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Item # 722301
THE DETROIT FREE PRESS, Aug. 7, 1947
* Aviator & business magnate Howard Hughes
* Senator Owen Brewster - Senate hearings
* TWA & wartime aircraft contracts - monopoly
* Pan American Airways (Pan Am) - airplanes
The front page has a nice banner headline: "HUGHES, BREWSTER BATTLE" with subheads and photos of Hughes and Brewster. (see images)
Complete with 28 pages, light toning at the margins, a little irregular along the spine, generally nice.
AI notes: In August 1947, Howard Hughes clashed publicly and dramatically with Senator Owen Brewster during Senate hearings examining alleged monopolistic practices and government favoritism in the aviation industry, particularly involving TWA and Hughes’ wartime aircraft contracts. Brewster, aligned with Pan American Airways interests, pressed Hughes on delays and cost overruns in projects like the massive H-4 Hercules “Spruce Goose,” implying that TWA survived only through Hughes’ manipulation of federal contracts. Hughes responded with an aggressive, charismatic defense, accusing Brewster of orchestrating a political smear on behalf of Pan Am’s Juan Trippe, who sought a monopoly on international air routes. Their confrontation became a national spectacle, with Hughes’ pointed rebuttals—especially his insistence that he was willing to be “ruined financially” rather than surrender TWA to monopoly pressure—shifting public sympathy toward him and contributing to the eventual collapse of Brewster’s political influence.
August 07, 1947
THE DETROIT FREE PRESS, Aug. 7, 1947
* Aviator & business magnate Howard Hughes
* Senator Owen Brewster - Senate hearings
* TWA & wartime aircraft contracts - monopoly
* Pan American Airways (Pan Am) - airplanes
The front page has a nice banner headline: "HUGHES, BREWSTER BATTLE" with subheads and photos of Hughes and Brewster. (see images)
Complete with 28 pages, light toning at the margins, a little irregular along the spine, generally nice.
AI notes: In August 1947, Howard Hughes clashed publicly and dramatically with Senator Owen Brewster during Senate hearings examining alleged monopolistic practices and government favoritism in the aviation industry, particularly involving TWA and Hughes’ wartime aircraft contracts. Brewster, aligned with Pan American Airways interests, pressed Hughes on delays and cost overruns in projects like the massive H-4 Hercules “Spruce Goose,” implying that TWA survived only through Hughes’ manipulation of federal contracts. Hughes responded with an aggressive, charismatic defense, accusing Brewster of orchestrating a political smear on behalf of Pan Am’s Juan Trippe, who sought a monopoly on international air routes. Their confrontation became a national spectacle, with Hughes’ pointed rebuttals—especially his insistence that he was willing to be “ruined financially” rather than surrender TWA to monopoly pressure—shifting public sympathy toward him and contributing to the eventual collapse of Brewster’s political influence.
Category: The 20th Century
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