Critical Analysis Of The Presidency Of Eisenhower

In the 1950s, the United States of America was in desperate need of a highway. We turned to our president, Dwight David Eisenhower. He set forth a plan to build a transcontinental highway. The bill which put it into law was passed in 1956. Dwight Eisenhower fulfilled his role as president by giving the people what they wanted and what they desperately needed. Many things were happening at the time of the 50s. More people started to drive cars. Many people remember the 50s as the decade of sleek and classic cars. Most husbands had been veterans in the second world war. This shaped the “rebuilding” stage that America had during the fifties. Also, at this time, many families were having kids to make up for those who were lost. These kids were called baby boomers. When Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to build miles of interstate, It was a big step in the right direction for the wellbeing of the United States of America.

All of the signs that say: “Interstate” and then a number below it are all from the Federal Highway Act. Some examples include I-95, I-70 and I-495(created in 1961). The interstate highways which were built because of the Federal Highway Act were 47,000 miles long and stretched from coast to coast. It took 13 years to build by many construction workers. The USA did just like what had been done just a little less than a century before then: build a transcontinental passageway throughout the greater 48 states of the United States of America. In 1862, a transcontinental railroad was built from Boston, all the way to the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The interstate system was also completely asphalt. A large number of roads at the time were made out of mud. Some were as old as the civil war, when horses were the only vehicles on them. This leads us to the reasons why Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to build the interstates. There were many reasons why Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to build the highway system that we have today. One of the first reasons, surprisingly, had to do with a country in a faraway land: Europe. When President Eisenhower was stationed in Germany for both World War 1 and World War 2, He saw something very special. It was the Autobahn.

The Autobahn is a highway that stretches throughout all of Germany which has no speed limit. It was and is still around 8000 miles long. President Eisenhower wanted a highway such as this, but in the end, decided on a highway with a speed limit, but 6 times the size. The second reason was that the roads in the USA were not in tip-top shape. Most of the roads at the time were made of mud and very old. Additionally, There were many naysayers of cars. They didn’t believe that we needed cars and that they would be beneficial. By building the Interstates, President Eisenhower proved everyone wrong. According to NationMaster in 2014, there were 797 motor vehicles on the road for every 1000 people. So, President Eisenhower succeeded in his goal of proving them wrong. Finally, one of his main goals was to make more room for cars to go so traffic would be less heavy. With barely any asphalt roads for cars as it was, traffic was not good.

So when he made the interstates, that freed up so much room for cars to drive on. This allowed for. The decision that President Eisenhower made affected everyone across the country. The impact of his decisions touched every corner of the greater 48, rural and urban. One of the impacts of the FHA being put into place was the protests. When the bill was put into legislation, there were protests all throughout the country. People were going to be affected negatively by the new interstate system. After a while, these attempts at peaceful protests were quashed. Although, they did have a few minor victories. In 1959, the Board of Supervisors decided to block the construction of a freeway called the Embarcadero Freeway, which was to be built on the waterfront. San Francisco wouldn’t be how it is today without its beautiful waterfront. Additionally, in New York City, Washington D. C. , New Orleans, and Baltimore, people stopped the government from building in their neighborhood. As a result, some highways end abruptly near those neighborhoods. They are also known as the “Roads to Nowhere”. Another thing that came out of the FHA was suburbs. They didn’t really exist at the time. Most people either lived in a big city or on a farm. What used to be wheat and cornfields was now neighborhoods and shopping centers. One of the biggest chains in the world, McDonald’s, is where it is today because of the FHA. The first one was built the year before the FHA was put into action, and added many more stores because of the amount of suburbs popping up and the amount of road to place their restaurants. A big downside to the FHA was that it kicked some people out of their homes. Some roads were set to be built through people’s houses, so they were kicked out of their houses.

This contributed to part of the protests that were mentioned above. Another thing that came out of the FHA was strip malls. They were not very popular and they were very few of them pre-FHA. Now there’s one on every street corner. As you can see, many things came out of the FHA. Some were positive and some were negative. Everyone in the greater 48 of the United States of America was affected by the Federal Highway Act. As we all know, not everyone gets a fair deal when it comes to decisions. When the FHA was put forth, there were people on both sides of the spectrum. Business owners were one of the main beneficiaries of the FHA. When it happened, they were able to open businesses in strip malls and shopping malls. Before the FHA, they most likely did not have the opportunity to because of the lack of malls. When the explosion of suburbs came out of the FHA, It allowed for more opportunities for them. One down side of the project was that it cost around 30 billion dollars. This was a lot of money at the time(June 26, 1956, when it was approved by Congress), 30 billion dollars, equaling about 275. 42 billion dollars now. Also, as was mentioned earlier, people were stripped of their homes and without proper compensation. Another downside, although not as extreme as the others was that people were stripped of the view that they would get going down a street. Instead they would see boring slab buildings. A plus that came from the FHA was just for the children of the fifties. The mass exodus from cities allowed for amusement parks to pop up all over the country.

Finally, the last downside is the interstate system that President Eisenhower built, was built through major metropolitan areas, such as Boston and New York. When the highways were built through those cities, it caused some areas, which were already not in a suitable state, even more decrepit. Although there were many cons, there were definitely many pros, which President Eisenhower worked very hard to achieve. President Eisenhower definitely fulfilled his role as president when he put forth the FHA. One of the main principles of being a good president is doing what’s good for the people. Even if what a president puts into law does not benefit them, instead his constituents, he would choose his constituents over him personally. . When he “built” the interstates, that helped so many. Because of it, there is now a state highway which goes through the city of his birth. He fulfilled his role to such an extent that part of the system, in 1973, was named after him. This just shows that America recognized how he fulfill his role and decided to name something after him. He is part of an exclusive group of president's which have big edifices name after them across the country. That is why the FHA is so important to us. The president put our needs before his, and did something that would benefit us for years to come.