[Cicero]

Back in the 50s, when I went to Harvard, they were still giving a “Gentleman’s C” to students in some courses for showing up and doing the basic work, but I think the inflation started back then, or certainly in the 60s.

[Verginius Rufus]

The people who made fun of George W. Bush's grades at Yale (after his transcript was leaked to The New Yorker for a hit piece in 1999) failed to take into account that those were grades from the pre-grade-inflation era. He described himself as a C student (in fact had a lot of B's too).

Kerry's GPA at Yale was very similar to Bush's and probably for the same reason--both were heavily involved in extra-curricular activities and having fun, rather than doing the best they could in their courses. Of course the media never drew the conclusion that Kerry was dumb.

[Beagle8U]

My guess would be that grade inflation exploded with the advent of affirmative action.