In 1913, Carl Fisher proposed the “Coast to Coast Rock Highway,” and automobile and tire company executives quickly joined the effort to put America on wheels. At the inaugural meeting on July 1, 1913, newly elected president Henry Joy proposed dedicating the highway to the martyred Abraham Lincoln, giving Americans nationwide a cause to rally behind. A highly successful marketing campaign persuaded the public and eventually the federal government that better roads were needed, and the Road Act of 1916 provided seed money for road improvement. The Federal Highway Act of 1921 reflected the need for an interstate road network and provided $75 milion in funding to state highway departments. The Lincoln Highway became the most famous road in America and stood as the first successful, all-weather, coast-to-coast automobile highway, created through the vision and perseverance of entrepreneurs at a time when growing automobile use made muddy, treacherous, broken-down, and often impassable roads increasingly intolerable.