The Man Without a Country: Lowell Yerex, His Airline, and US Policy Concerning International Commercial Aviation, 1939-44

Abstract

Even as World War Two hung in the balance, the United States looked to the postwar period as a time of opportunity for international airlines. However, U.S. officials disagreed over the best course of action for the future. Would they support one airline or competing carriers? Those favoring competition found a champion in Lowell Yerex, a New Zealand entrepreneur with a thriving Central American airline. However, his nominal British citizenship aroused concerns in an Anglophobic U.S. government, and thus it never accepted him as an option. Still, Yerex played a critical role in the development of U.S. policy and the maturation of modern commercial aviation.