![]() ![]() The Interstate grew quickly, along with the automobile industry, allowing a new-found mobility that permeated ways of American life and culture. The system has contributed in shaping the United States into a world economic superpower and a highly industrialized nation. Construction was authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, and the original portion was completed 35 years later. While serving as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, Eisenhower had gained an appreciation of the German Autobahn network as an essential component of a national defense system, providing transport routes for military supplies and troop deployments. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (commonly called the Interstate System or simply the Interstate) is a network of freeways that forms a part of the National Highway System of the United States. ![]() Interstate Highway System The proposed Interstate Highway System in 1955 Large tailfins, flowing designs reminiscent of rockets, and radio antennas that imitated Sputnik 1 were common, owing to the efforts of design pioneers such as Harley Earl. The dawning of the Space Age and Space Race were reflected in contemporary American automotive styling. The wide-open spaces along the highways became a basis for numerous billboards showing advertisements. The wider, multi-lane highways allowed traffic to move at faster speeds, with few or no stoplights on the way. ![]() national defenses, to support military transport, the National Highway System was expanded with Interstate highways, beginning in 1955, across many parts of the United States. By 1958, there were more than 67 million cars registered in the United States, more than twice the number at the start of the decade. By 1950, most factories had made the transition to a consumer-based economy, and more than 8 million cars were produced that year alone. The decade began with 25 million registered automobiles on the road, most of which predated World War II and were in poor condition no automobiles or parts were produced during the war owing to rationing and restrictions. A new generation of service businesses focusing on customers with their automobiles came into being during the decade, including drive-through or drive-in restaurants and greatly increasing numbers of drive-in theaters (cinemas). The United States became the world's largest manufacturer of automobiles, and Henry Ford's goal of 30 years earlier-that any man with a good job should be able to afford an automobile-was achieved. The American manufacturing economy switched from producing war-related items to consumer goods at the end of World War II, and by the end of the 1950s, one in six working Americans were employed either directly or indirectly in the automotive industry. Tailfins gave a Space Age look to cars, and along with extensive use of chrome became commonplace by the end of the decade.ฤก950s American automobile culture has had an enduring influence on the culture of the United States, as reflected in popular music, major trends from the 1950s and mainstream acceptance of the " hot rod" culture. Historical cultural phenomenon in the U.S. ![]()
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