1917 | Direct Mail Advertising Association founded; Homer Buckley named chairman
1918 | First DMAA convention in Chicago
1933 | Henry Hoke starts reorganization of DMAA
1918 | World War I ends
1920 | Prohibition starts in United States
1929 | Stock market crash; Great Depression begins
1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president
1939 | Germany invades Poland; World War II starts
1941-45 | Industry affected by World War II material and manpower shortages
1943 | Postal zoning system started in 124 major post offices
1946 | Jane Bell named first president of DMAA
1948 | DMAA does first statistical research
1949 | Frank Frazier named DMAA president
1953 | William Henderson named president of DMAA
1954 | George Rummage named president of DMAA
1957 | Arthur Burdge named president of DMAA
1959 | Robert F. DeLay named first paid president of DMAA
1963 | ZIP code introduced
1965 | First optical scanners (ZIP code reader tested)
1941 | Pearl Harbor attacked; United States enters World War II
1945 | FDR dies; World War II ends
1948 | Berlin blockade
1950 | Korean War begins
1956 | Soviets crush Hungarian rebellion
1960 | John F. Kennedy elected president
1962 | Cuban missile crisis
1963 | Kennedy assassination
1965 | United States sends combat troops to Vietnam
1966 | Anti-pander file introduced; allows consumers to opt out of adult mailings
1967 | U.S. Supreme Court’s Bellas Hess decision
1970 | Postal Reorganization Act, establishing U.S. Postal Service
1971 | DMAA introduces Mail Preference Service
1973 | DMAA changes name to Direct Mail Marketing Association
1979 | USPS establishes discounts for presorted bulk third-class mail
1983 | DMMA changes name to Direct Marketing Association
1984 | Jonah Gitlitz named DMA president; starts Jan. 1, 1985
1985 | DMA introduces Telephone Preference Service
1969 | First man on moon
1973 | Vietnam War ends
1974 | Richard Nixon resigns over Watergate scandal
1979 | Iran hostage crisis starts
1980 | Ronald Reagan elected president
1986 | Iran-Contra scandal
1987 | Stock market crash
1989 | Berlin Wall torn down
1992 | U.S. Supreme Court’s Quill decision
1994 | Congress passes Driver’s Privacy Protection Act
1995 | FTC introduces Telemarketing Sales Rule
1996 | H. Robert Wientzen named DMA president; starts Jan. 1, 1997
1997-2000 | Dot-com boom
1999 | Shelby Amendment, requiring that consumers opt in for release of motor vehicle data, takes effect
2000 | DMA announces E-mail Preference Service
2001 | Mail response hurt by anthrax scare
2004 | John Greco named DMA president
1991 | Persian Gulf War; Collapse of Soviet Union
1992 | Bill Clinton elected president
2000 | George W. Bush elected president
2001 | 9/11 terrorist attacks
2003 | Invasion of Iraq
Sources:
Network
