Based on a speech by General Motors vice-president in charge of public relations, Paul Garrett, this booklet only briefly explains why GM built (or had built for it) the Train of Tomorrow. The company’s goal, says the second paragraph, wasn’t really to produce “the Train of Tomorrow” but “a Train of Tomorrow.” In other words, “the Train of Tomorrow is a research project,” says page 6, whose main goal was “to suggest ideas and stimulate others” that will produce “more and better products that strengthen and broaden our economy.” Hardly mentioned was the real reason, which was to promote its passenger Diesel locomotives.
Click image to download a 5.0-MB PDF of this 24-page booklet.
Rather than say any more about why GM built the Train of Tomorrow, much of the booklet is devoted to an explanation of the free-enterprise system and how “grass roots planning” is superior to “planning from the top.” This was probably in recognition of the fact that the country was, at the time, being challenged by another superpower whose entire raison d’etre was planning from the top.
This was obviously written BEFORE GM was “too big to fail!”