President Carter authorizes Chrysler bailout

President Carter authorizes Chrysler bailout

January 7, 2010 05:00:00 am

On January 7, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979 (Public Law 96-185) into law.

The act granted to Chrysler $1.5 billion to save the company from bankruptcy. Twenty-eight years later in 2008, President George W. Bush authorized $17.4 billion to again bailout Chrysler in addition to the other two major American automobile manufacturers, Ford and General Motors.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Jurist James Kent born

On July 31, 1763, James Kent, first professor of law at Columbia College, Chancellor of New York, and author of a four-volume set of Commentaries on American Law, was born near Brewster, NY. Learn more about James Kent.

Weimer Republic Constitution signed

On July 31, 1919, the Constitution of the German Reich was signed in Weimar, Germany as the country's post-empire foundational law. The document set up a full democracy in Germany with a President, Parliament, and independent judiciary. It also made Germany the first nation to give women the right to vote. The so-called Weimar Republic lasted until the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1933. Learn more about the Weimar Republic.