by Earl Swift
[>] That warning was resounded ...: Philip B. Fleming speech of December 1, 1943, to AASHO (THM).
[>] FDR submitted the document...: "Message from the President," Interregional Highways. The war effort had diverted ...: Frederick Simpich, "U.S. Roads in War and Peace," National Geographic, December 1941.
[>] In the two years before...: MacDonald, 1943 address to AASHO (THM).
[>] They did so with little drama...: Transcript, MacDonald testimony to the House Subcommittee on Roads, which Richard Weingroff shared with me via e-mail.
[>] As one Public Roads official put it...: R. E. Royall letter and report to Robinson Newcomb of April 11, 1949 (Archives).
[>] America spent more...: "Our Transportation Mess," Fortune, November 1949.
[>] "If we are successful...": MacDonald, American Druggist, July 1946.
[>] The agency tried a number ...: Mertz; America's Highways; Weingroff, "Designating the Urban Interstates," http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/fairbank.cfm; Kemp, "Aesthetes and Engineers." See also "Proceedings of the Urban Highway Design Conference," Washington, DC, February 13–17, 1950 (Archives).
[>] "Each interviewer...": Weingroff, "Designating the Urban Interstates."
[>] Some of the coming construction...: MacDonald, "The Case for Urban Expressways," TAC, June 1947.
[>] MacDonald's boss, General Fleming ...: Mertz; Rose, Interstate: Express Highway Politics, 1941–1956; Richard Weingroff, "The Man Who Loved Roads," http://www.fhwa.dot .gov/infrastructure/trumanpr.cfm.
[>] That didn't, however, get them...: Mertz; Weingroff, "The Man Who Loved Roads."
[>] Framing the interstates...: Highway Needs of the National Defense (House Doc. 249, 81st Congress, 1st Session); Frank Turner, "Highways and National Defense," Military Engineer, July–August 1971.
[>] By the time they met...: Mertz.
[>] Nothing happened...: "Highways in a Mess: No Answer in Sight," Business Week, September 16, 1950; "Rougher Roads Ahead," US News, September 7, 1951; "Highways Run Losing Race with Traffic," Business Week, December 8, 1951; and "Good Highways: When?" US News, March 28, 1952.
[>] "On each such mile...": MacDonald's comment (originally delivered in a 1948 address) is quoted in "Highway Design and Safety," a paper prepared by the Automotive Safety Foundation for release on October 25, 1954 (FCT).
[>] With no federal help...: Myron Stearns, "The Great Toll-Road Mirage," Harper's, October 1947; "Auto Speedway or Parkway?" TAC, July 1949; Karl Schriftgiesser, "Builders of the Great Thruway," NYT Magazine, December 17, 1950; "New Jersey Turnpike," Fortune, September 1951; "Ohio's Super-Highway," Time, June 16, 1952; and "The Concrete Canal," Time, July 5, 1954.
[>] Metropolitan areas around...: "The San Diego Parkway," TAC, December 1947; "The Houston Expressway," TAC, November 1948; "Fort Worth Gets Expressway System," TAC, November 1949; "Kansas City Sees Expressways Preventing 1970 Traffic Jams," TAC, March 1952; "Kansas City's Downtown Story," TAC, April 1956; and "L.A.'s New Four-Level Intersection," Fortune, September 1951.
[>] Truman had awarded him...: September 13, 1946, Federal Works Agency news release (THM); American Highways, October 1946.
[>] Of even greater note ...: Fuller's personnel file; 2009 interviews with Lynda Weidinger.
[>] The Truman White House ...: "Fitness, Not Years," editorial, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, October 23, 1951.
Part III: The Crooked Straight, the Rough Places Plain
[>] Buckner's thirteen-page response ...: The report, complete with map, is available from the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum.
[>] But Eisenhower didn't know ...: Eisenhower memo of February 4, 1953, to Gabriel Hauge, The Presidential Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower XIV, Part 1, Chapter 1, Document 20, available online at http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/20.cfm.
[>] Exactly what was said...: Turner history interviews; Richard Weingroff, "Firing Thomas H. MacDonald—Twice," http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/firing.cfm.
[>] On paper, MacDonald's...: MacDonald letter of March 9, 1953, to Sinclair Weeks (THM).
[>] "I've just been fired...": Tom Lewis, Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways, Transforming American Life (New York: Viking, 1997).
[>] "Personally, I am awfully sorry...": Carl Vinson letter of March 27, 1953 (THM).
[>] John A. Anderson...: Anderson letter of October 21, 1953 (THM).
