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Representatives of the American Highway Freight Association and the Federation Trucking Associations of America meet in Chicago.
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ATA holds its first annual convention in October in Chicago.
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The first National Truck Roadeo is held and sponsored by ATA. The Roadeo eventually becomes the National Truck Driving Championships.
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The federal government issues the first hours-of-service rules for trucking
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ATA purchases and moves into first long-term headquarters at the corner of 16th and P Streets NW in Washington, D.C.
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The Office of Defense Transportation is created to coordinate efforts between ATA and the Department of the Navy and the Department of War. As part of this, ATA was asked to recruit personnel for the U.S. Army Transportation Corps. ATA also added four more conferences during the war: the American Movers Conference, Interstate Truckload Carriers Conference, National Tank Truck Carriers and the Regional and Distribution Carriers Conference.
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Rodgers retires as ATA president. Following his departure, the position is renamed Chairman of the Board and converted to an elected member with a one-year term.
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The ATA Foundation is formed to promote industry research.
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ATA celebrates the 50th anniversary of the American trucking industry, marking the date with a contest in New York City hosted by the Automobile Club of America in which 11 trucks and wagons powered by gasoline, steam and electricity out-hauled teams of horses.
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ATA hosts its first meeting for state trucking association executives, which would later become the Trucking Association Executives Council, in New Orleans.
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The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed into law, ushering into the Interstate highway era.
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ATA purchases property next door to its P Street offices, and moves into a new six-story headquarters.
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ATA lobbies unsuccessfully for increases in truck size and weight limits, with some newspapers rejecting paid ads in support of legislation. Truck size and weight reform ultimately passes in 1974.
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ATA purchases properties on First Street SE that will ultimately become the permanent home for the federation’s on-Capitol Hill presence.
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ATA’s Executive Committee establishes a task force to study renewed calls from lawmakers to deregulate the trucking industry.
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ATA demonstrates that proposed changes to the hours-of-service rules would not substantially reduce truck crashes.
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The Motor Carrier Act of 1980 passes, deregulating the trucking industry.
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All states adopt maximum gross weight limits of 80,000 pounds on their interstate highways.
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The Few Committee, headed by past ATA Chairman Richard Few, reformed much of ATA’s structure to address the fallout of deregulation in an effort to show trucking as “a more professional, more progressive [and] more public-oriented industry.”
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ATA leaves its P Street headquarters for a new, modern glass building overlooking the Capitol Beltway in Alexandria, Va