ABSTRACT
The introduction of new technologies to American society has historically been met with a blend of cynicism, trepidation and optimism. In the 19th century, New York Herald founder James Gordon Bennett said the telegraph would usher in great “revolutions and changes,”1 whereas others suggested telegraph wires would “induce cholera, stunt growth, or even rejuvenate the dead.”2 Early television was thought a menace, at least by its competitors. But by 1951, its effect on the social and economic habits of the nation was said to be “unparalleled since the advent of the automobile.”3
