Postwar Suburbia Trivia

Postwar Suburbia Trivia

Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge

By 1950, the same assembly-line methods that had turned out an airplane every five minutes during World War II were being used to build almost four new houses per minute.31

In 1956, Time magazine called color TV "the most resounding industrial flop" of the year.32

Harry S. Truman was the first American president to give a televised speech. In the address, which aired live on October 9th, 1947, President Truman spoke to the nation about the world food crisis and proposed meatless Tuesdays and eggless Thursdays.33

Though the Levitt Corporation had been built on the notion that Americans should neither rent nor live in cities, William Levitt himself rented a 12-room apartment in Manhattan, New York.

One inspiration for the modern American highway, the German Autobahn, had four divided lanes, no traffic lights, and no exit or entrance ramps. It was used by U.S. Army troops to pursue Hitler's army to Berlin.

Though he declared "we live in a motorized civilization," city planner and ardent highway advocate Robert Moses never learned to drive.34