Dwight Eisenhower: The Transportation President
Dwight Eisenhower is remembered as a great General who planned and led the D-Day Invasion in 1944. He was also a good President, and his two terms in office were marked by a time of peace and growth. But perhaps Eisenhower's greatest achievements was promoting and signing the bill that authorized the Interstate Highway System in 1956. It has resulted in a system of highways that has been host to enjoyable travel for Americans and for many tourists, and it has been an enhancement to American commerce as well. It is remarkable to think that Eisenhower justified the project through the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 not as a commercial project, but by taking the position that it was essential to American security during the Cold War. He said that large cities would be targets in a possible future war, and argued that the highways were designed to evacuate them and allow the military to move in. Although he used a military argument to get Congress to pay for it, this accomplishment has have a lasting peacetime benefit.
Eisenhower's vision of an improved highway system probably began with his involvement in the U.S. Army's 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy. He was assigned to the project, which involved sending a convoy of U.S. Army vehicles coast to coast. He also said that his experience with German autobahns during World War II convinced him of the benefits of an Interstate Highway System. He thought an Interstate Highway System in the U.S. would not only be beneficial for military operations, but be the building block for continued economic growth.
Eisenhower was also influenced by his experiences as a young Army officer crossing the country in the 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy that drove in part on the Lincoln Highway, the first road across America. He later recalled that, "The old convoy had started me thinking about good two-lane highways, about the wisdom of broader ribbons across our land." Eisenhower also gained an appreciation of the Reichsautobahn system, the first "national" implementation of modern Germany's Autobahn network, as a necessary component of a national defense system while he was serving as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II. In 1954, Eisenhower appointed General Lucius D. Clay to head a committee charged with proposing an interstate highway system plan. In thinking about the project, Clay stated, "It was evident we needed better highways. We needed them for safety, to accommodate more automobiles. We needed them for defense purposes, if that should ever be necessary. And we needed them for the economy. Not just as a public works measure, but for future growth."
Clay's committee proposed a 10-year, $100 billion program, which would build 40,000 miles (64,000 km) of divided highways linking all American cities with a population of greater than 50,000. Eisenhower initial preference was for a system consisting of toll roads, but Clay convinced Eisenhower that toll roads were not feasible outside of the highly populated coastal regions. Convinced that Clay's plan was the wiser one, in February 1955, Eisenhower forwarded Clay's proposal to Congress. The bill quickly won approval in the Senate, but House Democrats objected to the use of public bonds as the means to finance construction. Eisenhower and the House Democrats agreed to instead finance the system through the Highway Trust Fund, which would be funded by a gasoline tax.
The publication in 1955 of the General Location of National System of Interstate Highways, informally known as the Yellow Book, mapped out what became the Interstate Highway System. Charles Erwin Wilson, who was still head of General Motors, was seconded for the planning process after President Eisenhower selected him as Secretary of Defense in January 1953.
Eisenhower's administration developed a proposal for an interstate highway system, eventually resulting in the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. Unlike the earlier U.S. Highway System, the Interstates were designed to be an all-freeway system, with nationally unified standards for construction and signage. While some older freeways were adopted into the system, most of the routes were completely new construction, greatly expanding the freeway network in the U.S. The scheme was not universally popular however, especially in densely populated urban areas, where these new freeways were often controversial as their building necessitated the destruction of many older, well-established neighborhoods.
The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, also known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (Public Law 84-627), was enacted on June 29, 1956, when Eisenhower signed the bill into law. The original bill authorized the spending of 25 billion dollars for the construction of 41,000 miles (66,000 km) of the Interstate Highway System over a 20-year period. It was the largest public works project in American history up to that time.
The money for the Interstate Highway and Defense Highways was handled in a Highway Trust Fund that paid for 90 percent of highway construction costs with the states required to pay the remaining 10 percent. It was expected that the money would be generated through new taxes on fuel, automobiles, trucks, and tires. The Federal portion of the cost of the Interstate Highway System has been paid for by taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel.
