Word: nationalized
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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This is a tragic decline for a nation that emerged from the gas-rationing days of World War II with excellent mass transit. Ironically, the U.S. fell victim to postwar prosperity. As the economy began to boom, American life-styles changed dramatically. Instead of living in a city apartment and riding a trolley to work, people wanted a home in the suburbs and an auto or preferablly two. As a consequence, mass transit became caught in a vicious downward spiral: the more riders that were lost the worse the service became; in turn, bad service drove away additional riders...
Meanwhile, the powerful highway lobby- composed of the automakers oil companies, construction firms, Teamsters and building unions-exertred its enormous muscle to persuade Government to build more and more roads- until the nation became almost totally dependent on the auto and truck. Until the gas crisis began to hit home three months ago, 90% of all U.S. travel was done in private autos and 75% of all goods were carried in trucks...
...nation's two other relatively new subway-and-elevated train systems are having mixed results. Ridership has purted 15% in the past year on San Francisco-Oakland's seven-year-old BART system (for Bay Area Rapid Transit), but it las been able to handle the crowds efficiently. Washington's newer Metro has coped as best it could but still has too few cars to accommodate the mobs. Even before they leave the first station, trains often have standing room only. Metro also is ridden with bugs: brake defects have forced cars to be withdrawn from service...
...Encyclopedia takes a rigorously objective approach, offering no judgments of creed. The work is a unique reference owing to Melton's new material on what he calls the nation's "hidden religions," groups which lie outside the mainstream and are barely visible to outsiders: spiritualists, religious psychics, occultists and assorted "New Age" sects. Melton is convinced that America is as spiritual as it ever was, but that more people are becoming attached to the obscure faiths. Says Melton: "We are probably the most religious people-and the most diversely religious people-on earth...
...other ways, Wimbledon was as Wimbledon as ever. Banks of hydrangeas and geraniums were in dazzling bloom, and the usual profusion of red roses surrounded the members' enclosure at the All England Club. The tournament attracted record crowds, while the nation talked of virtually nothing else. True to form, the top seeds in the singles competition-Bjorn Borg and Martina Navratilova-moved relentlessly into the denouement of the fortnight-long pageant...