1963 — Chiropractors were delighted or dismayed (depending on political/philosophical allegiance) in May 1963 when several leaders of the International Chiropractors’ Association (ICA) announced their intention to resign from the ICA and collaborate with the leadership of the competing national membership society, the National Chiropractic Association, to form today’s American Chiropractic Association (ACA).

The new organization commenced operations in January 1964 and soon committed 40 percent of membership dues to funding improvements at the chiropractic colleges. The ACA’s Council on Education (later independently chartered as today’s Council on Chiropractic Education/CCE) pushed for higher standards in the training of chiropractors, including greater admissions’ criteria ( two years of pre-professional college training), better qualified basic science instructors and improved facilities at the chiropractic schools.

The ACA’s support of these upgrades eventually (in 1974) allowed the CCE to reach its goal of federally recognized chiropractic education. The ACA was also a major supporter of the Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research (FCER), the profession’s major, nonprofit, research-funding and philanthropic agency.