Author Archives: Wu

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/ji5-f0oS_4A" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Woodstock attracted more than 500,000 concert goers in August 1969 as the highlight to what is known as the summer of love.  Woodstock represented hope, peace and love that the young people of the 1960s represented.

The Federal Highway Act or National Interstate and Defense Highways was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956.  It allocated $25 billion dollars for the construction of  41,000 miles of interstate highway over a 20 year time frame.  President Eisenhower adamantly supported The Federal Highway Act mainly due to his experiences as an Army officer during the U.S. Army’s first Transcontinental Motor Convoy across the United States on the Lincoln Highway in 1919.  The purpose of the convoy was to dramatize the need for better interstate highways for sake of national defense.  Eisenhower argued that troops needed to be able to move cross country in a timely fashion if America was ever attacked.  After the completion of the highways, the cross country travel time of the convoy in 1919 was cut down to 2 weeks from 2 months.

The highways also resulted in an increase in suburbanization of America.  The expanded roadway infrastructure made commutes between urban cities to suburbs possible and much quicker.  The highways also resulted in much economical benefits for America.  It connected cities all across America, becoming the link for interstate commerce to this day.  America’s economic strength wouldn’t be where it is if it weren’t for The Federal Highway Act.