BRATTLEBORO — Soon after becoming President of the United States in January of 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed that the federal government build a $50 billion Interstate Highway System. Eisenhower had seen the German Autobahn while fighting raged in Germany during WWII. The United States needed a similar system to unite remote areas of the country and connect major cities. It could also be used to move America’s military forces throughout the country, and its construction would provide jobs and bring economic prosperity. Automobile tourism would enrich outlying areas, and a comfortable suburban life would become possible for the working class. This was the thinking that led to the Interstate Highway System – today known as the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System.