Flying Down to Rio: American Commercial Aviation, the Good Neighbor Policy and World War Two, 1939-45

Abstract

This article will address the role of American commercial aviation in the Good Neighbor policy during the period of World War Two. The Good Neighbor was a complex policy, and American commercial aviation both reflected and augmented this complexity. Through the early years of thew orld war, American commercial aviation proved to be a valuable instrument for promoting hemispheric unity. Yet as the war progressed, commercial aviation became a catalyst for conflict and an indicator of the demise of the Good Neighbor policy.