While Ronald Reagan was in office, he had announced that his secretary of staff Ronald Regan and his Chief of Staff James Baker were planning on switching roles. Some people, including legislators within Congress, had wondered if this was indeed a smart enough mood. Likewise, some people had wondered if Regan could fill Baker's shoes. However, Regan had expressed himself confidentially, and had sold this current White House Administration on the basis that he had adequate managerial skills.

Simon Willard, of Grafton, Massachusetts, patented his eight-day “Improved Timepiece,” a wall clock that came to be known as the “banjo clock.” With the advent of the Revolutionary War and subsequent problems with Great Britain on the high seas, imports had been curtailed and for the next sixty years brass and spring steel were scarce and expensive. There was need for a small inexpensive clock that could be purchased by the less affluent citizens of the new democracy. Willard recognized this need when he invented his clock. Subsequently, the early 19th century became the era of industrialization, and clockmaking, like so many other crafts, became a mechanized industry.