By Sean H . Vanatta

From 1966 to 1970 , bankers flooded American mailboxes with tens of millions of unsolicited credit cards . They did so , they argued , because they had no other choice . “ In the competitive climate that exists , if we had depended upon applications alone our plan could not have been launched successfully ,” David M . Kennedy , chairman of Chicago ’ s Continental Illinois Bank , explained in January 1967 . “ There never was any possibility that we could have proceeded at a more leisurely pace .” The deluge of unsolicited cards came as bankers built the card networks — BankAmericard ( Visa ) and Master Charge ( MasterCard )— that remain today ’ s dominant consumer payment systems .

In the 1960s , card technology captured the industry ’ s imagination . Credit cards would not only produce profits on their own , bankers believed , but would create lucrative and long-lasting consumer

banking relationships . Bankers also saw cards as a step toward the industry ’ s technological future , where computers would expand the range of bank services and drive down operating costs . Finally , cards appeared to offer bankers a path out of the banking industry ’ s tight regulatory confines , particularly the price controls and geographic restrictions that anchored the New Deal financial order . States did not yet regulate credit card interest rates . With card networks , bankers could begin recruiting consumers across state lines .

In their eagerness , bankers swamped the nation in cards just as consumer politics and protection were emerging as a bipartisan political force . Bankers embraced credit cards as a means of innovating around New Deal-era rules ; by decade ’ s end , political backlash against relentless credit expansion firmly ensconced cards within the regulatory regime .

In the mid-1960s , the bank credit card industry was poised for renewed

expansion . The economic boom of the 1950s burned even hotter early in the next decade . From January 1960 to January 1967 , the economy grew at 6.6 % a year . Incomes and expectations for material comfort grew apace , especially among the white , increasingly suburban middle class . A series of federal tax cuts , proposed by President John F . Kennedy in 1963 and enacted after his death , further spurred growth . The cuts , Lyndon Johnson explained , put “$ 25 million a day in the hands of the American consumer .”

Johnson urged Americans to spend the money . They did , often augmented with credit . Feeling more affluent , consumers borrowed more freely . Recognizing widespread prosperity , lenders extended more credit . Consumer borrowing , growing at 9 % a year , significantly outpaced economic growth . The virtuous cycle of consumer purchasing power , juiced by credit , continued to spin .

In this environment , universal card

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