[>] Engineering News-Record saluted ...: "The 'Chief' Retires," ENR, April 9, 1953.
[>] On March 18...: Commerce Department announcement of appointment (FCT); interstate history interviews; Mertz; du Pont letter of May 18, 1953, to the Chief (THM).
[>] After finishing his last day...: The guest list for MacDonald's farewell dinner is included in his papers. Incidentally, it's been said that the Chief chose to travel to Texas by train, but in a September 22, 1953, letter to Iowa roads boss Fred White, he wrote that he "drove to Texas, stopping a few days at Hammond on route."
[>] An old friend there...: Gibb Gilchrist's long recruitment of MacDonald is described in the record of Texas A&M's Third Transportation Conference, on March 27, 1961; a copy was supplied to me by Lynda Weidinger.
[>] Even Herbert Fairbank...: Fairbank letter to MacDonald of May 2, 1953 (THM).
[>] Nixon had more: The vice president's speech to the governors (usually labeled the "Bolton Landing" address, after the conference center in which it occurred) is available in transcript form in the Archives. It's also discussed by Mertz, and by Weingroff in "Clearly Vicious as a Matter of Policy."
[>] It was only after a flurry ...: Conversations with Richard Weingroff; "Resolutions Adopted by the Governors' Conference, 46th Annual Meeting" (FCT). See also Edward T. Folliard, "D.C. Road Parley of Governors Seen," Washington Post and Times-Herald, July 14, 1954; and the "What's Going On" section of Better Roads, August 1954.
[>] Over the following month ...: Interagency Committee minutes (FCT).
[>] Lucius Clay, hawk-nosed ...: Richard Weingroff, "Lucius D. Clay: The President's Man," http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/Clay.cfm.
[>] Even Eisenhower found him ...: Ike diary entry of November 20, 1954, available at http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/1163 .cfm.
[>] Even at gatherings ...: My descriptions of Frank Turner's appearance, manner, and place in highway history were informed by America's Highways; David C. Oliver, "In Footsteps of a Giant: Francis C. Turner and Management of the Interstate," Transportation Quarterly, Spring 1994; Lewis Lord, "The Superhighway Superman," an essay included in "25 Shapers of the Modern Era," US News, December 27, 1999; Phil Patton, "Agents of Change," American Heritage, December 1994; Alan E. Pisarski, "The Frank Turner Story," and Bruce E. Seely, "Francis C. Turner, 'Father of the U.S. Interstate Highway System': An Historical Appreciation," TR News, March–April 2001; Bruce E. Seely, "Frank Turner: A Place in Transportation History," a paper presented at the Transportation Research Board annual meeting of January 11, 2000; Bill Wilson, "'Mr. Highways': A Legend Passes," Roads & Bridges, November 1999; and interviews with Turner colleagues and friends Alan Pisarski, Tom Deen, Peter Koltnow, Francis Francois, and Kevin Heunue.
[>] It was an unadorned upbringing ...: 2008 interviews with his daughter, Beverly Cooke, sons Marvin and Millard "Jim" Turner, and daughter-in-law Joann Turner; photos of the Powell Street house and the Turner children, provided to me by the family; Frank Turner, "Highways and Transit: A Partnership," speech delivered to the American Transit Association on October 6, 1971 (FCT). This section, and much of what follows about Turner, was also informed by the history interviews.
[>] The highway engineering curriculum...: Texas A&M 1929 catalog; Donna Howell, "Turner Paved Road to Success," Investor's Business Daily, August 8, 2002.
[>] The bureau's man impressed...: Thomas MacDonald letter to Turner of April 3, 1929; Turner reply of April 8, 1929 (both, FCT).
[>] When he left ...: A&M's reorientation to
Texas Route 6 is described on a plaque on the campus's Jack K. Williams Administration Building.
[>] A quarter century later...: Beverly Cooke interviews; reports of his various investigations (FCT).
[>] "We would sit on the side...": History interviews.
[>] In December 1930...: Cooke interviews. Turner's yearbook is on file at the Fort Worth Public Library.
[>] In the summer of 1933...: History interviews, particularly that with Stolzenbach (FCT).
[>] The bosses took notice...: Turner personnel file (FCT).
