Question

assignments > detail
remarks at the signing of the highway beautification act
assigned by ida coats
due: feb 11, 2026 11:59 pm

1. intro 2. vocabulary 3. read 4. quiz 5. think 6. write

think
question 2
why does president johnson believe that the highway beautification act will restore national greatness? how will it achieve this goal? cite specific examples from the text to support your answer.

Explanation:

1. President Johnson frames the Highway Beautification Act as part of restoring national greatness by reversing the blight of roadside junkyards, billboards, and litter that he saw as marring the nation's natural beauty and symbolic identity. He tied the nation's physical landscape to its moral and cultural standing, arguing that a clean, beautiful environment reflected a proud, thriving country.
2. The act achieves this goal by targeting visual pollution: it restricted uncontrolled billboards along highways, required the removal of junkyards visible from roads, and funded roadside landscaping with native plants.
3. Specific examples from the text include his reference to "the ugliness that has been spread along our roadsides" (such as "billboards that blight the landscape" and "junkyards that scar the countryside") and his statement that the act will "make our highways a source of pride instead of a disgrace," turning them into "ribbons of beauty" that showcase America's natural splendor to citizens and visitors alike.

Answer:

President Johnson believed the Highway Beautification Act would restore "national greatness" by linking the nation's physical landscape to its collective pride and identity. He argued that the blight of unregulated billboards, junkyards, and litter along highways had tarnished America's natural beauty, which he viewed as a core part of the nation's greatness.

The act would achieve this goal by:

• Restricting large, unsightly billboards along federal highways
• Mandating the removal or screening of junkyards visible from roadways
• Funding the planting of native trees, shrubs, and greenery along highway corridors

Specific textual support includes his condemnation of "the ugliness that has been spread along our roadsides"—singling out billboards that "blight the landscape" and junkyards that "scar the countryside"—and his assertion that the act would transform highways into "ribbons of beauty" that reflect a nation that "cares about how it looks to the world and to itself."