A question inspired by a question my father asked me: What U.S. airports are named after lawyers? Do not include airports that are only named after lawyers through the name of the city or county in or near which they are located (e.g., as in the airport that serves Madison, Wisconsin). I mention three such airports in the first comment, though I’m sure there are others.
Eugene Volokh says:
Thurgood Marshall Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport (Springfield, Illinois), and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. The St. Croix (Virgin Islands) airport was named the Alexander Hamilton Airport, but that has apparently been changed.
December 18, 2009, 4:22 pmBABH says:
Dulles
December 18, 2009, 4:22 pmTom from RI says:
Theodore Francis Greene State Airport, the main airport in Rhode Island. Here is a link to Senator Greene’s official bio:
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000418
December 18, 2009, 4:24 pmDeezRightWingNutz says:
Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, MI
December 18, 2009, 4:29 pmAJK says:
LaGuardia and Logan.
December 18, 2009, 4:33 pmDominick says:
It seems questionable to count airports named after presidents or other long-serving politicians just because they happen to have been lawyers prior to their political careers. Many people probably have little clue that either Stevens or Ford were lawyers – they are remembered for political achievements/service and not for their legal achievements (and no, I don’t count being a king of earmarks as a legal achievement by Ted Stevens).
December 18, 2009, 4:37 pmBABH says:
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Ohio, named for William Hopkins.
December 18, 2009, 4:39 pmAJK says:
And Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta is named after two lawyers!
(Honestly, since most airports are named after political figures, and a pretty high portion of prominent political figures are lawyers, I’d think that there’s a pretty good chance any airport named after a person will be named after a lawyer.)
December 18, 2009, 4:40 pmABP says:
Ted Stevens International Airport.
December 18, 2009, 4:43 pmwhiskey says:
McCarran International Airport in Vegas (NV Sen. Pat McCarran), who was a member of the Nevada bar in the early 20th century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCarran
December 18, 2009, 4:47 pmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarran_International_Airport
Chris says:
There’s the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX
December 18, 2009, 4:56 pmKevin says:
The list of airports not named after lawyers (aka politicians) might be shorter.
December 18, 2009, 4:59 pmMalvolio says:
Here are all the people who worked as lawyers or at least had law degrees and had an airport named after them (and weren’t already listed):
Jack Edwards
William B. Hartsfield
Maynard Jackson
Edward Lawrence Logan
Trent Lott
John Murtha
William T. Piper
Clarence E. Hancock
William R. Hopkins
Eugenio María de Hostos
Luis Muñoz Marín
(Bet you’re kicking yourselves for missing Logan.)
I was surprised that John Kennedy didn’t seem to have a law degree.
I was tempted to add Medgar Evers — he applied to law school but apparently was insufficiently Caucasian.
And although he fit all the other criteria, Genghis Khan’s airport is not in the US.
December 18, 2009, 5:09 pmLe Messurier says:
The airport in Madison WI is now officially the Dane County Municipal Airport named after Nathan Dane, a Massachusetts delegate to the Congress of the Confederation who helped carve Wisconsin out of the Northwest Territory. The airport used to be called Truax Field. Truax was an Army air force pilot killed in a training accident right before WWII. Dane was a lawyer and it is him to whom you must be referring. [It is indeed. -EV] He almost came a cropper by joining the Hartford Convention during the war of 1812. For me it was always Truax Field as I lived in Madison during and after the war.
December 18, 2009, 5:10 pmwhiskey says:
John Murtha, the PA Senator for whom the airport is named after, is not a lawyer (as far as I’ve been able to tell). John Murtha, judge for D.VT, is.
December 18, 2009, 5:24 pmAJK says:
I’m not!
December 18, 2009, 5:26 pmBT says:
Too bad that Larry Craig wasn’t a lawyer, his special place in airport history would be an appropriate tribute to most lawyers.
December 18, 2009, 5:29 pmBama 1L says:
I am surprised no airport has been named for Alfred Loeb Wolf.
December 18, 2009, 5:30 pmdirc says:
Wasn’t LAX named for all the lawyers who failed to provide effective counsel?
Hancock International Airport was named for Clarence E. Hancock, a 1908 graduate of the New York Law School (according to Wikipedia).
December 18, 2009, 5:50 pmsureyoubet says:
Stennis International Airport, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. I took flying lessons there as a kid.
December 18, 2009, 6:03 pmChip Morningstar says:
Reno’s airport is named after Howard Cannon.
December 18, 2009, 6:23 pmMalvolio says:
Are too! (I just meant, it’s probably the largest airport named for a lawyer. Butch O’Hare’s dad was a lawyer, specifically Al Capone’s lawyer, which may be lawyer-tastic enough to be genetic.)
