Courtesy of the Ford Motor Company

Brylcream, big ears and mustache say, 'trust me, i kind of look like an expert'

I found this amazing ‘motion picture’ from 1955 promoting ‘good roads’, called ‘Freedom of the American Road’, produced by the Ford Motor Company.  Obviously, this is one of my themes of the thesis.  It is an amazing video on so many levels.

Here’s part one (highlighted by the introduction of highways into downtown Pittsburgh)

and part two (highlighted by Boston’s Route 128 enabling a suburban lifestyle).

Henry Ford II provides the introduction to the motion picture.  The best lines:

In talking about the grassroots efforts in demanding ‘good roads’:

“Here is real democracy in action.”

On why good roads are important:

“Simply because we Americans always have liked plenty of elbow room, freedom to go as we please in this big country of ours.”

I don’t even know where to start.  I suppose I will start in saying it is exactly the type of propaganda that these guys brilliantly executed for decades.  In every little anecdotal story, it is always the ‘people’ who have risen up to demand or come together for ‘good roads’. It never is portrayed as a top-down phenomenon, which is ironic, because that is exactly what it was and continues to be.

It is the irony of ironies that people currently hate the idea of public transit because it is subsidized and doesn’t make any money. The highway-motor complex, starting very early in the 20th century, entrenched itself in government in an effort to align good roads with the individual’s right to freedom.  This was the marketing genius that enabled an environment in which public money was pumped into roads and more roads.  Unfortunately, highways also are heavily subsidized and also do not make any money, AND they trigger land patterns that are segregated, inefficient, unhealthy, unsustainable, unhuman and horrible to look at.

The other small thing to notice is the subtle tying of a ribbon of concrete to the words ‘free’ and ‘American’. These simple shifts in syntax began in the early 20th century and continue today. Here is one from today, though maybe it is supposed to be tongue in cheek.

“Here’s a couple two things America got right: cars and freedom.”

Princes Charles talks about a virtuous circle, where a human economy thrives while being in harmony with nature.  The cozy relationship between government that allocates funding and private interests that profit from that funding is a vicious cycle.  Ford, GM and the other auto companies made billions of dollars from this cycle.  All of this fueled the boom that crashed spectacularly in 2008.  In the end, they got what they deserved for their greediness and collusion, right?  Oh, no, the US taxpayers bailed them out.

Very clever, those billion dollar corporations.

If you know Pittsburgh, you’ll recognize this:  it is the old downtown point district.  Dead and gone now with no one to mourn for it. And here the plan for the new.  There’s a new horizon looking toward the Allegheny, a new landscape, new towers, a new horizon. -1950s fake engineering reporter paid by Ford Motor Company

A new horizon for Pittsburgh!

“You can say that the American road going through Pittsburgh is being opened up, being made free.”
Yes, nothing better to put on your city’s most valuable real estate than ribbons of double-decker concrete highways.

A new horizon for Pittsburgh!

Another little story told was how the citizens rose up to get Route 128 built in Boston. (I am picturing the masses coming together with concrete trucks, rollers, diggers, construction helmets and millions of dollars to build this thing. Warms the heart.) It tells the story of the 1950s ideal in about one minute.

Leaving the new suburban house…

I can't believe how little this suburban house cost me!

Getting on the wide open (free! American!) road to peacefully go to work…

look at all this open road! it is as if they build it just for me!

Driving past ‘tiny boxes made of ticky-tacky’…

Houses spring up left and right - all because of this great highway. I bet those people are really happy!

Arriving at the factory which has been built next to the highway…

And here is where I work! Lucky for me, this type of job and lifestyle will never go away!

In the end, a valuable find in my search for how it all happened.