For those who were around, albeit young, during the war on electric transit the hostility of the auto related interests was just a given. The AAA was one of their most effective tools arguing against tracks in the streets. A classic case in point was when a Cleveland city council member who opposed the streetcars was rewarded with a dealership by GM.

Of course the private street railway companies did not have a chance just as with the replacement privately owned bus operations. But public outfits like SF Muni could have done much better and probably would have without the anti-rail brainwashing. Note in Europe, with little to no oil deposits, electric rail fared much better postwar.

There is a personal angle for me in this. I remember all too well in the summer of 1960 an intense conversation I had with visiting Uncle Howard at my grandparents' house. Uncle Howard was a Johnstown PA councilman at the time and he was hell bent on getting rid of those damned streetcars I remember he complained they had to jackhammer out the rails on the new bridge, claiming they never should have let the Johnstown Traction Co. install them there a few years before. My grandparents were quietly smiling that a mere 15 year old would have the temerity to argue with him. He was a formidable opponent but I did my best to state the case for saving the streetcars. Of course he had the last laugh.

In more ways than one. They say when it comes to male pattern baldness look out for your maternal grandmother's brothers. Of course, that was Uncle Howard. And I got the chrome dome too.