American life before 1950 felt nothing like American life feels now,and a big reason is those three changes that took place in the second half of the 20th century,which has had the most lasting impact on our lives today.
1.The building of the interstates(州际公路).
2.The covering of the United States with coasttocoast television.
3.The introduction and spread of the Internet.
Before the interstates were constructed,even a trip within an individual state often took considerable planning;twolane roads,dangerous and slow,were common.The interstates tore down the invisible walls around US towns.President Eisenhower was in favor of building the interstates,because he believed that,in a time of war,they would be helpful in moving troops and supplies.But their immediate effect was to make Americans feel that certain doors had been unlocked.With the interstates came a sense of freedom:A person could drive anywhere—everywhere—easily.Suddenly,horizons were unlimited.“Local”didn’t mean quite the same thing it used to.Getting away was effortless.
The introduction of national television meant that for the first time in history,people in every corner of the country were watching exactly the same thing at exactly the same moment.It connected the country,in a way that even network radio hadn’t accomplished,and it was because of the quality of the TV pictures.As with the interstates,coasttocoast television was a cure to separation.Those who ran the newly formed television networks had an enormous amount of power.Their decisions about what to put on the air determined what people would be talking about the next day.They controlled what people would laugh at and when,what people would cry over and when,what would anger people and when it would anger them.
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