D’oh. Dunno how he got on the list. I hate that guy.
December 18, 2009, 6:24 pmAJK says:
I meant that I didn’t miss it.
December 18, 2009, 6:29 pmCory J says:
Also, John Murtha is just a Congressman, not a senator. I’m from Johnstown, so I felt compelled to correct that!
December 18, 2009, 6:39 pmMalvolio says:
Maybe the question should be, what airports are named after someone who is neither an lawyer/politician nor an aviator?
(Louis Armstrong and John Wayne for starters)
December 18, 2009, 6:53 pmMarshall Plan says:
Volokh Regional Airport, one day?
December 18, 2009, 7:06 pmSeamus says:
Washington Dulles International Airport (formerly John Foster Dulles International Airport).
December 18, 2009, 7:08 pmLeo Marvin says:
(William) Shea Stadium. If you’ve ever attended a game there, you’d think you were in an airport. (Yes, I know that’s not it’s name anymore, but is that really what you want to criticize about this answer?)
December 18, 2009, 7:13 pmSeamus says:
And Las Vegas’s airport is named after Pat McCarren.
December 18, 2009, 7:16 pmLeo Marvin says:
Don’t worry. Careful readers were way ahead of you.
December 18, 2009, 7:33 pmCan't find a good name says:
Malvolio: Liverpool John Lennon Airport comes to mind.
December 18, 2009, 7:46 pmBart says:
Reno’s airport is no longer named after the late Senator Howard Cannon. It is now called “Reno-Tahoe International Airport.” And no – neither Reno nor Tahoe was the name of a lawyer.
December 18, 2009, 7:48 pmCan't find a good name says:
Also for Malvolio: Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport near Rome. (Leonardo was an aircraft designer, but not an aviator.)
December 18, 2009, 7:50 pmAlyssa says:
Reagan National. (He received his honorary doctor of laws from Notre Dame)
December 18, 2009, 8:11 pmBama 1L says:
Malvolio, I can think of Burbank (Bob Hope), Orange County (John Wayne), Birmingham (civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth), and Oklahoma City (Will Rogers). You’ve already mentioned Medgar Evers.
Leonardo should probably count as an aviation pioneer.
December 18, 2009, 8:17 pmKevin R says:
someone who is neither an lawyer/politician nor an aviator?
Marco Polo airport in Venice. Certainly a traveler, but not via aviation.
December 18, 2009, 8:59 pmCory J says:
Malvolio: Arnold Palmer Airport in Latrobe, PA is another.
December 18, 2009, 9:14 pmAirports Named After Lawyers | Liberal Whoppers says:
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December 18, 2009, 9:31 pmRich says:
Frankly, what “many people” remember is immaterial. Ford was a small-firm lawyer who made good, and Stevens was a U.S. Attorney and legislative counsel to the Dept. of Interior, where he spearheaded Alaska statehood. That presumably included drafting the enabling and admission acts–that calls upon legal skills, doesn’t it?
December 18, 2009, 9:50 pmrb1971 says:
Reno’s airport is no longer named after the late Senator Howard Cannon. It is now called “Reno-Tahoe International Airport.” And no — neither Reno nor Tahoe was the name of a lawyer.
Janet Reno?
December 18, 2009, 10:13 pmbartman says:
Also, Trudeau Airport in Montreal.
Maybe the question should be, what airports are named after someone who is neither an lawyer/politician nor an aviator?
My favorite is Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport in Rio.
December 18, 2009, 10:33 pmHm says:
did John Wayne play a lawyer at any time?
December 18, 2009, 11:48 pmLior says:
Aeroporto Galileo Galilei in Pisa
December 18, 2009, 11:56 pmRoger the Shrubber says:
Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport was formerly known as Patrick Henry Field. And of course Patrick Henry was a genuinely gifted trial lawyer. I think it should still count because its identifier remains KPHF.
December 19, 2009, 12:01 amDavid Sanger says:
SFO, San Francisco International Airport, was originally called Mills Field Municipal Airport of San Francisco.
It was built on land leased from the Mills family, Ogden Livingston Mills, the 50th US Secretary of the Treasury and a 1907 graduate of Harvard Law School, and his father, also named Ogden Mills.
Perhaps there should be a subcategory for airports formerly named after lawyers.
