<--PREV Doc #314  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #316 Document #315; September 2, 1957 To Gerald Demuth Morgan Series: EM, WHCF, Official File 62 ; Category: Memorandum The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVIII - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part II: Civil Rights; June 1957 to September 1957 Chapter 5: Little Rock   If at all possible, please let me have an answer to my question about the effect of the certificates as now granted for Northwest and Pan Am Airlines using the Great Circle route across the Pacific.1 A possibility presented to me is this. Northwest originates traffic in New York, Chicago and so forth for its trips across the Pacific. Since much of the trans-Pacific traffic originates in the East, it would be only natural for Northwest to send some of its flights direct from Chicago, via Anchorage, to Japan as the shortest and most economical route. But because Northwest can land only seven flights per week in Japan, this particular practice would deprive the northwest of direct Great Circle passage to the Orient. If this is true, it would seem logical for us to recall our action on the Pan Am Great Circle route to allow the latter company to pick up mail and passengers in Seattle and in the northwest. I understand that, provided this seems a logical action under the circumstances now existing, I have until tomorrow, inclusive, to take such action. This belief is based on some information I have been given that for one month following approval of any CAB action involving foreign routes, I have authority for modification if I so desire.2 Any or all of the assumptions above indicated could, I realize, be incorrect, but the point is if they are correct and fair, then I think we had better take a good, hard and very quick look at the Pan Am certification over the Great Circle route. 1 For background on Eisenhower's request to White House Special Counsel "Jerry" Morgan see no. 224; for background on Morgan see Galambos and van Ee, The Middle Way, no. 431. The President was responding to an application by Pan American Airways for permission to pick up passengers at Seattle and Portland on its "great circle" route flights to Asia. The Pan American request was opposed by Northwest Airlines, which currently possessed the exclusive rights to fly passengers on this route. Pan American had asked the Civil Aeronautics Board to reverse its August decision (which Eisenhower had approved) denying Pan American's certification because Northwest's claim that increased competition would cause it to lose eleven million dollars was exaggerated (see Pelly to Adams, Aug. 29, 1957, Milley to Thomas, Aug. 29, 1957, and other papers in same file as document; see also Milwaukee Journal, Sept. 5, 1957, and New York Times, Sept. 4, 1957). 2 On September 3 Eisenhower would take action favorable to Pan American, as outlined in this memorandum. The President would tell the Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board that he had decided to hold "temporarily in abeyance final decision on the question whether Pan American World Airways should be granted authority to serve Seattle and Portland on the Great Circle route between California and Japan" (Eisenhower to Durfee, Sept. 3, 1957, same file as document). Eisenhower would also ask the CAB to send him the latest statistics on traffic between the United States and Tokyo and inform him of any changes that took place. In February, 1958, however, the President would affirm the CAB's decision to deny Pan American the right to serve Seattle and Portland on its Great Circle route to Tokyo (see New York Times, Feb. 5, 1958); for developments see no. 573. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Memorandum To Gerald Demuth Morgan, 2 September 1957. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 315. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/315.cfm <--PREV Doc #314  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #316

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