Highway History

"Clearly Vicious as a Matter of Policy": The Fight Against Federal-Aid

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION: Federal Role in a Union of States

• The Articles of Confederation
• "To establish Post Offices and post Roads"
• The National Road
• Establishing a Principle
• The Case for Federal-Aid

PART ONE: The Golden Mean

• A Rocky Start
• The Fight For National Roads
• Death of a Leader
• Fork in the Road
• Adjustments, Not an Overhaul
• Federal Highway Council
• Thomas H. MacDonald
• The Townsend Bill
• Federal-Aid Rebounds
• Refining the Program
• A New President
• Fiscal Year 1922
• The New President Calls for Action
• The Golden Mean
• Congressional Action
• A New Danger
• Federal Highway Act of 1921
• Contract Authority

PART TWO: Unease in the Golden Age

• President Calvin Coolidge's Campaign Against Federal-Aid
• Backlash
• AASHO Fights Back
• The President Sticks to His Views
• Thomas H. MacDonald Responds
• The Depression
• Public Works for Prosperity

PART THREE: To Control the Levers

• President Roosevelt Applies the Brakes
• A Renewed Federal-Aid Charter
• Congress Takes Control
• A New 2-Year Bill
• Planning for the Future
• The President Calls for MacDonald
• Toll Roads and Free Roads
• The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1940
• Highways for the National Defense
• The Battle Over the Defense Highway Act of 1941
• National Interregional Highway Committee
• The Interstate Program Falters
• The Post-War Boom

PART FOUR: President Eisenhower Takes Charge

• President Eisenhower Takes Over
• The Governors Take a Stand
• State Highway Officials Take a Second Look
• Commissioner of Public Roads
• The Hearings on the Road Question
• As 1953 Ends
• Eisenhower And The Shaping of Policy
• Unveiling The Grand Plan
• Building on the Momentum
• The Clay Plan
• Commission on Intergovernmental Relations
• Future Battles on Devolution
• Conclusion