Sometimes politicians and Presidents make the right call, and it appears that Ike make the right call on this one. I know that I certainly appreciate the highway system, especially on those times in the past when I've made the drive to my spouse's family home in the central United States. Over the years when I have made the drive, I have traveled across parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, with side trips to Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The highways have always been terrific. Thanks Ike!
Eisenhower's vision of an improved highway system probably began with his involvement in the U.S. Army's 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy. He was assigned to the project, which involved sending a convoy of U.S. Army vehicles coast to coast. He also said that his experience with German autobahns during World War II convinced him of the benefits of an Interstate Highway System. He thought an Interstate Highway System in the U.S. would not only be beneficial for military operations, but be the building block for continued economic growth.
Eisenhower was also influenced by his experiences as a young Army officer crossing the country in the 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy that drove in part on the Lincoln Highway, the first road across America. He later recalled that, "The old convoy had started me thinking about good two-lane highways, about the wisdom of broader ribbons across our land." Eisenhower also gained an appreciation of the Reichsautobahn system, the first "national" implementation of modern Germany's Autobahn network, as a necessary component of a national defense system while he was serving as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II. In 1954, Eisenhower appointed General Lucius D. Clay to head a committee charged with proposing an interstate highway system plan. In thinking about the project, Clay stated, "It was evident we needed better highways. We needed them for safety, to accommodate more automobiles. We needed them for defense purposes, if that should ever be necessary. And we needed them for the economy. Not just as a public works measure, but for future growth."
Clay's committee proposed a 10-year, $100 billion program, which would build 40,000 miles (64,000 km) of divided highways linking all American cities with a population of greater than 50,000. Eisenhower initial preference was for a system consisting of toll roads, but Clay convinced Eisenhower that toll roads were not feasible outside of the highly populated coastal regions. Convinced that Clay's plan was the wiser one, in February 1955, Eisenhower forwarded Clay's proposal to Congress. The bill quickly won approval in the Senate, but House Democrats objected to the use of public bonds as the means to finance construction. Eisenhower and the House Democrats agreed to instead finance the system through the Highway Trust Fund, which would be funded by a gasoline tax.
The publication in 1955 of the General Location of National System of Interstate Highways, informally known as the Yellow Book, mapped out what became the Interstate Highway System. Charles Erwin Wilson, who was still head of General Motors, was seconded for the planning process after President Eisenhower selected him as Secretary of Defense in January 1953.
Eisenhower's administration developed a proposal for an interstate highway system, eventually resulting in the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. Unlike the earlier U.S. Highway System, the Interstates were designed to be an all-freeway system, with nationally unified standards for construction and signage. While some older freeways were adopted into the system, most of the routes were completely new construction, greatly expanding the freeway network in the U.S. The scheme was not universally popular however, especially in densely populated urban areas, where these new freeways were often controversial as their building necessitated the destruction of many older, well-established neighborhoods.
The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, also known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (Public Law 84-627), was enacted on June 29, 1956, when Eisenhower signed the bill into law. The original bill authorized the spending of 25 billion dollars for the construction of 41,000 miles (66,000 km) of the Interstate Highway System over a 20-year period. It was the largest public works project in American history up to that time.
The money for the Interstate Highway and Defense Highways was handled in a Highway Trust Fund that paid for 90 percent of highway construction costs with the states required to pay the remaining 10 percent. It was expected that the money would be generated through new taxes on fuel, automobiles, trucks, and tires. The Federal portion of the cost of the Interstate Highway System has been paid for by taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel.
Sometimes politicians and Presidents make the right call, and it appears that Ike make the right call on this one. I know that I certainly appreciate the highway system, especially on those times in the past when I've made the drive to my spouse's family home in the central United States. Over the years when I have made the drive, I have traveled across parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, with side trips to Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The highways have always been terrific. Thanks Ike!