Senator Black's Investigation of the Airmail, 1933–1934

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size David D. Lee is associate dean and professor of history at Western Kentucky University. He would like to acknowledge the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association, and the Western Kentucky University Faculty Research Committee in the preparation of this article.NotesDavid D. Lee is associate dean and professor of history at Western Kentucky University. He would like to acknowledge the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association, and the Western Kentucky University Faculty Research Committee in the preparation of this article.1. Woodrow Wilson, Congressional Government: A Study in Politics, 2d ed. (Boston, 1885), 303; Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and Roger Bruns, eds., Congress Investigates: A Documented History, 1792‐1974, vol. 1 (New York, 1975), xxvi; Telford Taylor, Grand Inquest: The Story of Congressional Investigations (1955; reprint, New York, 1974), 67.2. Hugo Black, “Inside a Senate Investigation,”Harper's, February 1936, 279; John P. Frank, Mr. Justice Black The Man and His Opinions (New York, 1949), 63; Virginia Van Der Veer Hamilton, Hugo Black The Alabama Years (Baton Rouge, 1972), 224‐34; M. Nelson McGeary, The Development of Congressional Investigative Power (1940; reprint, New York, 1966), 45.3. R. E. G. Davies, Airlines of the United States since 1914 (London, 1972), 110‐14; Nick Komons, Bonfire to Beacons: Federal Civil Aviation Policy under the Air Commerce Act, 1926‐1938 (Washington, D.C., 1978), 197‐99.4. Anne Hard, “Uncle Sam's New Mail Man,”New York Herald Tribune, 7 April 1929; New York Times, 27 Jan. 1961, 23; David Lee, “Herbert Hoover and the Development of Commercial Aviation,”Business History Review 58 (Spring 1984): 78‐102; Randolph Downes, The Rise of Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1865‐1920 (Columbus, 1970), 178‐80, 346‐50.5. Brown, “Commercial Aviation and the Air Mail,” address to Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, 14 Jan. 1930, in Box 40,6‐9, President's Personal File, Herbert Hoover Papers, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, West Branch, Iowa (hereafter cited as Hoover Papers); Brown, address over NBC Radio, 23 Sept. 1931, Post Office–Press Releases of the Postmaster General, 1931, Box 42, 5, Hoover Papers; Brown, address to Advertising Club, Washington, D.C., 8 Oct. 1929, in Post Office‐Press Releases of the Postmaster General, 1929‐April 1930, Box 42,9, Hoover Papers.6. Davies, Airlines of the United States, 114‐20, 132‐33; Komons, Bonfires to Beacons, 197‐210.7. Frank, Mr. Justice Black, 65; Hamilton, Hugo Black, 220; Black, address over CBS Radio, in New York Times, 17 Feb. 1934.8. L. H. Brittin to R. C. Lilly, 22 March 1933,1932 file (item incorrectly filed), Box 157, Records of the United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Foreign and Domestic, Ocean and Air Mail Contracts (Black Committee), Record Group 46, National Archives, Washington, D.C. (hereafter cited as Black Committee Papers); “U.S. Aviation and the Air Mail,”Fortune, May 1934,154‐56; Davies, Airlines of the United States, 155‐56; Komons, Bonfires to Beacons, 249‐50; Hamilton, Hugo Black, 221‐22; Congressional Record, 1933,72d Cong., 2d sess., 2597,3067‐68,3452,5008.9. Congressional Record, 1933, 72d Cong., 2nd sess., 3452, 5008; Hamilton, Hugo Black, 221‐22; Michael Osborn and Joseph Riggs, “Mr. Mac”: William P. MacCracken on Aviation, Law, and Optometry (Memphis, 1970), 180‐81.10. Congressional Record, 1933, 73d Cong., 1st sess., 177; Black, “Inside a Senate Investigation,” 278; Hamilton, Hugo Black, 230.11. Fulton Lewis, Jr., report, Box 118, Black Committee Papers; Davies, Airlines of the United States, 155‐56; Henry Ladd Smith, Airways: The History of Commercial Aviation in the United States (1942; reprint, New York, 1965), 214‐16,226‐27.12. Black to Hearst, 21 Sept. 1933 and undated, Hearst file. Black Committee Papers; Morris Bealle to Patterson, 1 March 1934, ibid.; Black to Thomas Hart Kennedy, 6 March 1934, Kennedy file, Box 122, ibid.; Smith, Airways, 226‐27.13. Donald Wemple to Andrew G. Patterson, 16 Dec. 1933, Investigator's file, Box 136, Black Committee Papers.14. Paul Braniff to H. P. Williams, 18 July 1931, Wedel‐Williams