Ike created the interstate highway system

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Actually he created the system because in the 40's as an Army Officer he traveled in a convoy from the east Coast to the West Coast and it took something like 34 days. He learned we needed a system to allow land travel across the Country. And he tied it to National Defense. For every 3 mile stretch when original built a requirement was that one mile be a straightaway with no over passes. This was so that the Interstate could act as an emergency Airfield in case of war.

um, in the 40's he was kinda tied up in europe.

you know, ww2, the big one?

he went cross country in the late teens or twenties.

We did not enter WW2 until 1941 December 7. And we had little troop presence until late 42.

and ike still didn't go cross country in the 40's einstein.

When Lieutenant Colonel Eisenhower (this was a temporary wartime grade—he was normally a Captain) heard about the plan, he and a buddy, Major Sereno Brett, thought it would be fun. They agreed to go along to observe operation of the one tank that was going to transported across country. Because the two friends decided to participate so late, they missed the opening ceremony that took place on July 9, 1919, on the Ellipse, which is a big patch of ground just south of the White House. They joined the convoy in Frederick, Maryland, later that day in the campground where the convoy rested.

The convoy headed to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where it met the Lincoln Highway and turned west for San Francisco. Despite the fame of the Lincoln Highway, one of the most important people in the convoy was a scout who drove ahead each day to find the road and mark it so the military vehicles wouldn’t get lost.

Staying on the Lincoln Highway was only one problem. The major problems were:

* The roads—Most of the roads weren’t paved, so they were dusty in dry weather and muddy when it rained. Vehicles slipped off the roads into ditches, were blown off cliffs, and, at one spot in Nevada, got stuck in sand. The soldiers on the convoy experienced every misery of early road travel and then some since they had to drag heavy trucks out of the mud and muck and sand.

* The bridges—Many bridges were just barely able to carry cars. The heavy military trucks crashed through them. The Army had to strengthen many bridges or build new ones at some locations. In some cases, the best choice was to “ford” rivers (drive through the water where it is low enough to do so).

* The vehicles—On a trip of more than 3,000 miles, you might expect a few flats. That was the least of the convoy’s troubles. The bad roads were tough on tires, axles, motors, and any thing that could be shaken off as the vehicles rumbled over the bumps in the road. Mechanics, who had been trained to repair horse-drawn wagons, were kept busy learning about a new type of vehicle.

* The speeches—Every town the convoy reached wanted to welcome the soldiers with a ceremony. Residents from miles around turned out to see the huge military convoy since nothing like it had ever been assembled in the United States. (It was like the circus coming to town.) And then the speeches began, with the Mayor welcoming the convoy, the commander of the convoy thanking the Mayor and citizens, and the convoy’s good roads speaker giving his presentation. The soldiers quickly became real tired of speeches.

Sixty-two days after leaving Washington, the convoy reached San Francisco on September 5, crossed San Francisco Bay on two ferries, then paraded through that city to Lincoln Park. Everyone received a medal—and listened to more speeches before being dismissed. (Today, a cross-country trip on the Interstate System takes about 5 days.)

Why President Dwight D. Eisenhower Understood We Needed the Interstate System

 

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He should have taken the train. Then it would have taken him 3 days, tops.

He actually got the idea from driving on Hitler's autobhans. The interstate highway system is one of the greatest socialist boondoggles of all time.

How so?

That's what I was wondering.

you should keep in mind rhat bripat is an idiot, and a woefully misinformed one at that.

 

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um, in the 40's he was kinda tied up in europe.

you know, ww2, the big one?

he went cross country in the late teens or twenties.

We did not enter WW2 until 1941 December 7. And we had little troop presence until late 42.

Indeed. I just read something the other day that Eisenhower wasn't a general at the beginning of the war. According to Wiki, that's not exactly true, but very close:

...During the late 1920s and early 1930s Eisenhower's career in the peacetime Army stagnated; many of his friends resigned for high paying business jobs. He was assigned to the American Battle Monuments Commission, directed by General John J. Pershing, then to the Army War College, and then served as executive officer to General George V. Mosely, Assistant Secretary of War, from 1929 to 1933. He then served as chief military aide to General Douglas MacArthur, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, until 1935, when he accompanied MacArthur to the Philippines, where he served as assistant military adviser to the Philippine government. It is sometimes said that this assignment provided valuable preparation for handling the challenging personalities of Winston Churchill, George S. Patton and Bernard Law Montgomery during World War II. Eisenhower was promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant colonel in 1936 after sixteen years as a major. He also learned to fly, although he was never rated as a military pilot. He made a solo flight over the Philippines in 1937.

Eisenhower returned to the United States in 1939 and held a series of staff positions in Washington, D.C., California and Texas. In June 1941, he was appointed Chief of Staff to General Walter Krueger, Commander of the 3rd Army, at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. He was promoted to brigadier general in September 1941. Although his administrative abilities had been noticed, on the eve of the U.S. entry into World War II he had never held an active command and was far from being considered as a potential commander of major operations...

this is an excellent book that discusses ike's career in ww2.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/b...tors-by-jonathan-w-jordan.html?pagewanted=all

carlo d'este also wrote a tremendous bio of ike, as well as one of patton.