The encryption algorithm, created by ibm, became the american standard for encryption in the 1970's.

In the 1970s, computer technology was becoming more widely used. After studying computer security used by the U.S. government, it was decided there was a need for an encryption system. The National Bureau of Standards and National Security Agency asked for proposals to protect unclassified and sensitive information used government-wide. On the second request for suggestions, IBM proposed the Data Encryption Standard (DES) which was later accepted as a federal standard. With the advancements in technology present in the modern day, DES is pretty insecure now but it was innovative for early computer days. 

Getting elected because not many people were voting