An Iowan was elected President during this century. An Iowa company helped revolutionize crop production with hybrid seed corn. And an Iowa State University professor was the first to develop the modern computer. Herbert Hoover, Pioneer Hi-Bred and John Vincent Atanasoff are just a few of the big Iowa names of the past century. Long-time Iowa radio and t-v reporter Jack Shelley looks back at the century, and considers economic and city consolidation in Iowa to be a major development.Shelley says agriculture changed dramatically during the past century — from small farms cultivated by horse-drawn plows to tractor-pulled implements plowing thousands of acres. And Shelley says large-scale hog operations are a major economic development, too.Shelley covered one of the biggest Iowa news events of the century: Soviet leader Nikta Kruschev’s visit to Coon Rapids.Shelley says it was one of the most colorful events he ever covered as a reporter as Kruschev’s host, Bob Garst, threw silage and kicked one reporter in the pants when the mob of media ran after Krushev as he was touring a corn field.
