W. David Lewis. Executives and Federal Regulation: Case Studies in American Enterprise from the Airmail Era to the Dawn of the Jet Age. Historical Perspectives on Business Enterprise, Mansel G. Blackford and K. Austin Kerr, Editors. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2000. xi + 379 pp. $60.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-8142-0833-5.

Reviewed by Scott E. Tarry

Published on EH.Net (October, 2000)

W. David Lewis and his colleagues have pro‐ nomic environment that confronted America's duced a collection of studies that will be useful to early airline executives. This information is espe‐ both the historian interested in the evolution of cially important to the reader who understands America's air transport system and the contempo‐ today's air transport industry, but may not fully rary student of air transport who is looking for a appreciate the rather tenuous beginnings of air better understanding of the industry's contempo‐ travel in this country. Lewis provides some indica‐ rary challenges and opportunities. The studies, tion of what might be found in each of the subse‐ which focus on individual airline executives, are quent case analyses and also provides at least a well written and informative. The biographical general framework for thinking about relation‐ accounts in themselves would be interesting to ship between government and frm. students of aviation history, but the way in which The studies cover an impressive range of air‐ Lewis and the other contributors weave the bi‐ lines and individuals. From Eddie Rickenbacker, ographies together with an exploration of the reg‐ who rose from a working class background to be‐ ulatory and political processes that shaped the come an American hero and eventually the head American air transport industry in its formative of Eastern , to Robert Peach, who used his years makes this book attractive to a much broad‐ entrepreneurial spirit and legal training to build, er audience. The book is worth reading because it against considerable odds, Mohawk Airlines into a shows how the individual characteristics and per‐ serious regional carrier. In both cases, the au‐ sonal choices of these airline executives shaped in thors, Lewis and William M. Leary, respectively, no small way their ability to work within the reg‐ show how Eastern and Mohawk benefted from ulatory framework governed by the Civil Aero‐ their leaders forceful leadership and willingness nautics Board (CAB). to take risks. Both authors also explain how the In his introduction to the volume, Lewis gives politics of the regulatory process and Rickenback‐ a nice overview of the political, social, and eco‐ er's unwillingness to play the political game and H-Net Reviews

Peach's predicament as the head of a small carrier promoting collusion among established carriers. eventually forced both men from the airline busi‐ While the airlines continued in the industry by ness. simply changing their names and ending their af‐ The accounts of Continental's Robert Six, fliations with aircraft manufacturers, individual Northwest's Donald Nyrop, and American's C.R. company leaders like Hann were excluded from Smith are well written explorations of three suc‐ participating in the growth and development of cess stories in the American airline industry. De‐ the industry they helped to found. Finally, Roger spite diferent styles, political connections, and at‐ Launius's study of Orvis M. Nelson provides an titudes towards government, each of these men entertaining look at an entrepreneur who man‐ were able to make sense of the context within aged to succeed by working on the fringes of the which their airlines operated. While not always regulatory system. Nelson's development and op‐ successful in their bids for more routes and other eration of a successful "nonscheduled" airline op‐ concessions from the CAB, these men were more eration challenged the authority of the CAB and willing and able than many of their competitors the interests of entrenched carriers who operated to work within the confnes of the regulatory sys‐ with the blessing and support of the government. tem. Roger Bilstein provides a compelling over‐ One is left to wonder whether Nelson's view of Smith's rise to prominence, not only at Transocean Air Lines represented a healthy chal‐ , but also in the industry itself. lenge to the industry's entrenched interests or a Donna Corbett's study of Nyrop traces a successful dangerous, destabilizing force as his critics personal journey from regulatory bureaucrat to charged. airline manager and industry leader. She points The book is a good collection of case studies to Nyrop's political and regulatory experience in and is highly recommended for those who study explaining his longevity and success at the head the industry's history. It is also a worthwhile read of Northwest Airlines. Michael Gorn's analysis of for those dealing with air transport in its current the rise of Robert Six highlight's the importance of evolutionary stage. Many of the same issues con‐ making the most of one's good fortune. tinue to confront the industry and policy makers The cases are not exclusively personal and who monitor the airline industry. Providing ef‐ managerial success stories. In fact, three cases cient and efective air transport services for small trace the tragic demise of airline executives who and rural communities continues to befuddle poli‐ enjoyed considerable, but feeting success. cy makers. Insuring that large established carriers William Leary's analysis of Robert Peach details do not have an unfair advantage over new en‐ the rise of Mohawk Airlines and its eventual trants continues to raise questions about competi‐ demise and acquisition by , tion. Labor problems, customer service issues, es‐ which arguably precipitated Peach's taking of his tablishing the right feet mix, and maximizing own life in 1971, shortly after the merger. William profts while insuring safety have been constant Trimble's study of George R. Hann, the head of themes throughout the industry's history. Pittsburgh Aviation Industries Corporation and It is worth noting another theme and one that Airlines, and who was forced from will be understood by those who have any con‐ the industry after participating in the so-called nection to the airline industry beyond simply tak‐ "spoils conference" in 1930, illustrates the fate of ing the occasional fight. That theme, and it is evi‐ some of the industry's early leaders. These leaders dent in each chapter of this book, is that aviation participated in the U.S. Postmaster General's is, for better or worse, diferent from other indus‐ scheme to stabilize the industry by allowing if not tries. It is more than public transportation, it is

2 H-Net Reviews more than an incubator for technological innova‐ tion, it is more than an economic development tool used to link communities to the global econo‐ my, it is more than a source of noise, and it is more than part of the nation's national security. As Robert Six once said "I've never known an in‐ dustry that can get into people's blood the way aviation does" (p. 171). Aviation is as much about the people who work in it as it is about the air‐ ports and airplanes. Even today when airlines are characterized as being driven by faceless "bean‐ counters" and executives with little or no person‐ al love for fying, the airline industry continues to boast more than its fair share of characters who are seemingly larger than life. Herb Kelleher of , Gordon Bethune of Continen‐ tal, and Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic re‐ mind us of the impact individual airline execu‐ tives can have on the success of their own frms and air transport more generally. Lewis and his fellow contributors provide an illuminating glimpse into some of the most intriguing charac‐ ters in the historical development of America's airline industry and remind us that individual leadership is still worth examining if we want to see where air transport is heading in the coming years. Copyright (c) 2000 by EH.Net and H-Net. All rights reserved. This work may be copied for non- proft educational uses if proper credit is given to the author and the list. For other permission, please contact the EH.Net Administrator (adminis‐ [email protected]; Telephone: 513-529-2850; Fax: 513-529-3308). Published by EH.Net (October 2000). All EH.Net reviews are archived at http:// www.eh.net/BookReview

If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at http://eh.net/

3 H-Net Reviews

Citation: Scott E. Tarry. Review of Lewis, W. David. Airline Executives and Federal Regulation: Case Studies in American Enterprise from the Airmail Era to the Dawn of the Jet Age. EH.Net, H-Net Reviews. October, 2000.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=4656

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

4