| Year | Pres. | House | Senate | Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | R | R | R | |||
| 1904 | R | R | R | |||
| 1908 | R | R | R | |||
| 1912 | R | D | R | |||
| 1916 | D | D | D | |||
| 1920 | D | R | R | First radio sold in US | ||
| 1922 | R | R | R | The Cable Act | ||
| 1924 | R | R | R | IBM founded | ||
| 1926 | R | R | R | NBC radio launches | ||
| 1927 | R | R | R | First transatlantic phone call |
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| 1928 | R | R | R | |||
| 1932 | R | R | R | |||
| 1936 | D | D | D | |||
| 1940 | D | D | D | |||
| 1944 | D | D | D | |||
| 1948 | D | R | R | |||
| 1952 | D | D | D | |||
| 1956 | R | D | D | Hard disk invented by IBM |
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| 1960 | R | D | D | |||
| 1964 | D | D | D | |||
| 1968 | D | D | D | |||
| 1969 | R | D | D | ARPANET created by Dept. of Defense |
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| 1972 | R | D | D | |||
| 1973 | R | D | D | First cell phone call in US |
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| 1975 | R | D | D | Microsoft founded | ||
| 1976 | R | D | D | Apple is founded | ||
| 1980 | D | D | D | |||
| 1983 | R | D | R | Apple Lisa computer released |
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| 1984 | R | D | R | Nationwide access to those networks is becoming crucial to full participation in a society and economy that are increasingly dependent upon the rapid exchange of information. Electronically- delivered messages, and not the written word, are becoming the dominant form of communication. A citizen without access to telecommunications is in danger of fading into isolation. Therefore, the proper regulation of telecommunications is critical. . . We support the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time requirements, along with other laws and regulations on the electronic media which encourage or require responsiveness to community needs and a | ||
| 1985 | R | D | R | NEXT is founded by Steve Jobs/Microsoft releases Windows 1.0 |
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| 1988 | R | D | D | Dell Computer founded |
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| 1990 | R | D | D | First website created by Tim Berners-Lee |
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| 1992 | R | D | D | |||
| 1994 | D | D | D | The Superhighway Summit/Amazon is founded |
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| 1995 | D | R | R | Windsows 95 | ||
| 1996 | D | R | R | We remember that government investment in technology is responsible for the computer, for jet aircraft, and for the Internet — no investments have ever paid off better, in jobs, in opportunity, or in growth. | A Dole-led Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to promote the full and open competition and freedom of choice in the telecommunications marketplace. In contrast, the Clinton-Gore Administration repeatedly defended big-government regulation. This micromanagement of the Information Age is an impediment to the development of America’s information superhighway. . . The Internet today is the most staggering example of how the Information Age can and will enhance the lives of Americans everywhere. | Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act passed |
| 1997 | D | R | R | Google.com registered | ||
| 2000 | R | R | R | We must launch a new crusade – calling on the resources of government, employers, the high- tech industry, community organizations, and unions – to move toward full Internet access in every home, for every family, all across the United States. We must make sure that no family or community is left out. We must not rest until Internet access is universal. | In addition, we must encourage government at all levels to work with the private sector to ensure that the Internet must be a medium for everyone. The old liberal approach — using the threat of stifling regulations to redistribute wealth and opportunity — will work no better than it ever has, and perhaps much worse, in the new economy. | |
| 2004 | R | R | R | President Bush established the goal of providing every American with access to affordable broadband by 2007. . . With ever more children accessing material over the Internet, we support efforts to bolster online protections that prevent children from being exposed to pornographic images and solicitations. And we applaud public and private efforts to create online safe areas for children. We praise President Bush and Congressional Republicans for their leadership in passing the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act, which created a secure domain on the Internet where parents know that it is safe for their children to learn and play and explore. | ||
| 2005 | R | R | R | YouTube goes online | ||
| 2006 | R | R | R | Google buys YouTube | ||
| 2008 | R | D | D | The Internet must be made safe for children. That’s why Republicans have led efforts to increase the funding necessary to track down and jail online predators through the Adam Walsh Act. | ||
| 2012 | D | R | D | President Obama has committed to ensuring that 98 percent of the country has access to high- speed wireless broadband Internet access. We are finding innovative ways to free up wireless spectrum and are building a state-of-the-art nationwide, interoperable, public safety network. President Obama is strongly committed to protecting an open Internet that fosters investment, innovation, creativity, consumer choice, and free speech, unfettered by censorship or undue violations of privacy. . . To preserve the Internet as a platform for commerce, debate, learning, and innovation in the 21st century, we successfully negotiated international Internet policymaking principles, support the current multi- stakeholder approach to Internet governance, and oppose the extension of intergovernmental controls over the Internet. | The Internet offers a communications system uniquely free from government intervention. We will remove regulatory barriers that protect outdated technologies and business plans from innovation and competition, while preventing legacy regulation from interfering with new and disruptive technologies such as mobile delivery of voice video data as they become crucial components of the Internet ecosystem. . . ecognizing the vital role of social media in recent efforts to promote democracy, we support unrestricted access to the Internet throughout the world to advance the free marketplace of ideas. | |
| 2016 | D | R | R | High-speed internet connectivity is not a luxury; it is a necessity for 21st century economic success, social mobility, education, health care, and public safety. Despite considerable progress and private investment in the last eight years to close the digital divide, there is more work to do. Democrats will finish the job of connecting every household in America to high-speed broadband, increase internet adoption, and help hook up anchor institutions so they can offer free WiFi to the public. . . Democrats support a free and open internet at home and abroad, and will oppose any effort by Republicans to roll back the historic net neutrality rules that the Federal Communications Commission enacted last year. | We want government to encourage the sharing economy and on-demand platforms to compete in an open market, and we believe public policies should encourage the innovation and competition that are essential for an Internet of Things to thrive. . . The internet’s independence is its power. It has unleashed innovation, enabled growth, and inspired freedom more rapidly and extensively than any other technological advance in human history. We will therefore resist any effort to shift control toward governance by international or other intergovernmental organizations. . . The internet’s free market needs to be free and open to all ideas and competition without the government or service providers picking winners and losers. . . A Republican administration will champion an open and free internet based on principles of free expression and universal values and will pursue policies to empower citizens and U.S. companies operating in authoritarian countries to circumvent internet firewalls and gain accurate news and information online. | |
| 2020 | R | D | R | We will recommit the United States to the principles of an open internet, including net neutrality, and vigorously oppose efforts to digitally silo off countries and populations from the rest of the world. Democrats believe that algorithms and platforms should empower people instead of the surveillance state. We expect technology companies and social media platforms to take responsibility and do more to preserve the openness of democratic societies and identify foreign disinformation, especially including paid efforts to influence American elections through advertising or coordinated inauthentic behavior, and we will take steps to prevent the use of new technologies to facilitate repression, spread hate, or incite violence. | ||
| 2024 | D | R | D | And we’re bringing affordable, reliable, high- speed internet to every American household. High speed internet is as vital to our economy today as electricity first was a century ago; Americans need it to do their jobs, to do their homework, to access health care, and to stay connected. But a full 45 million of us still live in areas where there is no high-speed internet. Democrats are closing that divide. |