How Did the Automobile Change America?
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Model T
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The automobile's impact on America's physical and social landscape, from the design of its urban centers to how individuals consume goods, transformed a country of isolated communities into a single entity. Beginning with Henry Ford's Model T, a vehicle mass-produced in great quantities and sold to the average wage-earning adult, the car helped create the middle class and develop consumerism on a massive scale. The Model T in 1908 possessed durable lightweight construction and had a 16-inch ground clearance, making it easy to navigate unpaved roads. It sold for less than $1,000. Not only could the average family afford one, but in an era where most people did not travel more than 50 miles beyond their community in their entire lives, the Model T equated long-distance travel with freedom. As autos clogged roadways suitable for horses but not motor vehicles, municipalities and state and federal governments launched road-paving campaigns. The first cross-country highway opened in 1913, originating at Times Square in New York and ending in San Francisco. This highway, and others that followed, created a mobile society and changed the fabric of the American family. People moved with ease, reuniting families or dropping out of society.
Middle Class
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With movement came jobs. Ford initiated the assembly line for his Model T's and $5-a-day, 40-hour workweek employment. Blue collar workers found steady work, which ultimately created the middle class. The rise of unionized workers further strengthened the middle class, creating job security and giving labor a powerful political voice that was courted by the nation's politicians and lawmakers. The auto also changed the economy as seen during the Great Depression, when families that lost their homes and farms to foreclosure traveled from the East and Midwest to find jobs and a future in California. It also encouraged families to leave urban centers for the suburbs, creating suburban sprawl and traffic gridlock. In 1956 the Federal Highway Act, which earmarked $25 billion for the construction of 41,000 miles of highways, was enacted.
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'Planned Obsolescence'
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During World War II, automakers stopped car production and focused on building military vehicles. Military contracts and guaranteed jobs, especially for women, helped lift the country out of the Depression and give women a strong presence in the workplace. In postwar America, returning servicemen grabbed every new car produced and families eagerly waited for the new models to debut each September. Thus, the consumer society was born. General Motors auto designer Harley Earl fed the hunger for new cars with his concept of "planned obsolescence," as he understood the visual appeal of the car and exploited it with annual styling changes to induce the public to buy the newest model. The concept spread to other products. The postwar popularity of the auto also sparked the youthful driver. In the 1950s, teenagers bought cars for as little as $25, which allowed them the freedom and privacy with their sweethearts to do as they please. It led to the loosening of the social restrictions of Victorian morals firmly in place from before World War II.
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