increasingly difficult, and AAA wanted to stress that highways are an essential part of transportation in time of war as well as in time of peace. AAA was also instrumental in securing Congressional action to provide surplus war materials for building roads and asks car owners to do their own driving to free up skilled drivers and auto mechanics for the war effort.
• Worldwide influenza epidemic strikes, killing 20 million by 1920. In the U.S., 500,000 perish.

1919

• Congress passes the AAA-supported Dyer Anti-theft Act, making the transportation of stolen vehicles across state lines a federal offense.
• Begins Roadside Protection Program designed to protect highways and the safety and comfort of travel by planting trees, removing objectionable signs, clearing of vision on curves and crossings, and establishing sanitary conditions.
• Becomes a member of Alliance Internationale de Tourisme, an international organization of auto clubs worldwide. AAA’s National Office continues to work closely with this and other international organizations on reciprocal programs, business practices exchange, international public policy, and organization of motoring club global information.
• Oregon levies the first state gasoline tax at one cent per gallon.

1920

• Publishes the first Highways Greenbook, a report on road building in the U.S., and first AAA Campground Directory. Today, AAA’s CampBook® guides include 11 editions covering all of North America.
• AAA School Safety Patrol launches in Illinois by the Chicago Motor Club. The bright orange belts and silver badges have been emblems of AAA’s concern for children, pedestrians and traffic safety for more than 80 years.
• League of Nations holds its first meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The 19th amendment (women’s suffrage) to the U.S. Constitution is ratified.

1921

• Supports passage of the Federal Highway Act, which provides for an interstate road system. The Act was signed by President Harding on Nov. 9.
• Works to defeat a proposed $10 federal tax on cars and trucks.
• Reparations Commission fixes German liability for WWI at 132 billion gold marks.
• German inflation begins.

1922

• Opposes motor vehicle taxes levied during World War I, including a gasoline tax and an excise tax on automobiles, trucks, and automotive equipment. After six years of persistent opposition, these taxes were repealed in 1928.
• Works to defeat a proposed federal registration fee of $2 per car, as well as a federal horsepower tax of $10 to $15 per vehicle.
• Begins the National Road Reporting service within the National Touring Bureau. Clubs are sent bimonthly reports on changes in road conditions such as detours, construction work, speed traps, floods, and impassable points.
• Annual passenger car production exceeds 2 million worldwide.
• Mussolini marches on Rome and forms a Fascist state.

1923

• Membership totals nearly 170,000.
• Makes charges of manipulation of price in opposition to rising gasoline prices.
• Establishes testing stations for headlights.
• Sponsors regular Wednesday night broadcasts on WRC in Washington, D.C., on matters of interest to motorists.
• Launches a campaign against the unscrupulous practices of speed traps, roadside courts, and justices of the peace who operate under a fee system. Even today, AAA remains vigilant in exposing and opposing speed traps, and many communities have instituted ordinances or laws against unreasonably increasing town coffers through the use of speed traps.
• Begins first official inspection of comparative routes between Washington and points in Florida. This inspection preceded Tour Book of the Southeastern States with Main Routes to Florida, published in 1925.
• Annual passenger car production exceeds 3 million worldwide.
• George Gershwin writes Rhapsody in Blue.

1924

• Launches a campaign against diversion of auto tax revenues for non-highway purposes. Numerous campaigns have been conducted since then, but in 1998 Congress finally put up a firewall that keeps Highway Trust Fund revenues — such as federal gas taxes — from being used for purposes other than building and maintaining roads.
• Participates in the National Conference on Street and Highway Safety, which drafts the first Uniform Motor Vehicle Code to help enforce street and highway safety.
• Formally establishes the National Touring Bureau as a AAA department, the forerunner of AAA’s Travel Services department, which spearheaded AAA’s member publications program.
• Merges with the National Motorist Association after a long rivalry over membership.
• Lenin dies and Stalin wins the struggle for power in Russia.
• Hitler writes Mein Kampf while in prison.
• Charges are made in the Teapot Dome scandal, involving fraudulent leases of naval oil reserves.

1925

• Membership passes 500,000.
• Supports Bureau of Public Roads program to establish a numbering system for U.S. routes and advocates adoption of standardized signs and signals for highways.
• Harry S. Truman begins working for Automobile Club of Kansas City as a salesman.
• Nellie Taylor Ross becomes the first woman elected governor in the U.S.
• John T. Scopes is convicted of teaching evolution in the Scopes Monkey Trial.
• First images are transmitted through a television.

1926

• Membership passes 600,000.
• Releases the first series version of present AAA TourBook® guides. There were three editions covering the Northeastern, Southeastern, and North Central states, including parts of Canada. AAA also inaugurated its Official Appointment program allowing lodgings to place the AAA logo on their buildings.
• Gertrude Ederle from the U.S. is the first woman to swim the English Channel.
• Auto antifreeze allows people to use cars year-round.

1927

• Campaigns for safe railroad grade crossings and sponsors first voluntary auto inspection program under its Save a Life campaign.
• First national listing of AAA Emergency Road Service stations in the AAA Hotel, Garage, and Service Station Directory. Previous listings were in American Motorist.
• The Holland Tunnel opens to connect Manhattan and Jersey City, N.J., giving cars a route under the Hudson River and an alternative to ferry boats.
• Charles Lindbergh flies the first successful non-stop solo flight from New York to Paris.
• Al Jolson stars in The Jazz Singer, the first “talkie” movie.

1928

• Membership totals more than 800,000.
• Establishes a Foreign Division to handle steamship service and ship members’ cars abroad.
• Establishes a Traffic Safety department and publishes a safety education curriculum for use by teachers. Distributes 250,000 safety posters nationwide. Drafts first model of a safety responsibility bill.
• Creates a Child Safety Policy to “continue its aggressive safety campaign,” which includes support of AAA School Safety Patrols and the incorporation of safety instructions in public and private schools.
• Urges Congress and the President of the United States to share information on highways with Pan American Union countries and to assist them in the development of their highway programs.
• Automobile Club of Washington becomes the first AAA club to handle routing by air through the Western Airline Company.
• U.S. voters elect Herbert Hoover president over Alfred E. Smith, governor of New York.
• Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin.
• Richard E. Byrd begins expedition to Antarctic.

1929

• Membership passes 900,000. After the Great Depression hits, membership in AAA begins falling, and AAA loses more than 300,000 members between 1930 and 1935. Beginning in 1936, membership starts growing again, passing the 1 million mark in 1940.
• Develops all-inclusive travel services including complete tour packages.
• U.S. stock market prices collapse, with U.S. securities losing $26 billion — the first phase of the
• Great Depression.
• St. Valentine’s Day massacre in Chicago.

1930

• Formulates a taxation program, ensuring equity to automobile owners and opposing federal government involvement in motor vehicle taxation.
• Publishes its first Digest of Motor Vehicle Laws, which describes categories of laws relating to the operation of motor vehicles and the differences in those laws from state to state. The current edition of this book — its 67th — has more than 400 pages and includes Canada.
• Urges road building program for relief of unemployed.
• Publishes first issue of Holiday magazine.
• Britain, U.S., Japan, France, and Italy sign naval disarmament treaty.
• Nazis gain in German elections.
• Astronomers discover Pluto, the ninth planet.
• Vannevar Bush builds “differential analyzer,” the first analog computer.

