BUREAU OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS INC history

In March 1933 Lawrence ended publication of his newspaper, the United States Daily, and relaunched it as a weekly newspaper that he called USNews.

John Stewart, who would become president of BNA and write its history, joined the editorial staff of Labor Relations Reporter in 1939.

With that cash flow Lawrence made USNews into a weekly news magazine in 1940, to compete against Time and Newsweek.

The first of these, launched in November 1941, was Daily Labor Report.

During 1945 Lawrence consolidated all of BNA's daily reports except Daily Labor Report into a single publication, Daily Report for Executives, hoping there would continue to be a peacetime market for the information.

In October 1946 Lawrence invited five editors from BNA to buy the operation for $600,000 with $10,000 down and the balance to be paid over eight years.

The McArdle brothers bought it and began operating it as their own company in 1947.

During 1951 the company also made its first acquisition, buying the Pickley Corporation, which sold motivational posters to improve employee morale.

In 1969 BNA changed the service's name to BNA's Policy and Practice Series.

In 1970 BNA moved into the developing field of environmental and safety regulation.

On the organizational side of things, BNA shareholders amended the bylaws in 1971 to increase the size of the board of directors by one seat and to allow the election of one "outside" director, someone who was neither an employee nor a stockholder.

William Beltz was elected president of BNA in 1980.

In 1996 BNA began offering electronic delivery of many of its services via Lotus Notes and the Internet.