Dwight D Eisenhower Contributions towards the USA Revolution Research Paper

Dwight D Eisenhower Contributions towards the USA Revolution - Research Paper Example Later on in life, he was married and had a family of two sons, serving as the Chief of Staff in the Army during the presidency of Harry Truman. He ventured into politics in 1952 and won with a clear majority defeating Democrat candidate Adlai Stevenson, himself being a Republican. During his reign as the United States President, he oversaw many political and social changes with the help of Richard Nixon his Vice President. In his presidency the implementation of the Highway Act cannot be overlooked and its importance in the transformation of American infrastructure and commerce. The country before his reign president had experienced great transformations in the automobile sector and ownership of cars had increased necessitating new and well-maintained roads. His National System of the Interstate and defense Highways was a great innovation that helped in the transformation of America (Bennett 451). The new highway system, arguably the greatest public works project to be engaged in Ame rica in its History, aided the speed of transport. However, every great side has a dark shadow and so did his noble idea. The great highway system is directly linked to hindering growth of cities, destruction of neighborhoods, and greatly hurt the environment. The great Interstate Highway system had elements of being helpful and at the same time destructive as has been argued by historian Evan Bennett who raised a question as to whether the highways were to ruin or highways to heaven.The highway was constructed in pursuant to the 1956 Federal Act.... The highway was constructed in pursuant to the 1956 Federal Act on aid to highways, following major campaigns by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The highway forms the second longest road in the world with its present day 47,182 miles its first phase having taken 35 years for construction. The need for the highway at that time was rife following the unsafe roads that had numerous accidents and had recorded high numbers of deaths than before its inception. The President’s quest to have the road constructed was reinforced by the defense part, as there were great fears of the Cold War (Mumford 234). His belief and support for construction of new highways is traced back to 1919 when he joined the first United States Army’s Cross-Country Motor Transport Train. The team was on a mission to learn how motor vehicles would cross the country (Whitman 70). He attributed his vision of the highway from Germany, which had made him see the wisdom of broader ribbons across America inste ad of two-lane highways (Murphy 50). Dwight D. Eisenhower took immediate action upon assuming office, writing a proposal to Congress on the creation of transcontinental highway system (Murphy 50). He signed the act on highways into law on June 26, 1956 that provide for federal government funding of the project to a tune of 90%. The states in this case contributed only 10% of the funding. The immediate negative effects of the construction were the increases in gasoline and tire taxes to fund the project (Faber 26). The highway also saw the first standardization across states in America making the roads less dangerous than before the inception of the highway (Frissell 2). The highway system did not benefit the transport sector only, but had other economic effects on different sectors. Faster