Johnson signs the first federal auto safety law; Detroit will now answer to Washington

Cars on American roads had multiplied elevenfold since 1925; the death toll from them had grown six times over. On September 9, 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act alongside the companion Highway Safety Act. For the first time, the federal government claimed authority to write mandatory safety standards for every car sold in interstate commerce. A new federal bureau would enforce them, and the shape of the American automobile changed with it…