Development of a futuristic technology programme: How the aerospace industry (almost) transformed ground transportation in the United States (1960–1972) (June 2022)
James K Cohen (Author)
The Journal of Transport History
Volume: 43
Issue: 1
Pages: 82-106
Edition Details: Issue Theme: Contributions to the post-World War II History of High-Speed Ground Transport in the United States
Language: English
After a long policy development process under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, the High-Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965 was enacted. Section One of the Act called for developing futuristic ground transport systems with, for example, high-speed vehicles floating on cushions of air over specialised guideways and inside vacuum tubes. These unconventional technologies were conceived and promoted by aerospace companies and military agencies that exercised increasing influence within the federal government after World War II. During the implementation of the 1965 Act, contractors such as Grumman Aerospace made tangible progress towards a prototype air-cushion system. However, just when it was ready for testing, President Nixon changed course and terminated the Section One programme in 1972. An important lesson derived from this generally unknown chapter in American transport history is that the promotion of futuristic technologies by powerful corporations creates seductive, but often perilous choices for governments.
...MoreArticle James Cohen (June 2022) Contributions to the post-World War II History of High-Speed Ground Transport in the United States. The Journal of Transport History (pp. 3-10).
Similar Citations
Article
Jonathan English;
(June 2022)
Getting Off Track: the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project in an International Context
(/isis/citation/CBB445982889/)
Book
Jerry Prout;
(2022)
Chasing Automation: The Politics of Technology and Jobs from the Roaring Twenties to the Great Society
(/isis/citation/CBB556042894/)
Article
Jonathan Michael Feldman;
(June 2022)
High-speed rail and barriers to innovation: The Budd Company and the limits of US indirect industrial policy in the 1960s and 1970s
(/isis/citation/CBB461199203/)
Book
Carlton Reid;
(2015)
Roads Were Not Built for Cars: How Cyclists Were the First to Push for Good Roads & Became the Pioneers of Motoring
(/isis/citation/CBB605461230/)
Article
James Longhurst;
(June 2021)
“Such business will be impossible”: Mitsubishi Trading Company and the roles of design and tariff policy in the American bicycle market (1933–1938)
(/isis/citation/CBB786744526/)
Book
D. N. M. Starkie;
(2019)
The Motorway Age: how post-war governments responded to rapid traffic growth
(/isis/citation/CBB942360822/)
Article
Colin Pooley;
(August 2021)
Walking spaces: Changing pedestrian practices in Britain since c. 1850
(/isis/citation/CBB532227056/)
Article
Yasushi Sato;
(2022)
Macro Historical Trends of the Structure of Science and Technology in the United States after World War II
(/isis/citation/CBB894444934/)
Article
Martin Emanuel;
(June 2019)
From Victim to Villain: Cycling, Traffic Policy, and Spatial Conflicts in Stockholm, circa 1980
(/isis/citation/CBB821111319/)
Book
Gérard Duc;
Olivier Perroux;
Hans-Ulric Schiedt;
François Walter;
(2014)
Histoire des transports et de la mobilité: entre concurrence modale et coordination (de 1918 à nos jours) = Transport and mobility history: between modal competition and coordination (from 1918 to the present)
(/isis/citation/CBB509643575/)
Book
Bess, Michael K.;
(2017)
Routes of compromise: building roads and shaping the nation in Mexico, 1917-1952
(/isis/citation/CBB461230369/)
Book
Candacy A. Taylor;
(2020)
Overground railroad : The Green Book and the roots of Black travel in America
(/isis/citation/CBB999795465/)
Article
Farley, Tom;
(Winter 2007)
The Cell Phone Revolution
(/isis/citation/CBB729065131/)
Article
Thomson, Ross;
(2012)
The Government and Innovation in the United States: Insights from Major Innovators
(/isis/citation/CBB001211688/)
Book
Gretchen Sullivan Sorin;
(2020)
Driving while Black : African American travel and the road to civil rights
(/isis/citation/CBB659523141/)
Book
Michael Ra-shon Hall;
(2021)
Freedom beyond confinement: travel and imagination in African American cultural history and letters
(/isis/citation/CBB148156098/)
Book
Linda Weiss;
(2014)
America Inc.? Innovation and Enterprise in the National Security State
(/isis/citation/CBB377513770/)
Book
Lamoreaux, Naomi R.;
Sokoloff, Kenneth Lee;
(2007)
Financing Innovation in the United States, 1870 to the Present
(/isis/citation/CBB000774188/)
Book
Field, Alexander J;
(2011)
A Great Leap Forward: 1930s Depression and U.S. Economic Growth
(/isis/citation/CBB001421343/)
Article
Holland, Kevin J.;
(Spring/Summer 2009)
Amtrak’s F40PH
(/isis/citation/CBB427622974/)
Be the first to comment!