[>] An army of soldiers...: Heath Twichell, "Cut, Fill and Straighten: The Role of the Public Roads Administration in the Building of the Alaska Highway," The Alaska Highway: Papers of the 40th Anniversary Symposium (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1985); "The Alaska Highway" (Report No. 1705, 79th Congress, 2nd session); M. C. Sutherland-Brown, "The Alaska Highway in Canada—10 Years Later," Better Roads, April 1956; and Harold W. Richardson, "Alcan—America's Glory Road," ENR, December 17 and 31, 1942, and January 14, 1943. Turner's assignment to the project is documented by a March 11, 1943, memo from Cap Curtiss to C. E. Swain (FCT).
[>] It wasn't long before ...: Turner memo of August 28, 1943, to J. L. Humbard (FCT); transcript, September 1, 1943, telephone exchange between army major W. H. Harvie and Public Roads' J. S. Bright (FCT); Humbard memo to the Chief of September 4, 1943 (FCT).
[>] Three weeks later ...: Humbard memo to Bright of September 13, 1943.
[>] Few people called the camp ...: History interviews.
[>] The family's hut ...: 2008 interviews with Turner's children.
[>] And camp life...: Turner memo to the Chief of November 7, 1945 (FCT).
[>] In December 1944...: Interviews with Turner's children. Turner's weight and height are documented in his BPR medical records (FCT).
[>] Frank Turner proved so...: Major Harvie letter to the Chief of July 24, 1944; Cap Curtiss memo to C. E. Swain of July 31, 1944; Swain, August 1, 1944, memo to Curtiss; and MacDonald, August 4, 1944, letter to Harvie (FCT).
[>] By the end of the year...: Turner letter to R. E. Royall of November 23, 1944.
[>] That winter, despite...: Turner memo to the Chief of March 27, 1945 (FCT).
[>] The job finished...: Interviews with Turner's children.
[>] He had to "rebuild...": Frank Turner, "Engineers Are Essential to Our Present-Day Civilization," convocation speech delivered to Filipino student engineers on February 21, 1948, supplied to me by Beverly Cooke.
[>] Turner recruited a force ...: Turner's efforts to secure engineers, office space, and housing are described in a voluminous correspondence with BPR headquarters, and in meeting minutes of the Rehabilitation Agencies Committee in Manila (Archives). Beverly Cooke supplied me with a map of Sea Frontier, the Quonset village; she and her brothers provided me with a detailed picture of life there, as did Turner family friend Gay Wilkes of Austin, Texas.
[>] On or off duty...: Turner letter to the Chief of July 21, 1948; Turner memo of June 29, 1948, to the U.S. embassy (Archives).
[>] In October 1948...: Turner letter of October 29, 1948, to Isaias Fernando, the Philippines' director of public works (Archives).
[>] In one of his son Jim's...: 2008 interview with Jim Turner.
[>] Again, he excelled ...: Letters and resolutions praising Turner's leadership are in the FCT papers.
[>] Beneath his diffident exterior ...: Diaries of Frank and Jim Turner, supplied to me by Beverly Cooke.
[>] At about this point ...: My account of the condemnation runs counter to that of several histories, and to Frank Turner's own recollection in a number of interviews; all place the incident years later, during the construction of I-35W through Fort Worth. As Turner told it (some of the time, anyway), his mother asked whether he could stop the coming highway, to which he supposedly replied: "I can but I won't."
Good stuff, and probably in character—but fiction. The senior Turners lost their house not to the interstate program but years before, at a point in their son's career when he might have been able to stop or reroute a highway, but only in the Philippines. Texas Highway Department records from May 1949 show that the Turners' Colvin property, a corner double lot, lay in the right of way for the new North-South Expressway then planned in Fort Worth. County assessment records show they sold the place to the city on August 16, 1949.
Their neighbors didn't sell until months later, so it's possible the Turners weren't out of the house before Frank and family returned from overseas. If not, this scene must have occurred—and Frank's children insist that it did take place—while he was on a visit to the States. Whatever the case, the anecdote dates to this period.
[>] Years later, Frank Turner ...: Videotaped interview of Frank Turner for an in-house FHWA television program, Third Friday Report. Richard Weingroff loaned me his copies of both the raw interview and the finished program, which aired on March 17, 1993.
[>] Turner also described ...: Lee Geistlinger, "First Person: Frank Turner," Roads & Bridges, June 1996.
[>] So it happened that the committee ...: Message from the President of the United States Relative to a National Highway Program (House Doc. 93, 84th Congress, 1st Session). See also Mertz; Rose, Interstate: Express Highway Politics, 1941–1956; Richard Weingroff, "Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956: Creating the Interstate System," at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/96summer/p96su10.cfm; Seely, "Francis C. Turner: Father of the U.S. Interstate Highway System"; "Coast to Coast on Four-Lane Highways," US News, January 21, 1955; "Sharp Curve Ahead?" Newsweek, January 24, 1955; "We've Been Asked: About Financing Road Plan," US News, January 28, 1955; "More U.S. Aid, but What Kind?" Business Week, February 26, 1955; Dero A. Saunders, "Those Expensive Highways," Fortune, May 1955.
