Dear Mr. Norton:
I have read with great interest your letter of June 16, 1947, discussing the present condition of the aircraft manufacturing industry and recommending that I appoint a board of disinterested citizens to study the relationship of this industry to the national security and welfare.
Your recommendation seems to me well taken. I have, therefore, appointed an Air Policy Commission with the request that it make an objective inquiry into our aviation policy in its broadest aspects.
In a letter from the Air Coordinating Committee to me dated December 26, 1946, it was stated that the Committee was undertaking a comprehensive survey of aviation policy from the Governmental standpoint. The background and experience which the Committee has in this field would be of material assistance to the Commission, and I am, therefore, requesting that you send me your report for its use.
I am deeply appreciative of the fine work which your Committee has done in calling to my attention the present condition of the aircraft industry and in carrying forward the compilation of Government aviation policy.
Sincerely yours,
HARRY S. TRUMAN
[Hon. Garrison Norton, Chairman, Air Coordinating Committee, Department of State]
Note: The Committee's report entitled "A Statement of Certain Policies of the Executive Branch of the Government in the General Field of Aviation" is dated August 1, 1947 (Government Printing Office, 17 pp.).
For letter appointing members to the Air Policy Commission, see Item 148.
Harry S Truman, Letter to the Chairman of the Air Coordinating Committee. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/232074