1931

• Becomes a member of Federation of Internationale de l’Automobile, an international organization of auto clubs worldwide.
• Spain’s King Alfonso XIII is overthrown, and the country becomes a republic.
• Al Capone sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion.

1932

• Trademarks TripTik® maps. These detailed, customized, routing maps have changed little throughout the years. In 1992, AAA implemented a toll-free, touch-tone service for ordering TripTik maps over the phone. In 1994, members could order TripTik maps over the Internet, and in 2000 members could plan their own routings via the Internet TripTik.
• During 1932-33, the worst years of the Depression, AAA suffered through the same tough decisions that many companies had to face: salaries were cut up to 12 percent and resign- ing employees were not replaced.
• Urges universal adoption of the Guest Suit Law, which limited the liability of the driver for injuries suffered by passengers being transported free.
• Debuts the Bridge and Ferry Directory, helping motorists decrease their travel time.
• Amelia Earhardt is first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
• Charles Lindbergh’s son is kidnapped.

1933

• Conducts tests that show that the blending of alcohol with gasoline produces a less efficient and more costly motor fuel. These tests were conducted in Washington, D.C., so that Congress could view the tests. On the same day the tests were conducted, a bill was introduced in Congress that would have required the federal government to spend millions on blending alcohol and gasoline. The bill was defeated.
• Hitler is appointed German chancellor and receives dictatorial powers.
• Chicago Mayor Cermak is fatally shot in an assassination attempt on then President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1934

• Amos Neyhart, father of driver education and a AAA consultant, teaches the first high- school class in driver’s education at State College High School, State College, Pa.
• The Dionne sisters, the first quintuplets to survive beyond infancy, are born.

1935

• Pioneers high-school driver education and publishes Sportsmanlike Driving, the first course outline for teachers. In 1936, AAA published the first driver education pamphlets in the Sportsmanlike Driving series for use in high schools: The Driver and The Driver and Pedestrian Responsibilities. In 1937, the pamphlets were bound together and titled Sportsmanlike Driving. In 1947, AAA published a completely new textbook for high-school students but kept the same title. One of the original pamphlets, How to Drive, is still used in the adult driving text.
• FDR opens the second phase of the New Deal calling for social security, better housing, equitable taxation, and farm assistance.

1936

• Emergency Road Service becomes a mandatory service for all AAA-affiliated clubs.
• Sponsors the first Teachers’ Training Course in Driver Education at Pennsylvania State College, taught by Amos Neyhart. AAA also inaugurates the first driver testing program with a grant from the Automotive Safety Foundation and uses the first dual-control cars for AAA club-sponsored driver education courses.
• Drafts Bill of Rights for Motorists that would ensure full and free use of the automobile with a maximum of safety and economy. It also called for standardized highway signs and markings on all federal-aid highways.
• Begins pedestrian safety program with a grant from the Automotive Safety Foundation. AAA went on to commission and publish the most extensive study ever made of pedestrian safety for the purpose of reducing pedestrian fatalities and injuries. In 1939, AAA held its first Pedestrian Safety Contest and published Pedestrian Protection.
• King George V dies. His son, Edward VIII abdicates to marry an American divorcee and is succeeded by his brother, George VI.

1937

• Begins field inspections of lodgings and restaurants.
• AAA develops the first brake-reaction detonator and “instructo-car” for driver education.
• Drafts model act on highway beautification, the Uniform Act for Roadside Development and Control.
• Publishes a national parks book. This early edition is the forerunner of the current AAA Guide to National Parks, first published in 1994. It later became the No. 1 seller in its category on Amazon.com in 1998.
• Amelia Earhart is lost somewhere over the Pacific Ocean on an around-the-world flight.

1938

• Introduces minimum standard requirements for clubs to operate as AAA travel offices. Now, all AAA clubs offer are full-service travel agencies, and have nearly 1,100 travel agency offices in North America. AAA is now the largest leisure travel agency in the U.S.
• Germany marches into Austria and proclaims the political and geographic union of the two countries.
• Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan flies from New York to Dublin.

1939

• Urges cooperation between Canada and the U.S. for speedy construction of the Alaskan Highway.
• Goes on record against abuses in the field of automobile financing.
• Urges safety standards for operation of school buses.
• Publishes its first edition of Motoring in the United States.
• World War II begins.
• Roosevelt submits a $1.3 million defense budget, proclaims U.S. neutrality and declares a limited emergency.
• Einstein writes Roosevelt about the feasibility of an atomic bomb.
• New York World’s Fair opens.

1940

• Membership in AAA passes 1 million.
• First AAA Driver Education and Training manual for high-school teachers published.
• Offers its services to the Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense in anticipation of becoming involved in World War II. AAA President Thomas P. Henry was appointed consultant in the transportation unit of the Defense Council, and AAA pledged resources, including highway information, to national defense planning efforts.
• Selective Service Act signed.
• Trotsky assassinated in Mexico.
• U.S. trades 50 destroyers for leases on British bases in Western Hemisphere.

1941

• Reductions in manufacturing because of the war increased the need for conservation in automobiles and their related products. AAA’s efforts at conservation includes: Keep ‘em Rolling campaign, a conservation program to keep 20 million passenger cars in the U.S. in service; recommending steps to be taken in the anticipation of a war-related tire/rubber shortage and urging the manufacture of synthetic rubber; urging motorists to reduce their driving speed to conserve fuel (1942); backing a scrap rubber campaign (1942); testing and checking new automotive products because of shortages and the discontinuation of automobile manufacturing (1942); and making a public-policy statement that took a stand on government policies, conservation of automobile stock, the rubber situation, tires, and highways (1943). In 1944, the Keep ‘em Rolling campaign sponsored a cross-country tour featuring cars equipped with synthetic tires and the tour proved the reliability of tires made with synthetic rubber.
• Pearl Harbor is attacked by Japan.
• U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan. Germany and Italy declare war on U.S. Congress declares war on Germany and Italy.

1942

• In doing its part to assist in the war effort, AAA: places its mapping facilities at the disposal of the Army department; publishes, School Transportation in Wartime; conducts motor pool driver education (1943); secures an order from the War Production Board that stopped the sale of certain anti-freeze solutions harmful to motors (1943); launches a campaign to alleviate a growing shortage of auto mechanics (1943); monitors tire and gasoline rationing (1943); and establishes, in cooperation with the Red Cross and military hospitals, a driver training program for veterans with artificial limbs (1944).
• Contest Board cancels the Indianapolis 500 and all other races for the duration of World War II.
• Publishes a new defensive driving book.
• Trains bus drivers on school routes.
• Signs its first national sales agreement with an airline, American Airlines.
• Production of civilian passenger cars in the U.S. stops.
• Roosevelt orders gas rationing and imposes a speed limit of 35 mph to conserve fuel.
• Declaration of United Nations is signed in Washington, DC.

1943

• Organization of American States Convention on Regulation of Inter-American Automotive Traffic is held in Washington, D.C., and AAA is named as an official issuer of the Inter- American Driving Permit (IADP), which allows U.S. citizens to drive in countries in Central and South America. In 1949, at the UN Convention on International Road Traffic in Geneva, Switzerland, the U.S. State Department authorized AAA to serve as one of two organizations that could issue the International Driving Permit (IDP) to U.S. citizens planning to drive in Europe, Asia, and Australia. AAA continues to issue these permits for only $10; however, there is a growing trend on the Internet is to sell fraudulent IDPs (using a different name) to unsuspecting motorists for as much as $300.
• Income tax withholding introduced.
• FDR freezes prices, salaries, and wages to prevent inflation.
• The Pentagon is completed and becomes the largest office building in the world.

