L. Welch Pogue Papers

This collection consists of five cubic feet of material that document L. Welch Pogue's work as chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board as well as his work as an attorney dealing with civil aviation regulation.

This collection is in English.

Appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, L. Welch Pogue (1899–2003) was the second chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), serving from 1942 until 1946. During his tenure he led the regulation and development of the US airline industry through the Second World War and into the postwar expansion of commercial aviation. Of great significance, Pogue led the US delegation to the Convention on International Civil Aviation --- widely known as the Chicago Convention --- that brought together representatives from fifty-four nations in late 1944 where the rules and regulations of postwar international civil aviation were established under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is now a part of the United Nations. Pogue played a leading role in developing the standards and procedures for peaceful global navigation, and these agreements are still in effect. As an attorney in private practice, Pogue founded the firm of Pogue and Neal to continue his interest in civil aviation regulation, writing and lecturing widely and representing numerous airlines and other clients. The firm later became Jones, Day, Reavis, and Pogue, one of Washington's preeminent law firms and the fifth largest law firm in the United States. Pogue retired in 1981 but continued pursuing his aviation interests by joining the National Air and Space Museum as a docent for the next two decades. He passed away in 2003 at the age of 103.