I think there is confusion. Optima was American Express' (USA) first credit card. It was introduced in 1987, and launched with a direct mail campaign.
Source: New York Times, March 11, 1987
Interesting - I didn’t realize that it was also that. I only knew it as the second chance card (which seemingly might now provide some level of MR points?):
https://www.reddit.com/r/amex/commen...second_chance/