America and the Automobile

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the 1956 Interstate Highway Act gave the federal government authority to construct a national system of highways; local, state, and federal governments diverted public funds to pay for this massive project and additional sleeker roads and freeways in order to meet the needs of drivers. The author points out that most people living in the cities, especially the poor, required public transportation; however, several large companies such as General Motors, Firestone and Standard Oil, invested a great amount of money into the automobile and saw economical public transit as a threat to their capitalistic goals of monopolizing mobility. The paper concludes that the dichotomy of simultaneous increased liberty and confinement in the social lives of Americans is perhaps the most important legacy the automobile left on American society.

From the Paper:

"The urban poor did not suffer alone in their lack of mobility. Nearly every suburban household owned an automobile, and most families were relegated to a single vehicle. Many 1950s housewives were left at home all day while the husband went into the city with the family car. Women were confined to their homes as public transit was not available in most suburbs. In a way, the emphasis on private transit over public helped to feed the culture of domesticity by physically restricting women to the home. It would not be until later in the 1950s that the idea of "two Ford freedom" would enable wealthier families to own two vehicles and thus grant more freedom to the housewife. Automakers advertised a second car as a necessity to modern suburban living and convinced many working class families in the United States to aspire to own two cars."

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