December 19, 2009, 2:07 amLior says:
It seems that many Italian airports are named after non-politicians, non-aviators: Bologna “Gugliemo Marconi”, Parma “Giuseppe Verdi”, Catania “Vincenzo Bellini”, Rimini “Federico Fellini”, Pisa “Galileo Galilei”, Roma “Leonardo da Vinci”, Ancona “Raffaello Sanzio”, Genoa “Cristoforo Colombo”, Florence “Amerigo Vespucci”, Venezia “Marco Polo”, Verona “Valerio Catullo”. Whether Bari (“Karol Wojtyła”) counts is up for debate.
December 19, 2009, 2:11 amLior says:
In the US, there is “Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County Airport”. We should also mention Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport.
December 19, 2009, 2:20 amDavid Sanger says:
Someone with more time than me could check the names on this list:
US Airport codes and names
December 19, 2009, 3:39 amgood reverend says:
Stapleton International Airport was Denver’s airport up until 1995, when it was replaced by DIA. It was named after Benjamin Stapleton, a lawyer who served five terms as Denver’s mayor.
December 19, 2009, 3:57 amneurodoc says:
Would that “honorary doctor of laws” make him a “lawyer”? First, what exactly does such an honorary degree entitle one to call themselves (honorary doctorates = “Dr. So-and-So”?), and put after one’s name? What an “honorary doctor of laws” qualify one for admission to any bar, if they wished to practice as a lawyer and went for it?
I am proud to say that my alma mater has granted a great many degrees in the course of its existance, but every single one was earned, none were given as nothing more than an accolade.
December 19, 2009, 8:43 amneurodoc says:
Re the great proportion of politicians who are lawyers – why? Is a law degree really so useful to someone serving in elected office, whether as a legislator or an executive? Or, is that a law degree helps one get started in politics, because it is an expectation of office-seekers generally, and hence seen as a “qualification”? On the Continent (including UK and Ireland) are as many politicians lawyers as are here in the US? What about Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere around the world, as many lawyer/politicians there as here? In the US Senate, can anyone see differences following from the lawyer/non-lawyer background of senators?
[I don't know and don't care if there are any more airports named for lawyers. And I still find it a distraction to hear our airport referred to as "Reagan" rather than "National." And the airport I fly in and out of second most often after Dulles is in my mind simply "BWI," though Thurgood Marshall deserves to be honored, as he is by having his name attached to the University of Maryland law school.]
December 19, 2009, 8:45 amAlan O. says:
Apparently no conspirators remember the past two presidential campaigns. John Kerry antagonist turned McCain supporter Col. George “Bud” Day has Sioux City Gateway Airport (KSUX) named for him. Admittedly it was named for him because he received the Medal of Honor – not for his work after leaving the military as a lawyer. But still, it meets the criteria of the question.
December 19, 2009, 9:40 amSeamus says:
I know just what you mean. I still find it a distraction to hear that airport in New York referred to as “JFK” rather than “Idlewild.”
December 19, 2009, 11:51 amSeamus says:
To me, it will always be “Friendship Airport.”
December 19, 2009, 11:52 amneurodoc says:
Yes, I forgot it was once that.
December 19, 2009, 12:43 pmDavid McCourt says:
Jean Lesage Airport in Quebec City is named after a lawyer, as in Norman Manley Airport in Kingston, Jamaica, and Benito Juarez in Mexico City.
Of course, these people just happen to be lawyers. What they were is politicians, so this is kind of like asking, what airports were named after smokers, or left-handers. Many airports are named after politicians because politicians do the naming; presumably, if dentists did the naming we’d have many airports named after dentists.
December 19, 2009, 12:47 pmairportdude says:
Compton/Woodley Airport in the city of Compton is named after Frank Erwin Woodley, a lawyer and former Los Angeles County Supervisor and state legislator
December 19, 2009, 3:48 pmRich Rostrom says:
Barkley Regional, Paducah, KY. (Sen. Alben Barkley, who practiced law for 12 years before his election to Congress.)
McKellar-Sipes Regional, Jackson, TN. (Sen. Kenneth McKellar, who practiced law for 19 years before his election to Congress.)
Note: until the 75th Congress in 1937, Congress usually met for half the time or so. The 73rd Congress (1933-35), which enacted the New Deal, only met for 266 days.
So Senators and Representatives who were lawyers spent several months at home most years, and presumably practiced law.
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December 19, 2009, 6:16 pmEriePa says:
This isn’t technically an airport, but don’t forget Tom Ridge Field at Erie International Airport. Former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge graduated from Dickinson School of Law and then was an Assistant District Attorney in Erie, before entering politics.
December 19, 2009, 6:50 pmAmiable Dorsai says:
Shea actually was used as an airport (sort of) once.
December 20, 2009, 11:25 amLibrary: A Round-up of Reading « Res Communis says:
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February 13, 2010, 5:37 am