Air Mail scandal

Common card · No. 362217

The Air Mail scandal, also known as the Air Mail fiasco, was a political controversy that erupted in 1934 following a congressional investigation into the awarding of airmail contracts to select airlines. The scandal intensified when the U.S. government revoked these contracts and assigned mail delivery to the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC), leading to disastrous consequences. Under President Herbert Hoover, the Air Mail Act of 1930 allowed Walter Folger Brown, then the postmaster general, to award contracts at the "Spoils Conference", where major airlines divided routes among themselves, excluding smaller carriers. When details of the conference emerged, it became a scandal. A Senate investigation led to a contempt of Congress citation against William P. MacCracken Jr., the assistant secretary of commerce for aeronautics, but no further action was taken against Hoover administration officials. In response, newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt canceled all airmail contracts on February...

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