Page 51 - AAA Magazine – AAA Ohio Auto Club – September 2018

1961
Membership in AAA surpasses 7 million.
Get to know the history and path ahead of one of the world’s largest membership organizations.
The organization adds locations of speed traps to detour and construction maps.
At this time in history, John F. Kennedy becomes president of the United States. The USSR puts the first man in orbit around the Earth. The Berlin Wall is erected to stop refugees from moving from East to West Berlin.
1962
AAA publishes its 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.
At this time in history, Lt. Col. John H. Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth — three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes. The Cuban missile crisis begins and ends.
1963
AAA membership reaches 8 million.
The organization adopts its rating system for TourBook® guide accommodations listings, which would become the Diamond Rating System in
1976. The fall 1963-1964 Florida and Southeastern TourBook guides are the first to carry these ratings. A rating system had been discussed since the 1930s and 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.
At this time in history, the U.S. Supreme Court rules no locality may require recitation of the Lord’s Prayer or Bible verses in public schools. A civil rights rally is attended by 200,000 in Washington, D.C. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated
in Dallas, Texas.
1964
AAA publishes the West Indies travel guide, currently known as the Caribbean TravelBook®, the New York World’s Fair booklet and its first Guide to European Restaurants.
The organization 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.
At this time in history, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that congressional districts should be roughly equal in population. The Warren Report is issued, concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President Kennedy.
1965
AAA funds, through the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, research that began in 1964 to study approaches to combating the drunken driving problem. First a Friend, Then a Host is the first program implemented as a result of the study.
The organization wins a gold medal at the 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.
Is represented by AAA President Paul R. Gingher on a new National Advisory Committee on Highway Beautification.
At this time in history, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and 2,600 others are arrested in Selma, Alabama, 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 sees six days of riots; 34 die, more than 1,000 are
injured and 4,000 are arrested.
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