1944

• Standardizes its travel departments and the selection and training of travel counselors.
• Acts to ease mechanic shortage by nationalizing its New England Plan, a project involving maintenance, coordinating, and increasing national automobile mechanic manpower resources. The plan was first put into operation by the Boston Automobile Club, and it included draft deferment, the transfer of mechanics from war plants to garages, and the release of men from the armed forces for garages.
• GI Bill of Rights enacted.
• Anne Frank and her family are betrayed and sent to concentration camps.
• International Monetary Fund and World Bank are created.

1945

• First Traffic Safety poster contest held. This contest, which has been held every year since its beginning, seeks to reward students for combining traffic safety messages with art to create a memorable message.
• Begins using two-way radios to dispatch Emergency Road Service calls. The Federal Communications Commission grants permission to use two-way radios for this purpose.
• The end of the war brought new needs for motorists. AAA helped by: developing a new driving program to aid wounded veterans; releasing the film “Traffic Jam Ahead,” which outlined a practical program for postwar traffic safety; publishing Post-war Travel Trends as a public service.
• Germany and Japan surrender.

1946

• Launches its post-war national campaign for construction of a 40,000-mile interstate high- way system.
• Begins “Take It Easy” campaign to reduce traffic fatalities. Subsequently, fatalities dropped 20 percent below the pre-war figure.
• Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech warns of Soviet expansion.

1947

• Membership passes 2 million.
• General Dwight D. Eisenhower serves as honorary marshal of the AAA School Safety Patrol parade in Washington, D.C.
• Conducts campaign to expose gray market in new and used cars.
• AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is established.
• Becomes a member of Federacion Interamericana de Touring y Automovil Clubes, an international organization of auto clubs worldwide.
• The Truman Doctrine is proposed, the first significant U.S. attempt to contain communist expansion.
• Captain Chuck Yeager, USAF, breaks the sound barrier in the X-1 rocket-powered research plane at Muroc Air Force Base, Calif.

1948

• Produces The Safest Way, a film for elementary school children on safety. The film won first place in its category from the National Committee on Films for Safety. It also won a commendation from U.S. State Department as an example of democracy at work.
• Publishes the largest highway map ever made of the U.S. at that time — 67” x 100”. The cost to draft the map was $20,000.
• Drafts broad program of action, much of which was incorporated in the 1948 Federal Aid Highway Act, urging stepped-up construction of the National System of Interstate Highways.
• Travel Agency Services offers the first AAA escorted tours.
• Truman ends racial segregation in the U.S. military.
• Israel becomes a nation.

1949

• First Gold Lifesaving Medals are presented to AAA School Safety Patrollers in recognition of their heroic acts.
• International Travel department establishes first border office in Brownsville, Texas.
• Twelve nations sign a treaty forming the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
• Communist People’s Republic of China is formally proclaimed by Chairman Mao Zedong.

1950

• Membership passes 3 million mark.
• Opens offices in Paris and Rome.
• Publishes Your Driving Costs pamphlet for the first time. This annual pamphlet scrutinizes the costs of owning and operating an automobile, as well as some costs of taking a vacation. It shows that lodging and meal costs, for a family of four, total $13 per day.
• Truman orders development of hydrogen bomb.
• Truman orders U.S. forces into Korea.

1951

• Again pledges its now greatly increased facilities and resources to the National Defense Department for the duration of the Korean War.
• Calling All Drivers, a United Press weekly radio script is prepared in cooperation with AAA. Subject matter is travel, car, highway conditions, safe driving practices, and motoring customs.
• Campaigns to limit axle loads to 18,000 pounds to protect highways from damage by trucks. Congress began imposing limits on truck size and weight in 1956. Congress froze the size and weight limits on trucks in 1991 and retained the freeze in 1998 with passage of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), which AAA lobbied heavily in favor of. AAA continues to campaign for responsible use of the highway system by heavy trucks. In 2000, AAA launched a new truck safety outreach initiative — Share With Care. It is the first national campaign to focus attention on the fact that both motorists and truckers are responsible for keeping the road safe.
• Opposes hauling explosives on highways without adequate regulation. This AAA campaign lasted until 1954 when AAA won a major victory in Congress.
• U.S. vehicle registrations exceed 50 million. Motorists traveled 485 billion miles consuming 37.5 billion gallons of gasoline.
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg sentenced to death for passing atomic secrets to Russians.
• Color television is introduced in the U.S.

1952

• U.S. Postal Service issues commemorative AAA stamp celebrating the organization’s 50th birthday.
• Publishes a booklet on vehicle controls for disabled persons.
• Traffic Safety department begin “Safest Route to School” program to encourage parents and children to use safe pedestrian habits when walking to school.
• McGraw-Hill publishes “Fill ‘er Up,” the history of motoring in America written by Bellamy Partridge for AAA’s Golden Jubilee.
• License plates are still not standardized; as of 1952 there are 34 different lengths and 15 difference heights.
• England’s King George VI dies; his daughter becomes Elizabeth II.

1953

• Membership passes 4 million.
• Calls Highway Emergency Conference to bring attention to the inadequacy of the nation’s streets and highways in handling the mounting traffic volume. Clubs from 34 states are represented. The Traffic Safety department issued Traffic Tune-Up, advice on solving urban traffic problems.
• Requests auto manufacturers de-emphasize speed in selling their cars. In 1957, after a four-year campaign by AAA, the Automobile Manufacturers Association agrees to omit all references to speed and horsepower in claims for products.
• Eisenhower is inaugurated president of the U.S.
• Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norkay reach the top of Mt. Everest.

1954

• Is instrumental in getting the 1954 Federal-Aid Highway Act passed. For the first time, substantial funding was earmarked for the national system of interstate highways. As a follow up to this Act, in 1956, AAA is largely responsible for passage of the 1956 Federal- Aid Highway Act, the most ambitious public works program in the nation’s history. It followed on the U.S. President’s proposal to spend $50 billion on a 10-year highway construction program, the basis for the establishment of the Highway Trust Fund.
• AAA urges insurance companies to give discounts to young drivers who complete school driver education courses.
• U.S. Supreme Court unanimously bans racial segregation in public schools.
• Dr. Jonas Salk starts inoculating children against polio.

1955

• Membership reaches 5 million.
• Disbands its Contest Board and withdraws from sanctioning auto racing.
• Martin Luther King Jr. leads boycott of Montgomery, Ala., bus system.
• AFL and CIO become one organization.

1956

• AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety makes a grant to Columbia University Teachers College for the scientific study of traffic safety.
• Accommodations inspection program is established in Europe.
• Egypt takes control of the Suez Canal.

1957

• Campaigns to regulate outdoor advertising along the Interstate Highway System and regulations are imposed in 1958.
• Publishes How to Drive, first driving instruction book for adults. (One of the original pamphlets of Sportsmanlike Driving program was How to Drive.)
• AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety wins National Committee on Films for Safety award for Two Sleeping Lions.
• Distributes more than 100 million copies of TourBook® guides and maps to members.
• Space Age begins when USSR launches Sputnik I, the first satellite to orbit the Earth.
• Eisenhower sends troops to Little Rock, Ark., to quell a mob and protect school integration.