[>] Successive drafts ...: FCT papers.
[>] Had Turner's contributions ...: Du Pont letter to Turner of December 25, 1954 (FCT).
[>] But as predicted ...: "Here's Ike's Highway Plan," US News, March 4, 1955; Raymond Moley, "The Clay Highway Plan," Newsweek, March 21, 1955; "Dead End for the U.S. Highway," Life, May 30, 1955; and "A Well-Botched Job," Time, June 6, 1955.
[>] The new chairman ...: "Highway Plan Draws Both Cheers, Criticism," ENR, January 20, 1955.
[>] Criticism bubbled up ...: Weeks's criticism is contained in two pages of typed comment he handed to du Pont at the White House on January 24, 1955, according to a handwritten notation on the document (FCT).
[>] Byrd's testimony ...: Congressional Record. Mertz quotes several passages.
[>] Among Clay's defenders ...: Automotive Safety Foundation daily congressional update for March 22, 1955 (FCT).
[>] Tall, bespectacled ...: Conversations with Richard Weingroff; Weingroff, "Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956."
[>] Du Pont hurried to his own office ...: Pisarski, "The Frank Turner Story."
[>] "Legislation to provide ...": State of the Union, at http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/All_About_Ike/Speeches/Speeches.html.
[>] Indeed, travel had jumped ...: Thomas B. Dimmick, "Traffic and Travel Trends, 1955," Public Roads, December 1956.
[>] Authorize the system ...: Ike's budget message is available from the American Presidency Project, at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu.
[>] But much was happening...: Mertz; conversations and e-mail exchanges with Weingroff; Weingroff, "Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956"; Rose, Interstate: Express Highway Politics, 1941–1956.
[>] The following week...: Ibid.; John Provan letter of March 24, 1983, outlining the fund's chronology (FCT).
[>] He'd eventually won a seat...: "Albert Gore Sr. Recalls Fight for Interstate Highway Bill," Bristol Herald-Courier, June 16, 1996.
[>] Again, Treasury Secretary Humphrey...: Mertz; Weingroff, "Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956"; Rose, Interstate: Express Highway Politics, 1941–1956.
[>] Eisenhower was back...: "Ike's Illness—the Political Meaning," Newsweek, June 18, 1956.
[>] "Mr. Turner comple
ted...": Performance review of May 2, 1956, covering Turner's activities from April 1955 to March 1956 (FCT). See also Bruce E. Seely, "Frank Turner and the Interstate," APWA Reporter, June 2006.
Cap Curtiss, now the bureau's ...: "No More Traffic Jams?" Q&A, US News, July 20, 1956.
[>] Even before the final...: BPR "Experience and Qualifications Statement" of September 26, 1956 (FCT).
[>] Turner later dismissed...: History interviews.
[>] Big deal or no...: Mertz; conversations and e-mail exchanges with Richard Weingroff. See also "The National Highway Program—a Challenge to Cities," TAC, August 1956; and "How Freeways Will Break Traffic Bottlenecks of Big Cities," US News, September 14, 1956.
[>] It didn't take long...: "They're Quickest on the Draw in the Highway-Building Program," Business Week, August 18, 1956; and "Road-Building Program Gets Off to a Flying Start," Business Week, August 25, 1956.
[>] He decided it might goose...: Mertz; America's Highways.
[>] That October, word came...: "In 13 Years... 50 Billions to Spend," US News, October 26, 1954.
[>] The tall, mustachioed...: "New Yorker Heads U.S. Roads Program," Washington Post and Times-Herald, October 13, 1956.
[>] For the interim ...: Mertz; America's Highways.
[>] As an official description ...: BPR, "Experience and Qualifications Statement" for Turner, January 22, 1962.
[>] As the first concrete ...: "U.S. Sets Standards for New Highways," NYT, July 22, 1956; BPR Policy and Procedure Memorandum 20–4, August 10, 1956 (FCT).
[>] One New Mexico official ...: Robert Conradt, "Identify Interstate Highways with Letters," Better Roads, March 1957.
[>] On the same day they unveiled ...: "Adopt Interstate Sign and Numbering Plan," Better Roads, October 1957; "New Markers to Designate Routes," NYT, September 27, 1957.
