sion, and computers throughout the twentieth cen-
tury. Companies in the region pioneered the
electronics revolution in the United States begin-
ning in 1909 with the Federal Telegraph Corpora-
tion (FTC) in Palo Alto; by the 1930’s, they were con-
ducting innovative work in the radio industry. The
area made a name for itself when Ralph Vaerst, an
entrepreneur, coined the term “Silicon Valley” in
1971, and the region soon began to attract more na-
tional attention when a feature article appeared in
Fortunemagazine three years later.
During the Cold War period (the mid-1940’s to
the early 1990’s), Silicon Valley experienced eco-
nomic growth as a result of the military-industrial
complex, which required electronic equipment,
semiconductors, and transistors to help bolster the
defense industry. The region evolved into a magnet
for students who majored in technology and science
fields, and graduate students in engineering from
nearby Stanford University were given unprece-
dented career opportunities for professional ad-
vancement. In order to provide local employment
incentives to recent graduates, the Stanford Indus-
trial Park was developed to give leases to companies
that fostered technological innovations, such as the
Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory and Hewlett-
Packard, which gained recognition in the home
printing market and evolved into one of the largest
personal computer manufacturers in the world.
During the 1990’s, as the computer industry bur-
geoned with corporate giants such as Adobe,
Microsoft, and Apple, Silicon Valley earned a reputa-
tion for advancements in software, Internet services,
and operating systems. Investors, stockholders, and
chief executive officers who took advantage of the
high-tech market did very well financially. Silicon
Valley churned out a number of young entrepre-
neurs who led lavish lifestyles that ended up contrib-The Nineties in America Silicon Valley 773
Million-dollar homes under construction near a country club in San Jose, California. Silicon Valley saw a boom in housing sales during
the dot-com bubble that began in the mid-1990’s.(AP/Wide World Photos)