Thirty years ago, we as a nation committed ourselves to clean air within a few years. Today, we are still talking about achieving clean air but now in the next century. Does it take forty years to reach clean air? Will we ever get there? Why have we repeatedly failed to meet our clean air commitments? Clean air programs did not just begin in the late 1960s and early 1970s following the national Clean Air Act. Many cities operated `smoke abatement' programs starting in the early 1900s. While some embryonic results came out of California and elsewhere between 1947 and 1967, in general the Nations air only got dirtier until the 1970s. It was the environmental revolution of the 1960s that put us on today's more aggressive path. The Clean Air Act of 1970 called for clean air by 1975. The Clean Air Act of 1977 called for clean air by 1987. The Clean Air Act of 1990 is calling for clean air by 2010. Each successive Clean Air Act and subsequent failure pointed out flaws in the nations clean air process. The failure to achieve clean air as expected comes down to four important issues. One, the complex SIP planning process has for the most part been a failure. Two, almost no significant lifestyle change that would improve air quality has been achieved. Three, a succession of ethical failures by businesses and regulatory agencies has significantly mitigated progress. And four, when all is said and done, it is technological solutions that have provided the clean air success realized to date. These technological solutions will likely define the success that is to be achieved in the future.