file, Box 120, ibid.; Tom Braniff to Kohler Aviation Corporation, 23 Nov. 1932, ibid.; Tom Braniff to Kenneth McKellar, 19 March 1934, Braniff file, Box 155, ibid.15. These comments are from a general statement that the Braniffs used repeatedly, updating the statistics over time; this version is in the Braniff file. Box 155, ibid.16. Tom Braniff to Andrew G. Patterson, 4, 20 Oct. 1933 and unsigned memo, Braniff file, Box 155, ibid.17. Unsigned memo, Braniff file, Box 155, ibid.18. Thomas McKee to Andrew G. Patterson, 29 July, 1 Sept., 12 Oct. 1933, Thomas McKee file, Black Committee Papers; Patterson to McKee, 5, 28 Sept., 16 Oct. 1933, Box 128, ibid.19. “Anonymous Telephone Call Relating to Investigation of Ocean and Air Mail Contracts,” 2 Feb. 1934, Individuals Correspondence and Tax Returns, Box 121, ibid.20. Senate Special Committee to Investigate Foreign and Domestic, Ocean and Air Mail Contracts, Investigation of Air Mail and Ocean Mail Contracts, Hearings, 73d Cong., 1934,2d sess., 1437‐43 (hereafter cited as Black Committee, Hearings).21. Ibid., 1457‐87.22. Ibid., 1440‐57,1488‐1525.23. Ibid., 1525‐77,1633‐50,1660‐71; Time, 26 Aug. 1935,16‐17.24. Black Committee, Hearings, 1795‐1828.25. Ibid., 1597‐1608,1739‐51,1856‐62.26. Walter F. Brown to James Farley, 19 Jan. 1934, Folder 9, Box 1, Collection 12, Walter Brown Papers, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio (hereafter cited as Brown Papers). Compare Maher's testimony on pp. 1438‐39, Black Committee, Hearings, with that on pp. 2057‐64.27. Black Committee, Hearings, 2112‐20; Osbom and Riggs, “Mr. Mac,” 157‐61; Smith, Airways, 228‐30.28. Black Committee, Hearings, 2193‐2220; Black, “Inside a Senate Investigation,” 275‐86; Osborn and Riggs, “Mr. Mac,” 161‐72; Congressional Record, 1934, 73d Cong., 2d sess., 2232‐34, 2249‐64; New York Times, 9 Feb. 1934,1‐2; ibid., 10 Feb. 1934,1‐2.29. Osborn and Riggs, “Mr. Mac,” 165‐73; Smith, Airways, 228‐33; Congressional Record, 1934, 73d Cong., 2d sess., 2494‐98; New York Times, 13 Feb. 1934, 1, 16; McGeary, Developments of Congressional Investigative Power, 110‐13.30. Komons, Bonfires to Beacons, 254‐59; Smith, Airways, 249‐51; New York Times, 10 Feb. 1934,1‐2.31. Black Committee, Hearings, 2349‐51; New York Times, 20 Feb. 1934,1,16.32. Black Committee, Hearings, 2351,2599; New York Times, 20 Feb. 1934,1,16; ibid., 24 Feb. 1934,1,6.33. Black Committee, Hearings, 2372‐77, 2437, 2650‐51; James Doran and Eggleton to A. G. Patterson, 18 Feb. 1934, Aviation Bid file, Box 112, Black Committee Papers; New York Times, 20 Feb. 1934,1,16; ibid., 24 Feb. 1934,1,6.34. Black Committee, Hearings, 2450‐55; New York Times, 21 Feb. 1934,1,10.35. Black Committee, Hearings, 2652,2742; New York Times, 25 Feb. 1934,1‐2; Walter F. Brown to A. E. Benson, 16 June 1942, File 14, Box 1, Collection 12, Brown Papers. Brown was referring to Black's brief membership in the Ku Klux Klan early in his political career.36. Paul Godehn and Frank Quindry, “Air Mail Contract Cancellations of 1934 and Resulting Litigation,”Journal of Air Law and Commerce 21 (Summer 1954): 253‐76; Komons, Bonfires to Beacons, 266‐67,271‐72; Ellis Hawley, The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly: A Study in Economic Ambivalence (Princeton, 1966), 241‐43.37. Time, 26 Feb. 1934, 26‐28; Komons, Bonfires to Beacons, 267,352‐54; Smith, Airways, 301‐06; Ellis Hawley, “Three Facets of Hooverian Associationalism: Lumber, Aviation, and Movies, 1921‐1930,” in Thomas McGraw, ed., Regulation in Perspective: Historical Essays (Cambridge, 1981), 121‐23.38. Smith, Airways, 278‐79; Hawley, “Three Facets,” 114; Hawley, New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly, 242.39. “Air Mail Plans Are Announced by P. O. Head,”Baltimore Sun, Air Mail Cancellation file, Hoover Post‐Presidential Papers, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, West Branch, Iowa; “Mr. Farley's Case,” ibid.; “Austin Offers Data to Show Air Mail Plot,”New York Herald Tribune, ibid.; Warren Austin, addres over NBC Radio, ibid.; Warren Austin, United Press article. Speeches file, Box 164, Black Committee Papers; Black Committee, Hearings, 3275‐491,3557‐619; New York Times, 25 Feb. 1934, sec. 4, p. 1; Komons, Bonfires to Beacons, 260‐62,265,273.40. Congressional Record, 1934,73d Cong., 2d sess., 7441

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