systems, license pilots and aircraft, and investigate accidents.
In 1926, President
Calvin Coolidge appointed a board to develop a national aviation policy,
selecting Dwight Morrow as chairman. Morrow was a senior partner in J.P.
Morgan's bank and later would become the father-in-law of Charles Lindbergh.
Morrow counseled that airlines should not be directly subsidized, but rather
supported by federal funding of a national air transportation system. Congress
adopted these recommendations in the Air Commerce Act of 1926, which authorized
the Secretary of Commerce to designate air routes, develop air navigation
systems, license pilots and aircraft, and investigate accidents.