1958

• Membership reaches 6 million.
• AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety publishes Planned Pedestrian Program, a comprehensive study of tested and proven techniques for saving pedestrian lives.
• Exhibits driver training equipment at international trade fairs in Africa, Yugoslavia, and Turkey.
• Establishes accommodations inspection program in the Orient, Mid-East, and Far East.
• U.S. Army’s Jupiter-C rocket first U.S. Earth satellite, Explorer I, into orbit.
• Egypt and Syria merge into United Arab Republic.

1959

• AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety sponsors the first electronic traffic control conference.
• TourBook® guides and Accommodations Directories are combined and published in nine volumes.
• AAA’s Official Camping Guide is featured on the U.S. Steel Hour. George Hicks narrated while comedian Buster Keaton followed the book’s instructions to prepare for a camping trip.
• Cuban President Batista resigns and flees while Castro takes over.
• St. Lawrence Seaway opens, allowing ocean ships to reach the U.S. Midwest.

1960

• Wins award from the National Association of Travel Organizations for its cooperation in the Visit the USA Year proclaimed by President Eisenhower.
• Outlines its five-year plan for safety to the President’s Committee for Traffic Safety.
• American U-2 spy plane is shot down over Russia.
• NASA launches Tiros I, the first weather satellite.
• Cuba begins confiscation of $770 million of U.S. property.

1961

• Membership passes 7 million mark.
• Adds locations of speed traps to detour and construction maps.
• John F. Kennedy becomes president of the U.S.
• Russia puts the first man in orbit around the Earth.
• Berlin wall is erected to stop flood of refugees moving from East to West Berlin.

1962

• Publishes first world map and seven maps of European countries. AAA Travel Guide to the Mid-East and Orient supersedes Motoring in North Africa and the Mid-East. Its expanded coverage includes AAA inspected hotels, restaurants, and attractions.
• Lt. Col. John H. Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth — three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes.
• Cuban missile crisis begins and ends.
• Johnny Carson takes over hosting duties of The Tonight Show.

1963

• Membership reaches 8 million.
• Adopts rating system for TourBook® guide accommodations listings, which would later become the Diamond Rating System in 1976. The Florida and Southeastern TourBooks, fall 1963-64 editions were the first to carry these ratings. A rating system had been discussed since the 1930s. Some descriptive words had been used to impart valuable information to the reader; however, the 1963 books carried ratings in five specific categories: Outstanding, Excellent, Very Good, Good, and Satisfactory.
• U.S. Supreme Court rules no locality may require recitation of the Lord’s Prayer or Bible verses in public schools.
• Civil rights rally held by 200,000 in Washington, D.C.
• President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Two days later, Lee Harvey Oswald, accused Kennedy assassin, is shot and killed by Jack Ruby.

1964

• Publishes West Indies travel guide now known as the Caribbean TravelBook® , the New York World’s Fair booklet and its first Guide to European Restaurants.
• Fights and defeats a proposal that would not allow motorists to deduct state gas taxes on federal income tax returns. This fight was not over, however, and in 1976, AAA again helped defeat this proposal.
• U.S. Supreme Court rules that Congressional districts should be roughly equal in population.
• Warren Report issued concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President Kennedy.
• The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show.

1965

• AAA Foundation funds research, which began in 1964 to study approaches to combating DWI problem. First a Friend, Then a Host program was the first program implemented as a result of the study.
• Wins a gold medal at International Film and TV festival in New York for the film The 60 Minute Circle about the Washington, D.C., beltway.
• Publishes Teaching Driver and Traffic Safety Education, a textbook for college students.
• AAA President Paul R. Gingher is appointed to a new National Advisory Committee on Highway Beautification.
• Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and 2,600 others are arrested in Selma, Ala., during a three-day demonstration against voter registration rules.
• Malcolm X is shot to death at a Harlem rally.
• The Watts section of Los Angeles saw six days of riots; 34 died, more than 1,000 were injured and 4,000 were arrested.
• Edward White II becomes the first American to walk in space

1966

• Membership reaches 10 million.
• Helps draft the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, setting safety standards for automobiles, tires, and equipment. AAA also drafts the Highway Safety Act, which specifies standards for motor vehicle inspection and registration, motorcycle safety, driver education, driver licensing, traffic courts, traffic-control devices, and highway design, construction, and maintenance.
• Hosts the Congress & General Assembly of the Alliance Internationale de Tourism, an international organization of auto clubs. It is the first time in AIT’s 68-year history it held a meeting in the U.S.
• Develops programs for educational television.
• Begins inspections of privately owned campgrounds.
• First successful implantation of an artificial heart in a human is performed.

1967

• Cooperates with U.S. Department of Justice in development of National Auto Theft Campaign, a public education program to reduce car thefts.
• Begins providing traveler’s checks in a national program with First National Citibank and the checks bore the AAA imprint. This was the first instance of such an arrangement between a bank and a private organization.
• Automobile Club of Michigan begins Bring ‘em Back Alive program aimed at making holidays safer. The program is subsequently adopted by other clubs and becomes a national initiative in 1968.
• Auto Club of Missouri opens first automotive diagnostic center designed to troubleshoot car problems.
• Announces ETV Driver Training Films, 30 half-hour programs produced by AAA and South Carolina ETV.
• Three Apollo astronauts are killed in a spacecraft fire during a simulated launch.
• Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice.

1968

• Initiates big trucks campaign and used newspaper advertising to help defeat a bill that would have increased size and weight limits on trucks.
• Publishes its first Citibook (New York City) and ski maps.
• Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is slain in Memphis, Tenn.
• Sen. Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated.

1969

• Founds AAA Life Insurance Company.
• Signs agreement with International Reservation Corporation for a nationwide computer reservation system linking a network of hotels, motels, and car rental agencies.
• Launches DWI Counterattack, a rehabilitation program for motorists convicted of driving while intoxicated.
• Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated 37th president of the United States.
• Apollo 11 astronauts take man’s first walk on the moon.
• Sen. Edward M. Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving scene of fatal accident at Chappaquiddick, Mass., in which one person drowned. He receives two-month suspended sentence.

1970

• Establishes Environmental Affairs department designed to define environmental problems as they relate to motoring and suggest solutions.
• Publishes four regional European Travel Guides.
• Creates new strip map system. Four-page, fold-over maps about the size of the current strip maps were produced, reducing the number of maps from 1,700 to 600.
• Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are slain by National Guardsmen at a demonstration protesting the April 30 incursion into Cambodia by the U.S.

1971

• Wins fight to repeal the federal excise tax on automobiles.
• Opposes use of toll bridge funds for non-motoring purposes, and the Federal Highway Administration sets a legal precedent when it rules against such practices.
• Signs agreement with Hertz to make rental cars available to overseas travelers through AAA travel agencies.
• Becomes the official travel and ticket agent for the summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.
• Charleston, W. Va., judiciary sets up first DWI school patterned after AAA’s DWI Counterattack specifications.
• U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation.
• U.S. lowers the voting age to 18 by passing the 26 Amendment to the Constitution.

1972

• Membership reaches 15 million.
• Issues extensive report, When Politics and Safety Mix — the Selling of the Air Bag, an investiga- tive look at the merits of the air bag in passenger cars. In 1976, AAA would testify before the Department of Transportation on the air bag controversy, suggesting that the federal government fleet test the costly devices before mandating their installation in new cars.
• Successfully opposes wider buses on highways.
• President Nixon makes an unprecedented eight-day visit to Communist China.
• Five men are apprehended in an attempt to bug Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate Hotel, Washington, D.C., starting the Watergate Scandal.
• U.S. Supreme Court rules that the death penalty is unconstitutional.

