"Americans will put up with anything provided it…

“Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn’t block traffic” is a saying that has been printed on many images. American journalist Dan Rather has been credited with the quotation since at least 1990.

Wikipedia: Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He was most recently managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel AXS TV. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9, 1981, to March 9, 2005. He also contributed to CBS’s 60 Minutes.

Google Books
The Fourth—and by Far the Most Recent—637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said
Compiled and edited by Robert Byrne
New York, NY: Atheneum
1990
Pg. ?:
455
Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn’t block traffic.
Dan Rather

6 December 1990, Chicago (IL) Sun-Times, “Kup’s Column” by Irv Kupcinet, pg. 50:
Dan Rather: “Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn’t block traffic.”

5 February 1992, St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch, Post Script, pg. 1, col. 1:
Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn’t block traffic.—Dan Rather

Google Books
Return of the Portable Curmudgeon
By Jon Winokur
New York, NY: Plume
1995, ©1992
Pg. 14:
Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn’t block traffic.
DAN RATHER

Independent (London, UK)
Inside Story: The wit and wisdom of Dan Rather
As America says goodbye to it’s most famous TV newsman, Ian Burrell charts his finest moments
Monday 29 November 2004 00:00 GMT
(...)
“Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn’t block traffic.”

Google Books
The 2,320 Funniest Quotes:
The Most Hilarious Quips and One-Liners from AllGreatQuotes.com
Compiled by Tom Corr
Berkeley, CA: Ulysses Press
2011
Pg. 39:
Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn’t block traffic.—Dan Rather

Google Books
American Wit and Wisdom:
Quips and Quotes in Celebration of the USA
By Michael Getz
Summersdale Publishers Ltd
2016
Pg. ?:
Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn’t block traffic.
Dan Rather