Al Gore did not say “I invented the internet.” For details, see Snopes. But there is a spin on the story that came up in office chat this morning and which nobody, to my knowledge, has made much of. So à propos of nothing at all, I surface it here.
Forget about the internet. The subject for the moment is the interstate—more precisely, the interstate highway system that transformed the nation in the 50s. It’s customary to think of the interstate as a child of the Eisenhower administration and hence, a child of President Eisenhower. This is insufficiently nuanced. There was, of course, a “highway lobby”—car companies and oil companies and construction companies who figured to profit from a vast new public construction boondoggle. But old-fashioned fiscal conservatives were not with them: old fashioned fiscal conservatives thought the interstate was a terrible idea.
Why? Oh, who knows, exactly. Maybe the thought it would destroy the motherhood-and-apple-pie
The breakthrough came on the initiative of one hard-working, imaginative, wonky senator, who convinced the lobby they would get their project only if they made it self-financing. Hence the “highway trust fund,” funded out of gas taxes, which paid 90 percent of the cost (states paid the other 10 percent).
And who is this far-sighted policy wonk? Glad you asked, but perhaps you are ahead of me on this one: it was Al Gore—senior that is, himself a Senator from
So Al Gore does not, and did not, claim to have invented the internet. But Al Gore does have a pretty good claim to have invented the interstate. There, I guess that clears up all the confusion, right? Right?
Footnote on Ancient History: It’s hard to believe now, but not everyone wanted the interstate, even after it was funded.
Sources: I gasp at Google. It took me about 10 seconds to find this. Papa Gore’s Wiki is here; the interstate gets a cameo. The Wiki page on the interstate notes the full name: Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (link). The wiki says that Eisenhower “championed” the system; it does not mention Gore.
Curious Footnote: Oddly, the Snopes entry on "invented the internet" (supra) mentions the interstate parallel, but doesn't mention papa's role.
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