1851
New York Daily Times founded on September 18, a four-page paper produced by candlelight in downtown Manhattan loft.
1896
On August 18, Adolph S. Ochs buys near-bankrupt Times for $75,000. Later adopts a slogan “All the News That’s Fit to Print.”
1905
Times moves to Times Square. It is one of fourteen English-language dailies published in New York City.
1918
Times wins first Pulitzer Prize for accurate and complete wartime coverage.
1919
Illustrated Daily News started in New York; name later shortened to Daily News.
1923
Henry Luce and Britten Haddon create Time, the weekly magazine.
1935
Ochs dies, succeeded as publisher by Arthur Hays Sulzberger.
Family of Max Frankel flees Hitler’s Germany, emigrates to Washington Heights on the Upper West Side of New York City.
1940
Newsday started in former garage in Nassau County by Alicia Patterson, with support of husband Harry Guggenheim.
1941
Attack on Pearl Harbor, America enters war against Japan, Germany, Italy.
1942
First Sunday Times crossword puzzle.
1943
A. M. Rosenthal, a CCNY student, becomes $12 a week campus stringer for Times.
1945
World War II ends with unconditional surrender of Axis powers.
Times science writer William L. Laurence, allowed by U.S. government to be sole chronicler of the Manhattan Project, rides aboard B-29 that drops atom bomb on Nagasaki.
1948
State of Israel founded.
1950
North Korea invades South Korea. Thousands of U.S. reserve officers from World War II eventually recalled to active duty, including Marine Corps Lieutenant A. O. Sulzberger.
1956
Time’s facsimile technology used to produce daily paper at Republican national convention in San Francisco (Times later sells off system on eve of “fax revolution”).
Two ocean liners collide off northeastern U.S. coast; one, the Andrea Doria, sinks with heavy loss of life. Max Frankel on Times rewrite desk during rescue drama.
1957
Sputnik I, Soviet earth satellite, inaugurates Space Age.
1960
A. H. Sulzberger suffers stroke, Orvil Dryfoos named publisher. Punch Sulzberger serves as “vice president in charge of nothing.”
1962–63
Bitter 114-day newspaper strike shuts down seven New York City papers. Times Company reports net loss of $1,831,000 for nine months ending September 30, 1963. (For comparable period the year before, the company reported net income of $1,552,000.) Strike settlement still leaves unresolved introduction of automation technology in city.
1963
New York Mirror, Hearst’s morning tabloid, ceases publication.
Dryfoos dies after heart attack. Punch Sulzberger named publisher. A. M. Rosenthal returns to New York after duty as foreign correspondent, to become metropolitan editor.
John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas. Lyndon Johnson sworn in as president.
Critic Dwight Macdonald and others start New York Review of Books as alternative to Book Review.
CBS News and NBC News increase evening broadcasts from fifteen minutes to thirty minutes each week night. Walter Cronkite anchors CBS broadcast; Chet Huntley and David Brinkley together anchor NBC.
1964
Supreme Court rules in favor of Times in libel case, New York Times vs. Sullivan.
Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater.
1965
Malcolm X murdered in New York City.
Big Six printers’ union authorizes new strike. New York newspaper publishers’ “united front” crumbles. When Times is shut down and the morning Herald Tribune still publishes, latter’s circulation rises to 900,000. When Times returns, Herald Trib drops again to around 300,000.
U.S. troop commitment to Vietnam at 500,000 mark.
1966
Times newspaper reports $100 million in advertising revenues. Total payroll reaches 5,300 employees, 700 of them working for news department.
Herald Tribune merges with two afternoon papers, Hearst’s New York Journal-American and Scripps-Howard’s New York World Telegram & Sun, to form World-Journal-Tribune, or “Widget.” When Widget fails, only three papers remain in the city—the Times and two tabloids, the afternoon Post and the morning Daily News.
1967
Punch Sulzberger discontinues publication of Times international edition.
Times Company offers stock shares to public, begins series of acquisitions and expansions.
Israeli Defense Forces defeat combined Arab armies in “Six Day War.” East and West Jerusalem united.
1968
Tet offensive by North Vietnamese main force troops and Viet Cong guerrilla units stuns U.S. public. Fighting reaches American Embassy grounds in Saigon.
Students occupy office of Columbia University president Grayson Kirk.
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., assassinated in Memphis.
Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in Los Angeles.
Lyndon Johnson announces he won’t run again.
Richard M. Nixon elected president, says he has plan to end U.S. involvement in Vietnam war.
Times Washington columnist James Reston named executive editor and moves to New York.
Arthur Hays Sulzberger dies.
Clay S. Felker starts New York, weekly magazine offering service features and in-depth reports on life in the city (name and writers borrowed from Sunday supplement of old Herald Tribune).
