I remember a school teacher explaining how we [the US] were going to make the switch soon. A healthy number of years later I realized nothing happened and wondered what was going on. Many years after that I used the "MPH/KPH" button in my vehicle as a form of useless rebellion.
Kinda, it wasn't shot down. The US actually started down the path of conversion. The real reason that US metrication failed was that conversion was voluntary. The UK went through a similar change but metrication was mandatory for all industries. In the US most businesses and industries just decided it cost too much to change so they didn't.
