Messengers of Modernity.

Among the most noticeable improvements in technology during the 1930s, aeronautics exhibited many successes. Apparently simple innovations introduced in the previous decade suddenly yielded remarkable results, and aviation as a whole increased in importance in the public eye thanks in part to publicity flights. In 1932, for example, Franklin D. Roosevelt, then governor of New York, chose to fly to Chicago to accept the Democratic presidential nomination, introducing a new sense of modernity that suggested progress might solve the economic decay of the nation. Beyond politics, aviation matters also attracted public attention, as speed and distance records were regularly broken, making for front-page news. In 1931, for example, Wiley Post flew around the world in barely nine days, only to renew the exploit two years later, this time in eight days. The record would be cut in half in 1938 by...