1973

• Initiates a weekly Fuel Gauge Report during the Arab oil embargo. The report advises motorists on gasoline availability, prices, and service station hours. After the oil embargo, AAA continued to report gasoline prices during holidays until 1978. After that the report was provided monthly until 2000 when the report became daily. Currently, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report can be found online at www.AAA.com/news.
• National Office moves to Falls Church, Va.
• U.S. bombing of Cambodia ends, marking an official halt to the Vietnam War.
• President Nixon fires special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus. Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson resigns.
• Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigns and pleads guilty to charges of income tax evasion.
• Skylab, the first American space station, is launched.

1974

• Board of Directors meets with President Ford in the Oval Office to discuss gas situation.
• Serves on the Federal Energy Administrator’s newly created Consumer Affairs and Special Impact Advisory Committee.
• Publishes unique instruction manual for towing foreign-made automobiles. AAA published a similar manual focusing on American-made autos in 1977. Publication of these manuals resulted in an agreement among many auto makers that, for the first time in automobile history, tow ability would be considered in the design of future cars. In 1981, the two books were combined into one manual, which remains the authoritative instruction manual on towing cars.
• Patricia Hearst is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
• President Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to resign from office.
• Gerald R. Ford becomes the 38th U.S. president.

1975

• Membership reaches 17 million.
• Launches Gas Watchers program with the endorsement of President Ford. First Gas Watchers Guide is published. The program outlines easy steps motorists can take to conserve gasoline in their daily driving.
• Develops Approved Auto Repair program to help identify competent, reliable repair facilities. The pilot program started in Washington, D.C., and Central Florida.
• Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft take off for U.S.-Soviet link-up in space.
• President Ford escapes two assassination attempts in 17 days.
• Amid allegations of violations of the cease-fire on both sides, full-scale war resumes in Vietnam. U.S. troops and 140,000 South Vietnamese are evacuated.

1976

• Publishes first Handicapped Drivers Mobility Guide.
• Pioneers unique safety program — Pre-school Children in Traffic — aimed at reducing pedestrian fatalities among children under 6 years old.
• TourBook guides begin carrying attraction discounts.
• U.S. Supreme Court rules that the death penalty is constitutional.
• The United States of America celebrates its bicentennial.
• Mysterious disease that claims 29 lives strikes the American Legion convention in Philadelphia.

1977

• Presents Mexican government with proposals to ensure safety of travelers following a number of incidents involving American citizens.
• First woman Episcopal priest ordained.
• President Carter pardons Vietnam draft evaders.
• Nuclear proliferation pact, curbing spread of nuclear weapons, signed by 15 countries.
• The space shuttle Enterprise makes its first test glide, from the back of a 747.

1978

• Membership reaches 20 million.
• Traffic Engineering and Safety Department introduces junior-high-school alcohol-awareness program.
• Emergency Road Service provides towing services for 5 million vehicles in one year.
• Joins with VISA to develop a new credit card program for AAA members. AAA’s is the oldest affinity credit card program in the country.
• Californians approve Proposition 13, slashing property taxes by nearly 60 percent.
• Karol Cardinal Wojtyla of Poland becomes Pope John Paul II.
• Sony introduces the Walkman, the first portable stereo.

1979

• AAA President James B. Creal receives White House appointment to National Alcohol Fuels Commission. Automobile Club of New York conducts gasohol test to determine utility of the fuel.
• Develops Driver Improvement Program, which is then implemented fleet wide by U.S. Navy.
• Automobile Club of New York conducts gasohol test to determine the utility of the fuel. In test vehicles, gasohol not only improved gas mileage, but it caused no engine problems.
• Shah of Iran leaves his country, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini takes over country’s leadership.
• Margaret Thatcher becomes prime minister of England.
• Iranian militants seize U.S. Embassy in Teheran and hold hostages.
• Nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pa., releases radiation.

1980

• Emergency Road Service calls total 15.6 million nationwide.
• AAA President James B. Creal chairs gasoline rationing Task Force and serves on Issue Identification Task Force. AAA gears up for oil shortage caused by Iranian hostage taking. Creal is also appointed to President Carter’s National Council on Energy Efficiency. AAA representatives serving on President Carter’s Alcohol Fuels Commission are requested to sign the Energy Securities Act of 1980.
• TourBook® guides begin noting properties that provide easier access for handicapped per- sons. The Campground Directory changes its title to AAA CampBookTM. The name was trademarked the previous year.
• U.S. breaks diplomatic ties with Iran. Eight U.S. servicemen are killed and five are injured as a heli- copter and cargo plan collide in an abortive desert raid to rescue American hostages in Teheran.
• Olympic Games open in Moscow but are boycotted by U.S. and other nations.

1981

• Introduces AAA SUPERNUMBER® (800-AAA-HELP), a toll-free emergency information service for members traveling outside their home club area. After a test period in 1981, this service is launched nationwide in 1982, and was expanded into Canada in 1984.
• TourBook® guides begin including life safety procedures to follow in lodging fire emergency situations, and AAA requirements for accommodations include fire safety provisions. By 1983, AAA TourBook guides begin identifying properties with smoke alarms/sprinklers in the rooms.
• Introduces Autograph program for evaluating new cars. This becomes the basis for a new book, Autograph, which is later renamed the New Car & Truck Buying Guide in 2000.
• AAA President James B. Creal is appointed to the Industries Advisory Board of Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus.
• Launches AAA World magazine to replace American Motorist. The new magazine is produced at the national office and distributed by as many as 17 clubs over the next 16 years. In 1995, the magazine changed its name to Car & Travel. When the national publication disbanded in 1998, the Automobile Club of New York obtained the rights to the name. That club continues to publish Car & Travel Monthly.
• Ronald Reagan becomes president of the U.S. He is wounded in an assassination attempt as are his press secretary and two law enforcement officers.
• Air traffic controllers strike and are dismissed by the government.
• Judge Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

1982

• Starting Early program introduced — a new alcohol education program for elementary school-age children. It includes seven teaching modules, one for each grade, K-6.
• Launches infant/child car safety seat program.
• Financial Services Department is created to administer the AAA/Visa credit card program, a travelers checks operation and AAA/U.S. government money market account.
• Princess Grace dies in an automobile accident.
• Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev dies, and Yuri Andropov is chosen to succeed him.
• Space shuttle Columbia lands at Edwards AFB in California after its inaugural trip.

1983

• Scenic highways are identified on AAA’s sheet maps for the first time. Scenic highway des- ignations are an integral part of AAA mapping and are included on all AAA maps — even Internet TripTik® routings.
• Travel agencies offer airline default protection plan in response to travel agent and public concern over precarious financial position of certain air carriers.
• Second space shuttle, Challenger, makes successful maiden voyage, which includes the first space walk in nine years.
• Sally Ride becomes the first woman astronaut in space.
• South Korean jetliner strays into Soviet airspace and is shot down.
• U.S. and Caribbean allies invade Grenada.

