The Nation's Newspaper Reaches A Milestone

The First Issue

USA TODAY turns 40 on Thursday.

The genesis of USA Today was on February 29, 1980, when a company task force known as "Project NN" met with Gannett chairman Al Neuharth in Cocoa Beach, Florida, to develop a national newspaper. 

Early regional prototypes included East Bay Today, an Oakland, California-based publication published in the late 1970s to serve as the morning edition of the Oakland Tribune, an afternoon newspaper which Gannett owned at the time. On June 11, 1981, Gannett printed the first prototypes of the proposed publication. The two proposed design layouts were mailed to newsmakers and prominent leaders in journalism for review and feedback. Gannett's board of directors approved the launch of the national newspaper, titled USA Today, on December 5, 1981. At launch, Neuharth was appointed president and publisher of the newspaper, adding those responsibilities to his existing position as Gannett's chief executive officer.

Gannett announced the launch of the paper on April 20, 1982. USA Today began publishing on September 15, 1982, initially in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas, for a newsstand price of 25¢ (equivalent to 70¢ in 2020). After selling out the first issue, Gannett gradually expanded the national distribution of the paper, reaching an estimated circulation of 362,879 copies by the end of 1982, double the amount of sales that Gannett projected.

First Logo

The design uniquely incorporated color graphics and photographs. Initially, only its front news section pages were rendered in four-color, while the remaining pages were printed in a spot color format. The paper's overall style and elevated use of graphics – developed by Neuharth, in collaboration with staff graphics designers George Rorick, Sam Ward, Suzy Parker, John Sherlock and Web Bryant – was derided by critics, who referred to it as a "McPaper" or "television you can wrap fish in", because it opted to incorporate concise nuggets of information more akin to the style of television news, rather than in-depth stories like traditional newspapers, which many in the newspaper industry considered to be a dumbing down of content.

Thursday's paper is special: USA TODAY celebrates 40 years.

–Inside the 40 moments that defined USA TODAY
–See how USA TODAY has served readers and changed the industry
–Peek into the creativity from inside USA TODAY
–USA TODAY at 40: It's grown up, but it's still different pic.twitter.com/pYoGv0Fgvg

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) September 15, 2022

On April 17, 1995, USA Today launched its website to provide real-time news coverage.

On September 14, 2012, USA Today underwent the first major redesign in its history, in commemoration for the 30th anniversary of the paper's first edition.