Last week we told you the story of the pretty amazing cross country mission that Dwight Eisenhower and a large group of US Army soldiers took across the United States in 1919. It was a way to evaluate the transportation of the country, evaluate vehicles that the US Army was considering adding to their fleet, and evaluating what it would be like to move and army, even a small one, over great distances and varied terrain. In short, it was terrible. Two months, an average speed of 6mph, and more broken junk than you can imagine left a heck of an impression on one of the most important historical figured of the 20th century. That story was great but what is even cooler is seeing the notes that Eisehhower himself made during the trip and then added to his final report when it was all said and done.
Written in a pretty professional and dispassionate way for his military superiors, there are some fun lines to check out. For instance his advice on who should be able to drive: As stated before in this paper, it is believed the M.T.C. should pay more attention to disciplinary drills for officers and men, and that all should be intelligent, snappy soldiers before giving them the responsibility of operating trucks. In fewer words, “don’t give the keys to an idiot.”
There is a whole section about the mechanical problems that they saw, which tires worked best, and which vehicles actually functioned and which didn’t. There are some which were apparently abandoned during the adventure when they could not carry on. Lest you think this was all just heavy duty stuff, there were Packards, Cadillacs, and even motorcycles on this trip. Yes, it was a great way to kill two birds with one stone.
The first was checking on the condition of the roads and the second one was to evaluate as many cars and trucks for military service as was humanly possible. Eisenhower’s notes on both of those subjects are very fun to read and can be see by clicking the link below.
His ideas, philosophies, and thoughts which creep through the notes all came to the fore when the debate over the national highway system kicked up and Ike championed it right to the end. Not that we wouldn’t have had a national highway system otherwise but the amazing one that we have wouldn’t be nearly as good had ol’ Eisenhower hadn’t slogged his way from coast to coast in 1919. This is great!
CLICK HERE TO READ THE HISTORIC NOTES FROM IKE!