1984

• Publishes the AAA North American Road Atlas. It is the first AAA atlas to use all AAA maps and not the imprint of another mapping company. In 1985, it is sold at retail and makes the New York Times best-seller paperback list within six weeks.
• Stores more than 13,000 full-color map images on an optical laser disc for demonstra- tion on an in-car navigation device in the Chrysler Pavilion at the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition.
• Has the largest number of accredited retail travel agency location in the U.S., and travel agency sales exceed $1 billion.
• TourBook® guides begin designating restaurants that provide non-smoking sections; a com- prehensive list is included in 1985 TourBook® guides.
• Begins co-sponsoring the Plymouth/AAA Troubleshooting Contest for high-school auto mechanics. The contest is designed to assist high-school students in developing auto repair skills, increasing interest in the auto repair industry and encouraging opportunities in auto repair for students. In 1992, this became the Chrysler/AAA Troubleshooting Contest. Later, in 1994, the name was changed to Auto Skills Contest, and Ford Motor Company became the co-sponsor of this competition along with AAA. In 1998, AAA encouraged more widespread competition by introducing an international champion trophy. To provide opportunities for both students and repair facilities, in 2000, AAA launched an Internet- based technician locator service exclusively for AAA Approved Auto Repair facilities.
• In 2001, AAA introduced an additional component to the contest allowing Ford Master Technicians to compete against each other.
• Online Touring Information System (OTIS) begins one-year pilot project. OTIS was provided to all AAA clubs by 1987, and in 1988 it was combined with other automated services under the name AAA Travel Match. In 1992, TravelMatch Express began testing in Florida. The self-service terminal worked like an ATM, with rotating menus and touch- control screens that allowed users to obtain local travel information.
• Works with the Coalition to Halt Auto Theft to achieve passage of the Motor Vehicle Theft Law Enforcement Act of 1984.
• Nation’s first compulsory seat belt law is enacted in New York.

1985

• Launches Fred Flintstone All-American Buckle Up Campaign concurrently with national safety education to promote the use of seat belts and infant/child car safety seats.
• Wins an award in a JC Penney Co. competition for accomplishments in launching or expanding its programs to aid handicapped persons. AAA was honored for publishing the Handicapped Drivers Mobility Guide, including a handicapped symbol in TourBook® guides, and its adaptive equipment vehicle testing program, which tested the ease of use of vehicles modified for those with disabilities. The same year, AAA launched a pilot program for advance driver training for disabled drivers.
• U.S. Air Force implements AAA Driver Improvement Program on a worldwide basis. DIP was already in use by Navy and Marine Corps personnel.
• Wins Presidential Citation Award for Private Sector Initiatives, which honors outstanding volunteer projects for the AAA School Safety Patrol Program and Lifesaving Medal Award.
• Launches Full-Service Pledge Program, which asks service stations to guarantee that full- service customers will receive a minimum of five automotive maintenance checks every time they get gas.
• Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the leader of the USSR.
• Space shuttle Challenger flies its largest crew ever on an international mission.

1986

• President Ronald Reagan honors Shelby L. Butler, St. Joseph, Mo., a recipient of AAA’s School Safety Patrol Lifesaving Medal, in his State of the Union Address, Feb. 4. She is the first patroller to be so honored.
• Announces its intention to move the AAA National Office from Falls Church, Va., to Heathrow, Fla., near Orlando. The move was made in November 1989.
• The Federal Communications Commission designates AAA as a certified frequency coordinator in its automobile emergency radio service spectrum.
• Offers TripAssist for international travelers, a 24-hour emergency service providing medical, legal, and transportation services to travelers.
• Space shuttle Challenger explodes soon after launch at Cape Canaveral, Fla., killing all seven aboard.
• Johnson & Johnson withdraws all Tylenol from store shelves after a death resulting from one tainted capsule.
• Nuclear accident at Soviet Union’s Chernobyl power station alarms the world.

1987

• Helps defeat 10-cent a gallon Federal tax on gasoline.
• Participates in Transportation 2020, a group of public and private organizations formed to assess long-term highway needs.
• Supports law authorizing the Federal government to spend $87.5 billion over a five-year period to complete the Interstate Highway System.
• Oliver North tells Congressional inquiry higher officials approved his secret Iran-Contra operations.
• AZT wins FDA approval for use in the treatment of AIDS.

1988

• Focuses legislative efforts on the Truck & Bus Safety Regulatory Reform Act of 1988 requiring interstate drivers and equipment to meet federal safety regulations. The act is signed into law in November.
• Automated cartography system makes its debut.
• U.S. and Canada reach a free trade agreement.
• Benazir Bhutto, first Islamic woman prime minister, chosen to lead Pakistan.
• Pan-Am 747 explodes from terrorist bomb and crashes in Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 aboard and 11 on ground.
• Republicans sweep 40 states in election, and George H. W. Bush beats Michael Dukakis for the U.S. presidency.

1989

• Membership reaches 30 million by July; passes 31 million by the end of the year.
• Reverses long-standing policy against toll roads in order to explore the use of impact fees as alternative financing.
• National office moves to Heathrow, Fla.
• More than 1 million in Beijing demonstrate for democracy as chaos spreads across nation. Thousands are killed in Tiananmen Square as Chinese leaders take a hard line toward demonstrators.
• After 28 years, the Berlin Wall is open to West.
• Ruptured tanker Exxon Valdez sends 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

1990

• Joins the Federal Highway Administration, Avis, General Motors, and the Florida Department of Transportation in the Smart Car experiment, also known as the TravTek Project. This test of a computerized in-car navigation and travel information system proved consumer acceptance of telematics technology that would make driving easier and reduce traffic congestion.
• Publishes AAA Travel Activity Book, the official AAA TourBook® guide for kids.
• Begins offering a cellular phone program to members.
• Communist Party relinquishes sole power in Soviet government.
• South Africa frees Nelson Mandela, after imprisoning him for more than 27 years.
• US-Soviet summit reaches accord on armaments.

1991

• Expands city map program by adding 69 new titles. Also begins the travel video series, which wins four awards of excellence from PBS in 1993.
• Cease-fire ends the Persian Gulf War with UN forces victorious.
• Theodore Seuss Geisel — Dr. Seuss — dies.

1992

• Launches Freedom’s Way, a new volunteer action program to protect America’s environment and motorists’ freedom of mobility. This was AAA’s response to concern about congestion and overcrowding in national parks and other public lands.
• Wins the grand award for quality commercial landscape maintenance in the Environmental Improvement Awards competition of the Associated Landscape Contractors of America.
• Begins radio broadcasting of the weekly Car Care Minute nationwide. Listeners received basic car care tips from AAA Automotive Engineering and Road Services.
• Auto Club South, based in Tampa, Fla., makes the list of Travel Weekly’s Top 50 Travel Agencies. In subsequent years, AAA club travel agencies continue to be ranked on this list by total sales.
• Bush and Yeltsin proclaim a formal end to the Cold War
• Bill Clinton is elected president. Democrats keep control of Congress.
• A text-based Web browser is made available to the public. Within a few years, millions of people become regular users of the World Wide Web.

1993

• Membership passes 35 million.
• AAA Potomac’s carjacking reward program receives certificate of excellence from the Public Relations Society of America.
• Diamond-rated properties appear in OAG, Official Airline Guide business travel planner.
• Publishes first Spanish-language edition of the AAA Mexico TravelBook® guide.
• Federal agents besiege Texas Branch Davidian religious cult after six are killed in raid. Fire kills 72, including 20 children, as cult standoff in Texas ends with a federal assault.
• Five arrested, sixth sought in bombing of World Trade Center in New York.

