<P> In some instances, the automotive industry and others were directly responsible for the decline of public transportation . The Great American streetcar scandal saw GM, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California, Phillips Petroleum, Mack Trucks and other companies purchase a number of streetcars and electric trains in the 1930s and 1940s, such that 90 percent of city trolleys had been dismantled by 1950 . It was argued that this was a deliberate destruction of streetcars as part of a larger strategy to push the United States into automobile dependency . In United States v. National City Lines, Inc., many were found guilty of antitrust violations . The story has been explored several times in print, film and other media, for example in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Taken for a Ride and The End of Suburbia . </P> <P> The automobile unions played a leading role in advancing the cause of women's rights . In 1955, the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) organized the UAW Women's Department to strengthen women's role in the union and encourage participation in the union's elected bodies . In a move that was met with some hostility by Teamsters leaders, the U.S. Division of Transport Personnel had in 1943 instructed Teamsters Union officials that women should be allowed full employment as truck drivers . That proved to be only a temporary wartime measure, but a change of heart among Teamsters leadership by the mid-1950s led to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 . Women in the auto industry were considered leaders in the movement for women's rights . </P> <P> The increasing popularity of hot rodding cars (modifying them to increase performance) is reflected in part by the creation of special - interest magazines catering to this culture . Hot Rod is the oldest such magazine, with first editor Wally Parks, and founded by Robert E. Petersen in 1948, with original publication by his Petersen Publishing Company . Hot Rod has licensed affiliation with Universal Technical Institute . </P> <P> The relative abundance and inexpensive nature of the Ford Model T and other cars from the 1920s to 1940s helped fuel the hot rod culture that developed, which was focused on getting the most linear speed out of these older automobiles . The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear, but the culture blossomed in the post-war culture of the 1950s . </P>

Which decade was the most significant one for moving the car into mainstream north american culture