In the 1950s, a frenzy of modernisation and a growing post-World War II population and economy were leading to the wholesale destruction of historical places in the United States. Modernisation threatened to destroy what was best and most worth keeping of the past. As a result of this concern, the U.S. Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), signed into law by President Johnson on 15 October 1966. NHPA created the national preservation structure that has saved untold thousands of places that make our communities richer economically, culturally, and aesthetically. This book examines the history of historic preservation and its importance to the country.