1994

• Membership reaches 36 million.
• Teams with Walt Disney World to open the Ocala Travel Center in Ocala, Fla. Just off I-75, the center provided membership and services including theme park tickets, hotels, TripTik® routings, and services for nonmembers as well.
• SUPERNUMBER call counselors receive a record setting number of calls, nearly 200,000, during the first three weeks of January due to extreme cold, heavy snow, and icy conditions in many areas of the country.
• South Africa holds its first interracial national election. Nelson Mandela is elected president.
• White House launches a Web page. Initial commerce sites are established, and mass-marketing campaigns are launched via e-mail, introducing the term “spamming” to the Internet vocabulary.

1995

• Robert L. Darbelnet becomes president and CEO of AAA.
• Publishes the brochure, Flying Alone: Handy Advice for Kids Traveling Solo, which becomes the most-requested, free AAA brochure. It is now available online at www.AAA.com/news.
• Launches AAA Financial Services Corp., a new company owned by the AAA National Office and clubs. In partnership with banks, FSC provides financial products and services to AAA members including mortgages, home equity loans, CDs, credit cards, and auto loans. In 2000, FSC became a department of the AAA National Office. It continues to provide financial products and services to members through partnerships with banks.
• Scores are killed as terrorist’s car bomb blows up the block-long Oklahoma City federal building.
• A Los Angeles jury finds former football player O. J. Simpson not guilty of murder charges in the murder of his wife and an acquaintance.

1996

• Introduces Teaching Teens to Drive, a new driver’s education program focusing on parent involvement in teen driving education.
• Kicks off Crisis Ahead: America’s Aging Highways and Airways campaign. After the launch of Crisis Ahead in June 1996, AAA enters its second phase of grassroots and legislative activities. This campaign led to AAA helping to shape two pieces of landmark legislation: the Transportation Equity Act for the 21 Century (TEA-21) in 1998 and the Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR-21) in 2000. Both laws embrace the principle that user fees charged to motorists and air travelers should be fully invested in improving and modernizing the nation’s surface and air transportation infrastructures.
• Begins the Community Traffic Safety Program, an expansion of AAA’s Pedestrian Protection Program, focusing on traffic enforcement, engineering, school safety, and public information.
• Releases Map ‘N’ Go, a computer program for a new travel and mapping tool created by AAA and the map-making firm DeLorme. The software received critical acclaim in many publications.
• Signs an agreement with Thomas Cook Group Ltd. to create the travel industry’s largest travel alliance operation. The alliance continues until 1999.
• AAA Financial Services Corp. begins offering financial products and services through PNC Bank. MBNA America buys AAA credit card portfolio from PNC Bank in 1999.
• In 2000, AAA signs a new agreement for financial product and services offerings with M&I Bank. That same year, AAA dissolves the corporation, and it is absorbed into the AAA National Office as a department.
• Introduces a company-wide Intranet, AICWEB. This online tool helps departments within AAA communicate as well as assisting the national office in communicating with clubs.
• Clinton-Gore win national presidential election.
• F.B.I. arrests suspected Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski after an 18-year search for the domestic hem terrorist.
• President Clinton appoints Madeleine Albright as first female U.S. secretary of state.
• Approximately 45 million people are using the Internet, with roughly 30 million of those in North America, 9 million in Europe, and 6 million in Asia/Pacific. More than 43 million (44 percent) of U.S. households own a personal computer, and 14 million of them are online.

1997

• Membership reaches 40 million.
• Joins with Chrysler and the American Academy of Pediatrics to produce the brochure ABC’s of Airbag Safety a guide for parents on how to keep their children safe when riding in a car with airbags.
• Traffic Safety Foundation produces brochure, Road Rage: How to Avoid Aggressive Driving.
• Launches Licensed to Learn at a press conference in Washington, D.C. This program is designed to increase awareness of the need for Graduated Driver Licensing laws in every state. Public and Government Relations developed a “toolkit” in 1998 for clubs on Licensed to Learn program, state requirements for driver education instructor certification, and a Graduated Driver Licensing system. At the outset of the campaign only eight states had enacted GDL laws. By 2001, that figure had risen to 44.
• Releases Clearing the Air, an updated report on emission trends in major cities throughout the U.S.
• Launches national Web site www.AAA.com in March. Through this portal, users can access their local club’s Web site by entering their zip code. By 2000, AAA’s Internet presence was growing: from March through October, 12 of AAA’s 20 keywords reached the top listing position 38 times on 13 of 18 search engines. AAA added several enhancements to its site in 2000, as well as including car rental options, Internet TripTik® , and a new design. Total hits to the site in 2000 reached 486 million. In 2001, AAA adds car-buying assistance to the site, giving users access to information about used-car values, history, and more.
• Unveils its new logo in a celebration at the national office. The new look keeps the traditional capital A’s in an oval and sports an orbit around the oval.
• Becomes the official tourist agency for EXPO 2000, the millennium World’s Fair in Hannover, Germany.
• Begins providing roadside assistance service for all General Motors divisions. In 2001, AAA and General Motors agree to the largest contract extension in history, signing a three-year agreement to provide warranty roadside assistance services to GM new car customers.
• The blockbuster Titanic crashes into theaters. It is the most expensive film of all time, costing between $250 and $300 million to produce and market.
• Hong Kong returns to Chinese rule.
• Britain’s Princess Diana dies in a car crash.
• A team led by Drs. Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell create the first sheep with a human gene in every cell of its body. The genetically engineered lamb is named Dolly.

1998

• Creates new brochure, A Century of Public Service, which will help communicate the storied history of AAA’s public policy activities to members and the general public.
• Produces its first city map using Geographic Information System digital database technology. The map is AAA Metro Atlanta Citimap.
• U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater cites AAA as the Clinton administration’s number one traffic safety partner.
• Implements Battery Assist mobile battery testing and delivery service in four clubs in North America. More than 8,000 batteries are sold before March. Battery Assist enables service vehicle drivers diagnosing battery failure to install replacement batteries at the scene when members request the service. By the end of 2000, 14 clubs are providing this service.
• Europeans agree on single currency, the euro.
• Clinton outlines the first balanced budget in 30 years.
• The American Film Institute announces its list of the top 100 films of all time. Citizen Kane tops the list.
• Seventy-seven-year-old senator John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, returns to orbit in the space shuttle Discovery.

1999

• Partners with NHTSA to produce New Car Safety Features brochure.
• Launches AAA NewsRoom on the Internet at www.AAA.com/news. The Web site, designed for use by the media, is developed and updated by the Public Relations depart- ment. It contains news releases, fact sheets, and other information about AAA. The Web site and the media kit announcing its launch win awards from the Florida Public Relations Association. In 2000, the site expands its service to media and members with the addition of the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report, including a database of more than 200 metropolitan areas. Hits to this area of the site reach 1 million in one month.
• Introduces the new version of Traveling With Your Pet -- the AAA PetBook® . It combines information from the previous four-edition set into one book covering all of North America, and adds information on flying, crossing borders, and national parks as well as other information.
• Introduces TripWizard, a hand-held travel companion that provides information on exits, lodgings, gas stations, and restaurants as well as driving directions.
• AAA Financial Services Web site is rated one of five “Top Picks” by PC Computing magazine.
• Two students storm Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killing 12 students and a teacher, then themselves.
• John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, and her sister are lost at sea when a plane he is piloting disappears near Martha’s Vineyard, off the Massachusetts Coast.
• The number of Internet users worldwide reaches 150 million by the beginning of 1999. More than 50 percent are from the United States.

