ABSTRACT
In 1906 Woodrow Wilson, while president of Princeton University, offered an opinion of the automobile that was common during its infancy. “Nothing has spread Socialistic feeling in this country more than the use of automobiles. To the countryman they are a picture of arrogance of wealth with all its independence and carelessness.” Just over a quarter-century later Adolf Hitler reflected the judgment of his age in pronouncing Wilson's verdict on the auto wrong. Hitler, an ardent disciple of Henry Ford, announced: “I have come to the conclusion that the motorcar, instead of being a class dividing element, can be the instrument for uniting the different classes, just as it has done in America, thanks to Mr Ford's genius.” In emulation of his hero, Hitler tried to bring automobility to his nation's masses by launching a massive highway construction project and beginning production of the “people's car,” the Volkswagen. 1
