Air Force One-the awe-inspiring magic carpet for presidents and the backdrop for more than one moment of high drama in the American experience-has asquired mythic status in the popular mind. Air Force One: The Aircraft That Shaped the Modern Presidency captures the extraordinary saga of presidential air travel and offers a unique vantage point to revisit certain pivotal events in America's past--the assassination of John Kennedy in 1963, the opening of Communist China under Richard Nixon in 1972, and the threat of terrorist attacks under George W. Bush in 2001, among others. A flying Oval Office, Air Force One has served as a platform for presidential leadership and, in doing so, has become an extraordinary conduit of American history.
Chapter 1 Pathways to Air Force One
Chapter 2 Getting Airborne
Chapter 3 The Jet Age
Chapter 4 Fateful Flights
Chapter 5 Cold War's End
Chapter 6 Flight Paths to a New Century