2000

• Forms RESPONSE Services Center, LLC, to launch state-of-the art telematics-enabled communications center in Columbia, Md. The company’s mission is to provide leading-edge, wireless mobile emergency assistance and travel information to AAA members via cellular telephones, digital pagers, hand-held computers or in-vehicle systems.
• NHTSA presents AAA with a public service award in appreciation of AAA’s leadership in the Child Passenger Safety Certification Program, which teaches how to properly install infant/child safety seats, and continuing efforts in Graduated Driver Licensing. By 2000, GDL laws exist in 44 states and the District of Columbia.
• Testifies before three congressional committees regarding increased gasoline prices. Also lobbies to prevent Congress from repealing parts of the federal gasoline tax, which would have reduced Highway Trust Fund revenue without guaranteeing consumers any relief from high gas prices.
• AAA President/CEO Robert L. Darbelnet participated in the U.S. Department of Transportation secretary’s Aviation Summit. He communicated AAA’s stand on the aviation crisis.
• Testifies before Congress and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on pro- posed hours-of-service regulations for commercial truck drivers. Launches Share With Care public education campaign on sharing the road with trucks.
• Initiates a four-year plan to generate AAA maps from a Geographic Information Systems database and release new paper and electronic products from the same source. Conversion begins on vicinity and TourBook® guide maps.
• U.S. sailors on the Navy destroyer Cole die in Yemen terrorist explosion.
• U.S. presidential election is the closest in decades. While Albert Gore wins the popular vote, George W. Bush wins the electoral vote.
• The human genome is deciphered and is expected to revolutionize the practice of medicine.

2001

• Membership passes 44 million.
• Publishes a new series of guide books called Barrier-Free Travel designed for the estimated 54 million Americans with disabilities. AAA also publishes the first edition of The Ultimate Fan’s Guide to Pro Sports Travel, for fans that travel to different arenas and venues for sporting events; and a unique look at the continent by noted landscape photographer, Galen Rowell.
• Terrorists attack United States. Hijackers ram jetliners into twin towers of New York City’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked plane crashes 80 miles outside of Pittsburgh. Toll of dead is more than 3,000.

2002

• Celebrates its centennial with the launch of Seated, Safe & Secure, a child passenger safety campaign to help reduce the number of children killed or injured in vehicles crashes.
• Kenneth L. Lay, chairman of bankrupt energy trader Enron, resigns. The company is under federal investigation for hiding debt and misrepresenting earnings.
• Nine Pennsylvania miners are rescued after spending 77 hours in a dark, flooded mine shaft.

2003

• Launches Get There America campaign to promote increased funding for safety and mobility initiatives in the next federal transportation reauthorization.
• Reader’s Digest highlights AAA’s transportation safety agenda by focusing on the importance of road safety improvements, particularly for seniors.
• Sponsors a 20-year transportation exhibit, America on the Move, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
• Launches Life-Long Safe Mobility, a campaign to help seniors stay safe and mobile. The campaign promotes solutions such as senior-friendly road design, screening tools, education for seniors and their families, and supplemental transportation.
• Space shuttle Columbia explodes, killing all seven astronauts.
• The war in Iraq begins. United States and the United Kingdom claim that Iraq’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction pose a threat to world security.
• The Hubble telescope has detected the oldest known planet — and it appears to have been formed billions of years earlier than astronomers thought possible. Nicknamed Methuselah after the aged biblical patriarch, the planet is an astonishing 12.7 billion years old.

2004

• The association adds booking engines to its Web site, delivering electronic capability to its members.
• On World Health Day, AAA releases scientific study on safety belt use among the Latino population. To commemorate the day, ‘Lectric Lime Ribbons were worn by AAA national and club employees.
• Testifies at Congressional travel/tourism hearing focused on security.
• Florida hit by hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Jeanne — all within a six-week time frame.
• U.S.’s final report on Iraq’s weapons finds no weapons of mass destruction.

2005

• A AAA-branded battery is introduced to members.
• Re-enters racing as a sponsor of ISC-owned tracks. In 2006, AAA’s foray into racing expands when it makes a three-year commitment to sponsor Roush Racing’s No. 6 car on the NASCAR Nextel Cup (later Sprint Cup) circuit.
• Launches Roadwise Review: A Tool to Help Seniors Drive Safely Longer. This computer- based screening tool enables older drivers, in the privacy of their own homes, to identify and address physiological changes that could affect driving.
• Serves on White House Conference on Aging and two transportation-related resolutions are adopted by the conference.
• Advocates for changes in EPA procedures to establish mileage ratings for new cars to make the estimates more accurate and reflective of real-world driving experiences. As a result, the EPA revises its testing measures.
• Bob Darbelnet testifies before Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on gasoline prices post-Hurricane Katrina.
• Hurricane Katrina wreaks catastrophic damage on the Gulf coast; more than 1,000 die and millions are left homeless.

2006

• Clubs and national office participate in events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the interstate.
• Testifies before the House Committee on Commerce and Energy about rising gas prices.
• Launches online driver improvement courses.
• AAA Show Your Card & Save® program saves members more than $595 million in one year alone.
• AAA Foundation released study on how to increase car booster seat usage for 4- to 8-year- olds.
• Testifies before congressional committee on improving roadway safety.
• Democrats gain control of both houses of Congress in the midterm elections.
• The International Astronomical Union votes to redefine the solar system, and Pluto loses its status as a planet. It is reclassified as a dwarf planet.

2007

• Reaches 50 million members.
• Retirement Living TV and AAA collaborate to make driving safer for seniors.
• AAA takes stand on risky teen driving habits, which include text messaging behind the wheel.
• Jeanette Gamba, first woman elected as chairman of AAA’s National Board.
• President Bush signs an energy bill that requires passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. to have fuel economy standards of 35 mpg by 2020, a 40 percent increase over the current standard.

2008

• AAA Mobile is debuted through Verizon, Sprint, and other key mobile communications companies.
• Expansion into the high-yield financial savings program for members.
• Testifies before congressional committees on improving roadway safety.
• Celebrates 80 years of national programs to keep motorists and pedestrians safe.
• The U.S. economy begins to unravel during the summer, when home prices drop and the rates on subprime mortgages start to increase, leading to foreclosures and defaults.
• Michael Phelps wins his eighth gold medal, breaking the record set by Mark Spitz in the 1972 Games. Phelps also sets the record for the most golds in a single Olympics.

2009

• AAA launches www.AAASeniors.com Web site, offering extensive content, resources, and tools relating to senior mobility.
• AAA calls for the EPA to reject petition to increase ethanol content in gasoline to 15 percent.
• New discount and roadside assistance mobile apps are available to iPhone users. Both send information from stranded motorists directly to AAA Roadside Assistance.
• AAA teams with 20th Century FOX Home Entertainment on a national sponsorship for child passenger safety. PSAs promoting the initiative are found on the Strawberry Shortcake and Garfield DVDs as well as AAA.com/SafeSeats4Kids.
• Barack Obama is inaugurated, becoming the nation’s first African-American president.
• After striking a flock of geese, U.S. Airways Flight 1549, en route from New York City to Charlotte, N.C., is forced to land in the Hudson River. All 150 passengers and five crew members survive.