The Kennedy Era and the Legacy of Flight

I am mourning the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy this morning. As a child of the 1960s (I was born in 1959) the Kennedys have always been part of my consciousness with regard to who Americans are and what they can be.

As a boy, with a cheap Sears telescope and a Polaroid camera, I took pictures of the moon, inspired by President John Kennedy’s challenge in May 1961 that Americans should fly to the moon and explore it by the end of the decade. Of course we accomplished the president’s goal early and the whole world cheered the brave pilots of Apollo 11 who in 1969, ably flew to the most distant place we could yet reach. It was a singular human accomplishment that has not been surpassed in over 40 years. No country but ours has ever flown man to the moon, to walk there.

As I look back on it now, as I near the age of 50, I realize that the event is so historic and memorable because it happened at the intersection of leadership, science, technology, education, dreams, and daring, and exemplified to the world the better nature of Americans.

Senator Ted Kennedy was the last survivor of the halcyon days of Camelot America. In a career that spanned 47 years in the U.S. Senate, he too — like his big brother John — always appealed to and challenged the better nature of Americans.

He is remembered most for countless pieces of legislation that improved the access of all Americans to health care, education, and civil rights. He is not as well-remembered for being a driving force in the Senate behind the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) of 1978.

It may seem odd, as our leaders look to re-regulate the banking and insurance industries, that such a staunch Democrat would help lead a fight for deregulation of an industry, but that’s what Sen. Kennedy did from a seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee starting in 1975. Deregulation was championed by both the Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter administrations and was signed into law in October 1978.

Senator Kennedy’s primary interest in airline deregulation was not born from ideological devotion to competition and free markets; rather, he sought to enable market forces to bring down fares and improve access to air travel — and distant places — for all Americans.

The ADA has certainly accomplished these goals. In the first 15 years after passage of the Act, the average fare per passenger mile, when adjusted for inflation, declined by approximately 30 percent. In the first 20 years of deregulation, the number of passengers flown increased by almost 250%, from 250 million to more than 600 million per year.

Deregulation gave rise to and solidified the “hub-and-spoke” routing system. As barriers to entry fell and low-cost carriers became more prolific and competitive, point-to-point routing brought air travel and economic development to hundreds of smaller cities and locales. Competition has worked, even if it is relentless and often bloody: stalwarts like Pan Am, Eastern, and TWA may no longer be with us, but they’ve been replaced by able new upstarts like Southwest, jetBlue, and AirTran.

In one of his last speeches, before the Democratic National Convention in 2008, Ted Kennedy said this:

“… when John Kennedy called of going to the moon, he didn’t say it’s too far to get there. We shouldn’t even try. Our people answered his call and rose to the challenge, and today an American flag still marks the surface of the moon.

“Yes, we are all Americans. This is what we do. We reach the moon. We scale the heights. I know it. I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. And we can do it again. There is a new wave of change all around us, and if we set our compass true, we will reach our destination — not merely victory … but renewal for our nation.”

John Kennedy’s challenge enabled a few Americans to fly to the moon; Ted Kennedy’s leadership brought the dream of flight to hundreds of millions more. Rest in peace, Senator — you have earned your rest. Thank you for your labors.