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This article focuses on the developments in the field of statistics in the U.S. during the 20th century. In many of these developments, members of the American Statistical Association, past and present, were prominent leaders, advisors and active participants. They played important roles in the rise of modern business, government and education; the progress of the sciences; the achivement of rationality in administration and in the professions; the improvement of working and living conditions; and the enhanced productivity of human effort in both manual and intellectual enterprises. During these momentous years, the theory and practice of statistics have been shaped by the kinds of problems our members have encountered in their diverse activities. Today, the growth and evolution of statistics are proceeding more rapidly than ever. Clearly, there is a great demand for more and better statistical information than is now available and for better availability of what does exist. In the face of all these changes: more urgent and more exacting demands for statistics, the introduction of electronic computers and increasing sophistication in their use, mounting concern about the dangers of centralized data files, and other trends of our time, we must remind ourselves that the fundamental obligation of many statisticians remains the day-by-day work of operating existing systems of statistical reporting and of making such improvements as the circumstances permit.