1969
Thousands protest Vietnam war with march down Avenue of the Americas.
Census places New York City population at 7,964,200.
Mayor John V. Lindsay reelected to second term.
1970
Homosexuals march through Greenwich Village in show of “new militancy.”
New York State’s new abortion law goes into effect. In the city alone, 147 abortions are performed in first days after law takes effect.
Times Op-Ed page inaugurated.
Reston returns to Washington, relinquishing executive editor’s job.
New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller reelected.
1971
Nine out of ten U.S. households own at least one television set.
U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Times in Pentagon Papers case. The Times and Washington Post, among others, print excerpts of archival documents tracing U.S. role in Vietnam.
Flag of People’s Republic of China raised at UN.
1972
Bloomingdale’s celebrates one hundredth anniversary.
Last issue of the weekly Life magazine.
Nixon reelected in landslide.
A group of eighty Timeswomen present publisher Sulzberger with a list of their grievances, including lack of comparable pay.
1973
Watergate story reported extensively in Washington Post.
Max Frankel is Times D.C. bureau chief during unfolding scandals.
Abraham Beame elected mayor of New York.
Publisher Sulzberger adds titles Chairman and CEO of the New York Times Company.
Watergate hearings—beginning of presidential impeachment process.
Nixon resigns, succeeded by Gerald Ford. Rockefeller later sworn in as vice president.
Timeswomen file discrimination suit in U.S. Southern District Court. Case eventually settled out of court, with promises of faster promotion for women and a cash settlement to make up for past inequities.
1975
“Saturday Night Live” premiere on NBC. TV viewing by average American adult tops two hours and fifteen minutes a day.
Saigon falls, renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
Full impact of municipal fiscal crisis hits New York.
1976
New Jersey Weekly, first of four regional Sunday sections, is introduced by Times. Weeklies follow in Long Island, Connecticut, and Westchester.
Democratic-primary race matches front-runners Bella Abzug and Daniel Patrick Moynihan for U.S. Senate. Times endorsement choice divides Sulzberger and cousin John B. Oakes.
Title of Times Sunday editor abolished. Frankel to editorial page. All news operations consolidated under Rosenthal.
Times begins Weekend section.
Central Park smoke-in to promote legalization of marijuana.
Six-column format adopted by Times for news and advertising, except classifieds. Arts & Leisure section redesigned, with new guide to entertainment offerings. National classified ads begin in weekday paper.
Jimmy Carter elected president, Moynihan wins U.S. Senate race in general elections.
Living section started. Times Sunday circulation reaches 1.5 million.
1977
Cyrus R. Vance retires from Times board of directors to become secretary of state in Carter administration (Vance rejoins board in 1980).
Rupert Murdoch buys the New York Post, sole surviving afternoon paper in city. He also acquires New York magazine and the weekly Village Voice.
Home section appears.
First dancer steps on floor at Studio 54.
Edward I. Koch elected mayor of New York City.
1978
SportsMonday introduced, followed by Business Day.
Dow Jones down fifty-nine points, worst week in its history.
The eighty-eight-day pressman’s strike. Murdoch breaks with publishers’ association and Post resumes publishing.
Big Six printers union wins lifetime job security; in exchange, Times allowed to complete conversion to computerized newsroom.
Science Times started.
1979
Midtown rally for Soviet Jews draws 100,000.
Protests over Shoreham nuclear plant.
1980
Carter renominated at Democratic convention in Madison Square Garden.
Publication of the Times’ National edition begins with satellite transmission to Chicago, the first of eight remote printing plants. Initial weekday circulation: 22,000.
John Lennon assassinated in front of his apartment building on Central Park West.
Black employees’ suit settled at Times; plaintiffs win package worth $1.5 million.
Ronald Reagan elected president.
New York Daily News starts Tonight, an upmarket evening paper.
1981
Cable TV boxes and VCRs begin to appear in large numbers, bringing consumers more media choices in their homes.
News ceases publication of Tonight edition. News owners try and fail to give paper away to a new publisher who would be willing to assume News’ pension and job security obligations.
U.S. health officials report that forty-seven cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma have been discovered among homosexual men.
1982
Times gains control of its home-delivery systems and begins major subscription drive in suburbs and exurbs.
Antinuclear protest in Central Park draws 800,000.
Mario Cuomo elected governor of New York.
Phil Donahue broadcasts show about AIDS.
1983
Conversion of Times’ 43rd Street presses from letterpress to offset is completed after two years.
Metropolitan Opera celebrates its one hundredth birthday.
1984
Mondale wins Democratic presidential nomination, chooses a woman, Geraldine Ferraro of New York, as running mate.
Times’ first use of national bar code on page two of National edition.
General Westmoreland, during his libel trial against CBS, admits he falsified estimates of enemy troop strength in Vietnam.
