Take an Automobile and American Life Exam!!!

HST 344

Exam 1 -- February 14 -- Dr. Heitmann       Name_____________________________________________

I Objective questions.  Answer all 20 of the following with the best answer possible. (40 pts.)

1. All of the following BUT ONE made important contributions to the 19th century bicycle industry that served as a forerunner to the automobile: a) Kirkpatrick Macmillan; b) James Starley; c) Nicholas Joseph Cugnot; d) John Kemp Starley.

2. Of the following, what person has the best claim to the invention of the automobile:  a) Etienne Lenoir); b) John Boyd Dunlop; c) Karl Benz; d) James Laux.

3. The county that was the leader in automobile production during the pioneer era to 1908 was: a) Germany; b) France; c) Italy; d) Great Britain.

4. All of the following but ONE was a disadvantage associated with steam-powered cars: a) a relatively new technological system b) slow start up time; c) high cost; d) need to replenish water.

5. Name the car made in Cleveland that Horatio Nelson Jackson used on his historical transcontinental trip of 1903. ________________________

6.  Due to the encouragement he received while developing his Quadricycle, Henry Ford felt indebted to this great inventor -- "the most useful American." _____________________________

7. This man authored Principles of Scientific Management in 1911, consequently the basis of the field of industrial engineering. He believed that work on the shop floor could be done "one best way." _____________________________

8.  In response to worker turnover and criticisms concerning the "degradation of labor," in 1913 Henry Ford responded by paying his workers _____________dollars per day.

9. This muckraking author wrote a story of one Ford Motor Company family's vicissitudes through the years from 1908 to 1937, highlighting the dark side of Henry Ford: a) Joseph Conrad; b) Booth Tarkington; c) Caroline Merithew; d) Upton Sinclair.

10. The National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, passed by Congress in 1919, was also known as the: a) Hoover Act; b) Dyer Act; c) Carter Act; d) Blues Brothers Act.

11. This Flint speculator and businessman is normally given credit for the founding General Motors. __________________________________

12.  Inventor and businessman, this Ohio State electrical engineering graduate developed the self starter and integrated ignition system. __________________________________

13. He was the consummate organization man who was most responsible for GM's organization plan of the early 1920s, for the decentralized multi-divisional organizational structure, and consequently the sustained profitability of the firm until his retirement in 1956. _____________________________

14. This burley Californian and designer played a lead role at GM between 1927 and 1958 in fostering the concept of "keeping the customer dissatisfied." ______________________________

15. Walter Chrysler and the corporation named after him acquired this auto manufacturer during the 1920s to add production capacity: a) the Rickenbacker Motor Car Company; b) the Graham-Paige Motor Car Company ; c) Dodge Brothers Corporation; d) The Jordan Motor Car Company.

16. All of the following groups but one proved to lobby for good roads at the end of the 19th century:  a) railroads; b) advocates for rural free postal delivery; c) bicycle enthusiasts; d) farmers.

17.  A group of businessmen led by Carl Graham Fischer mounted a campaign beginning in 1913 to develop a transcontinental highway link, now known as US 30, but then called the ______________________ Highway.

18.  Of all undivided highways constructed during the Interwar Years, one in particular stands out as the "Mother Road," in large part due to John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. It is _____________________.

19. What tax was the primary means by which the federal government raised funds for highway construction after 1921? ____________________________

20. Built in Europe beginning in the 1920s, these divided roads predated and severed as a model for Adolph Hitler's 1930s Autobahnen. ________________________________ 

HST 344 Exam 1 Essay Question

Since the publication of On the Road, a venerable mountain of critical literature has been generated on  the author’s intended themes.  The most recent views that have been discussed are those of John Leland, author of Why Kerouac Matters:  The Lessons of On the Road (they’re not what you think).   Leland asks the reader to focus on Sal Paradise (Kerouac’s character), rather than on Dean Moriarity (Neal Cassady).  Leland argues that Sal provides the reader with something they can use, like The Road Less Traveled or The Purpose Driven Life. He goes on:

“Sal’s lessons divide among four overlapping fields, each unsettled in the postwar boom.  America had emerged from the war with half the world’s wealth and nearly two thirds of its machines, and with destructive capabilities unmatched in history. It was creating suburbs, television, organization men, nuclear families, the car culture, Brando, McCarthy, and Rock and Roll.  Amid this tumult, Sal navigates distinctive paths through the men’s world of work, money and friendship; the domestic turf of love, sex and family; the artist’s realm of storytelling, improvisation and rhythm; and the spiritual world of revelation and redemption.  His lessons in all four areas remain relevant today – any reader picking up the book for the first time can apply them to questions that are new to him or her as they were to Sal.”

What lessons emerge after reading the book, and why are they important to you?