Albert
Gore, Sr., the Interstate Highway System,
and
the Modern South
 |
On November 9, Dr. Anthony J. Badger presented a public lecture before an audience of about 240 people on the subject "Albert Gore, Sr., the Interstate Highway System, and the Modern South." Dr. Badger is Paul Mellon Professor of American History at Cambridge University and Master of Clare College, Cambridge. His books include The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933-1940 and Prosperity Road: The New Deal, Tobacco, and North Carolina. |
| He has also co-edited a number of books on the civil rights movement, such as The Making of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement (with Brian Ward) and The Role of Ideas in the Civil Rights South (with Ted Ownby). He has written articles and given lectures in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States on US Southern political history, including the life and work of Albert Gore, Sr. Professor Badger is currently completing a biography of Albert Gore, Sr., with financial support from the Samuel Fleming Foundation, the Mellon Fund at Cambridge University, and the Albert Gore, Sr., Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University. |
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Albert Gore, Sr., (1907-1998) graduated from Middle Tennessee State Teachers College in 1932. He served as school superintendent for Smith County while attending the YMCA Law School in Nashville. In 1937, he married Pauline LaFon, a recent graduate of Vanderbilt Law School. They moved to Carthage, Tennessee, and started a law firm together. In 1938, Gore was elected to the United States House of Representatives for the 4th Congressional District. He served through 1952, when he was elected to the United States Senate, taking office in 1953. Gore held the Senate seat through 1970. During his 18-year tenure in the Senate, Gore was notable as a Southerner who was moderate on civil rights and who opposed the conflict in Vietnam. One of his most significant achievements, however, was his co-authorship, with George Fallon of Maryland, of the 1956 Federal-Aid Highways Act, which created the "National System of Interstate and Defense Highways." In the second half of the 20th century, interstate highways dramatically transformed the cultural and economic landscape of the South and the nation. The year 2006 marked the 50th Anniversary of the Interstate Highway System.
Many thanks to the following for their financial support of this event:
MTSU
Distinguished Lectures Fund
Albert
Gore, Sr., Research Center
Samuel
Fleming Foundation
Tennessee Department of Transportation
American
Democracy Project at MTSU
College
of Liberal Arts
Department
of History
Department
of Political Science
Concrete
Industry Management Program
Business
& Economic Research Center
