Background
Young was born on July 23, 1889 in Colfax, Iowa, the son of Theodore G. Young, an interior decorator, and Ella Foy.
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Clarence Marshall Young
Edit Profilelawyer military Soldier airline executive aviation administrator
Education
Young attended local schools in Colfax and Des Moines, where the family moved in 1901. Following three years at Drake University, Young entered Yale Law School and graduated with an LL. B. degree in 1910.
Career
After graduation, Young returned to Des Moines and practiced insurance law. He joined the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps following U. S. entry into World War I in April 1917, and was trained in Italy as a bomber pilot. On June 25, 1918, while flying his first combat mission, Young was forced down behind enemy lines by engine trouble. He remained an Austrian prisoner-of-war until the armistice in November 1918. Young resumed his legal practice after the war but found the law "a little too dry and a little too prosaic. " Together with a local automobile dealer, he entered the more exciting field of aviation, selling surplus airplanes and flying sightseers around the Iowa countryside. Although the 1922 recession forced Young to abandon the business, he remained active in the U. S. Specialist Reserve Corps.
In 1926, Young took command of the 313th Observation Squadron with the rank of colonel. Thereafter, he favored the military title in civilian life. His career reached a turning point in 1926. While directing aviation activities for the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial, he came to the attention of William P. MacCracken, Jr. , newly appointed assistant secretary of commerce for aeronautics. With the passage of the Air Commerce Act of 1926, the federal government had ended years of debate and accepted responsibility for regulating commercial aviation. Seeking competent executives with an aviation background, MacCracken asked Young to join him in drawing up and administering a system of air commerce regulations. Young readily agreed, and became chief of air regulations in the aeronautics branch of the Department of Commerce. MacCracken and Young worked well together. Within a short time, they promulgated the necessary rules to license airplanes and airmen, and to operate and maintain a growing system of federal airways. By the end of 1926, they had put into place a sound regulatory structure that would foster the development of commercial aviation in the United States.
Young, who became director of aeronautics in 1927, took charge of enforcing federal air regulations while MacCracken traveled throughout the country, explaining and promoting the new system in conversations with members of the aviation community. Young quickly gained a reputation as a fair and effective administrator who shielded his subordinates from political pressure. When MacCracken left government service in 1929, Young replaced him as assistant secretary. Young took over his new responsibilities just as the nation fell into the economic morass of the Great Depression. Despite the poor state of business, air transport activity continued to increase. The beleaguered administration of President Herbert C. Hoover supported the aeronautics branch. Within two years the bureau had to deal with a budget that had been slashed by 50 percent. But in 1933, with the change of presidential administrations, Young had resigned.
Young's term as assistant secretary saw a dramatic drop in the accident rate for scheduled airlines. He supported the development of instrument flying techniques and radio aids to navigation, and he required rigorous new standards of technical proficiency for airline pilots. In a widely publicized aircraft accident in 1931, Young set an important precedent for the use of the government's regulatory power to insure passenger safety. In November 1934, Juan T. Trippe of Pan American Airways hired Young to manage the airline's recently established Transpacific Division. He took charge of developing the necessary infrastructure that would enable Pan American's giant seaplanes to cover the 8, 746 miles from San Francisco to Hong Kong. Over the next five years, Pan American crossed the Pacific over 440 times, flying more than 21 million passenger-miles, and carrying 13 million letters. Although not always profitable, the transpacific air route was a stunning technological triumph. Young's pragmatic managerial skills were an essential ingredient in the success of the enterprise. Young left Pan American in 1945, following what he termed "policy disagreements. " In 1946 and 1947, he served as a member of the Civil Aeronautics Board, where he played a minor role in shaping postwar aviation policy. He returned to Pan American in 1950 and retired in 1959 as vice president of its Pacific Alaska Division. Fourteen years later, Young died of natural causes at Sedona, Arizona.
Achievements
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
As recalled by Jack B. Jaynes, a young inspector in the bureau, Young "had the courage of his convictions. He knew aviation and his men, and did not entertain or countenance politics in accomplishing his mission. "
Connections
On February 10, 1935, Young married Lois Moran, a film actress. They had one son.
