A computer may have been the size of room in 1968, but it was still a watershed year for tech industry. That year saw the founding of the Intel Corporation that would revolutionize microprocessors and “the mother of all demos,” a landmark event that featured the first public demonstration of a computer mouse. Our guest, Margaret O’Mara, a professor of U.S. history at the University of Washington, became fascinated with the story of the Silicon Valley through a circuitous path that involved time spent in the White House and a close encounter with the Little Rock Nine. She tells Philip how this place, once a pastoral agricultural community, became a technological and economic powerhouse – and what that meant for the people who lived there.

Read more in this accompanying article from Margaret O'Mara: In 1968, computers got personal: How the ‘mother of all demos’ changed the world

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Music: “By Grace” by Podington Bear, found on FreeMusicArchive.org, licensed under CC0 1

“Motions” by Rafael Krux, found on FreePD.com, licensed under CC0 1

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