History
The trucking industry has affected the political and economic history of the United States in the 20th century. Before the invention of automobiles, most freight was moved by train or horse-drawn vehicle.
Trucks were first used extensively by the military during World War I. With the increase in construction of paved roads, trucking began to achieve significant foothold in the 1930s. Public safety concerns made it necessary to implement various government regulations (such as the 1965, hours of service) rule (recently revised with a final rule compliance date of July 1, 3012) of how long drivers were allowed to work and drive each day/week. In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the Interstate Highway System, an extensive network of highways and freeways that linked major cities across the continent to increase national security. The addition of Interstate Highway System also made it possible for the trucking industry to grow substantially in the late '50's and early '60's and trucking has come to dominate the freight industry in the latter portion of the 20th Century.
Trucking achieved national attention during the 60s and 70s, when songs and movies about truck driving were major hits. Truck drivers participated in widespread strikes against the rising cost of fuel, during the energy crises of 1973 and 1979. President Jimmy Carter drastically deregulated the trucking industry with the passage of The Motor Carrier Act of 1980.
Read more about this topic: Trucking Industry In The United States
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“[Men say:] “Don’t you know that we are your natural protectors?” But what is a woman afraid of on a lonely road after dark? The bears and wolves are all gone; there is nothing to be afraid of now but our natural protectors.”
—Frances A. Griffin, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 19, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The basic idea which runs right through modern history and modern liberalism is that the public has got to be marginalized. The general public are viewed as no more than ignorant and meddlesome outsiders, a bewildered herd.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)