FDR and Civil Aviation pp 135-162 | Cite as
Forming U.S. International Aviation Policy— December 1941–May 1943
Abstract
With entry into war, overseas U.S. air routes and a growing series of air bases proliferated in response to strategic demands. They were under military wartime management, but their potential for future peacetime use was never overlooked, and eventually, they prompted thoughts about postwar civil aviation. On the domestic front, the system was frozen in place with a CAB announcement on December 12, 1941, that it would not consider applications for new certificates of convenience and necessity. The existing system continued to operate smoothly within the well-established framework established by the 1938 Aeronautics Act, though now subject to overall direction by the secretary of state for war.2 In the war years, the only issues arising for the domestic airlines concerned their possible entry into international air commerce. However, following Pearl Harbor, all civil aviation policy issues were pushed aside. It was not until 1943 that they again came into high-level focus, and then international policy monopolized attention, though to imagine that what began to take shape was policy in the singular would be to ignore the fact that several positions vied for dominance. The problem was that this was largely virgin territory. Past and present practice did not provide adequate guidelines for the future, and conflicting arguments emerged from key figures within the administration, from Congress, and from influential opinion formers about what to do.
Keywords
Civil Aviation American Policy American Airline American Official Military SecurityPreview
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Notes
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