We were underdogs. Now, we are watchdogs. Inside the stories that have shaped the nation since 1982

40 years of USA TODAY

Readers loved it – a giant color map of the USA, with temperatures and forecasts from hundreds of cities, perfect for business travelers for whom USA TODAY was designed.

1982: Launching the Weather Page

Unlike other news organizations, USA TODAY covered every event, printed a daily special section for the full two weeks, and continually updated its website.

1984: Claiming 
the Olympics

In typical USA TODAY fashion, the Money section focused on the impact on average investors and on what’s next. The Money section innovated with new stock market analytical tools and later with an Internet Index of top tech stocks.

1987: 
Market meltdown

USA TODAY learned that tennis star Arthur Ashe had AIDS. In conversation with USA TODAY, the Sports editor offered Ashe time to decide what to do Ashe decided to go public. He died in 1993, but the story raised new questions about privacy, especially in today’s media-saturated world.

1992: Arthur Ashe has AIDS

USA TODAY’s Opinion Page has always included Opposing Views to editorial opinions to give the full spectrum of thinking. Although it never editorially endorsed a candidate, the Editorial Board in 1998 joined 100 other newspapers in calling for President Clinton to resign. In 2016, USA TODAY declared Donald Trump “unfit” for the presidency.

1998: Opinions from all sides

Much of the year was spent tallying the damage, the victims, the terrorists. On the first anniversary, three USA TODAY reporters described in startling detail how air controllers had landed 4,500 flights in just four hours on that harrowing September morning.

2001: Terror changes everything

After an uproar about the lack of diversity at the 2016 Oscars, USA TODAY took a closer look at popular culture as reflected in movies and on television.

2016: Diversity
in Hollywood

“Build the Wall.” Three words energized a campaign. But could it be done? What would it cost? What would it accomplish? Our search for answers became a Pulitzer-winning examination of all 2,000 miles of President Trump’s proposed wall at the Mexican border.

2017: 'Build the wall'?

In a reporting project on racism and civil rights, individual stories from seven days in 1961 were told in a variety of formats. If journalism is embarked on new forms of storytelling, “Seven days of 1961” helps show the way.

2021: How 1961 changed America

Tap the link for 40 moments, when USA TODAY made a difference to our readers, our nation or to our staff.

USA TODAY at 40