Bernard Goetz—the “subway vigilante”—shoots four black youths on a downtown IRT train.
1985
Circulation of Newsday, the Long Island daily, passes 500,000 mark. Newsday’s owner, Times-Mirror Corporation of Los Angeles, introduces morning edition in city, New York Newsday.
Edward I. Koch easily wins third term as mayor.
Law enforcement officials hold news conference to discuss rapid spread of new, smokable cocaine distillate, known on the street as crack.
Dow Jones jumps to record 1500.
1986
New York’s City Council passes gay rights bill.
Statue of Liberty’s one hundredth anniversary celebration.
Mets beat Red Sox in seventh game and win World Series.
Jennifer Levin found slain in Central Park in what becomes known as the “Preppy Murder” case.
Wall Street operator Ivan Boesky pleads guilty in insider trading scandal.
Michael Griffith, a black youth, chased to his death by gang of whites in Howard Beach, Queens.
Max Frankel named to succeed A. M. Rosenthal as executive editor of Times.
1987
Bess Meyerson resigns as New York City Cultural Affairs Commissioner amid growing scandals in Koch administration.
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North begins testimony before House and Senate about his involvement in Iran-contra scandal.
Reverend Al Sharpton leads hundreds of demonstrators in “Days of Outrage.” Sharpton denounces “white power structure” for handling of Tawana Brawley case (black teenager who reported that she was raped by white policemen).
October 19 “Black Monday” stock market crash.
1988
A weekly guide, Television, introduced by Times. Daily Times circulation goes over 1 million.
Expanded three-section National edition of Times available in San Francisco.
Jimmy Breslin starts column for New York Newsday, at reported salary of $350,000 a year.
George Bush elected forty-first president; Dan Quayle his vice president.
Pan Am jet flying from London to New York explodes in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland. All 244 passengers killed.
Real estate developer Peter Kalikow acquires New York Post from Rupert Murdoch.
New York area beaches closed as sewage, blood vials, syringes, and other waste products wash up on shore.
1989
Central Park jogger beaten and raped by gang of “wilding” youths.
Massacre of Chinese student protesters in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
Black teenager Yusef Hawkins fatally shot in Bensonhurst, predominantly white section of Brooklyn.
David Dinkins becomes New York’s first African-American mayor.
Berlin Wall falls; beginning of reunification of East and West Germany. Cold war over after forty-five years and, says Max Frankel, “the winner is Japan.”
1990
U.S. troops land in Panama. Manuel Noriega taken into custody.
Expanded three-section Times National edition introduced across U.S. Times claims circulation of 240,000.
Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger, daughter of Adolph Ochs, dies. Ochs Trust dissolved and equal shares distributed to her children: Marian S. Heiskell, Ruth S. Holmberg, Judith P. Sulzberger, and Punch Sulzberger.
New York Post’s unions agree to pay cuts.
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., earns $275,000 and bonus of $47,500 as deputy publisher of Times.
1991
U.S.-led coalition goes to war against Iraq after UN deadline for withdrawal from Kuwait passes.
Iraq accepts UN ceasefire terms, ending Gulf war.
Tribune Company of Chicago pays British media mogul Robert Maxwell $60 million to take News off its hands.
New York Post owner Peter Kalikow files for personal bankruptcy; paper’s future in doubt.
Times runs story of Kitty Kelley’s bedroom biography of Nancy Reagan on page one. Paper names Florida woman in William Kennedy Smith rape case, describes her wild drinking and driving habits—prompting stories about Times’ own “wild streak.”
Times raises daily newsstand price to 50 cents in city, and to 75 cents for National edition. Circulation tops 1.1 million daily, 1.6 million Sunday—both new highs despite price increases.
Robert Maxwell dies at sea, as his empire collapses. News in Chapter 11.
Gorbachev survives hardliners’ coup, and begins endgame for Soviet Union.
USSR formally dissolved on first day of New Year. Boris Yeltsin vows to introduce free-market economy.
Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr., succeeds father as Times publisher.
Museum of Modern Art opens “blockbuster” Matisse exhibit.
Times endorses Clinton-Gore ticket; Democrats win presidency; for first time since Jimmy Carter in 1976, Times on winning side.
Mortimer Zuckerman buys the News.
Howell Raines moved from Times’ Washington bureau chief job to editorial-page editor, putting him in place to succeed Joe Lelyveld if Lelyveld moves up to take Frankel’s place.
1993
Kim Foltz, New York Times reporter, dead at forty-four. Times obituary lists his cause of death as AIDS and also runs name of Foltz’s male companion in obit.
New York Post reacquired by Rupert Murdoch, pending FCC waiver.
Times opens state-of-the-art production plant in Edison, New Jersey, after three years of delays. Costs spiral to $500 million.
First color pages appear in Times, in Book Review section.