Texas Originals

Cyrus R. Smith

September 9, 1899–April 4, 1990

"C. R." Smith, pioneering president of American Airlines, when asked what drew him to aviation, responded, "Vigorous people . . . whose vision doesn't stop at the horizon." He was essentially describing himself.

Cyrus Rowlett Smith was born in the small Texas town of Minerva. After his father abandoned the family, nine-year-old Cyrus began working a series of odd jobs. Despite never graduating high school, he studied business at The University of Texas. Working as an accountant for a power company, Smith quickly climbed the corporate ladder.

In 1934, when Smith became president of American Airlines, the fledgling company was getting by delivering air mail, and postal revenues were capped by government regulations. Smith knew that to increase earnings he had to think bigger.

He persuaded aircraft designer Donald Douglas to expand his DC-2 model to accommodate twenty-one passengers—enough to make passenger-only travel profitable. The resulting DC-3 gave American Airlines the freedom to operate without relying on mail pay, and other airlines soon followed suit.

In 1942, Smith left the company to serve in the Army and helped organize its worldwide air transport system. He returned a highly decorated major general and resumed control of American. In 1968, he left again to become President Johnson's commerce secretary.

Named to the Aviation Hall of Fame, Smith died in 1990. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

For More about Cyrus Smith

The C. R. Smith Museum in Fort Worth documents the history of American Airlines and features exhibitions on the airline’s operations. The museum’s signature holding is a retired 1940 Douglas DC-3, the aircraft envisioned by C. R. Smith that revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s.

The National Aviation Hall of Fame contains an online entry on C. R. Smith which includes a brief overview of his accomplishments.

C. R. Smith assembled a significant collection of Western art during the 1930s. He was influenced in building his collection by fellow Texans Amon Carter and Sid Richardson, also major collectors of western American art. The C. R. Smith Collection of Western Art is housed at the Blanton Museum of Art.

Selected Bibliography

Heppenheimer, T. A. Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation. New York: J. Wiley & Sons, 1995.

Pieper, Chris. "Cyrus Rowlett Smith." Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed 4 September 2018.

Saunders, Richard H. Collecting the West: The C. R. Smith Collection of Western American Art. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1988.

Sterling, Robert J. Eagle: The History of American Airlines. New York: St. Martin's-Marek, 1985.

Paintings from the C. R. Smith Collection. The University of Texas at Austin, 1970. 

Listen to the audio

Portrait of C. R. Smith.

The Douglas DC-3 "Flagship Knoxville" at the American Airlines CR Smith Museum in Fort Worth.