Transportation
The Invention of America's 'Love Affair' With the Automobile
One historian calls it a "masterstroke of public relations" made possible by a single 1961 television special.
A love of cars seems as fundamentally American as George Washington eating apple pie in a suburban McMansion financed with a subprime mortgage. But the chart below, which tracks the phrase "love affair with the automobile" in books across the 20th century, makes us wonder if this love was ever truly timeless. Though Americans drove and owned cars for the entirety of this period, there's no mention of a "love affair" in the public discourse until roughly 1960:
University of Virginia historian Peter Norton offers a more precise date for your consideration: October 22, 1961.