40 Air Force One Facts

Professional Design

Jackie Kennedy, the fashionable First Lady, wanted to make sure that the planes were as physically attractive as possible. She enlisted the help of Raymond Loewy, a designer who worked with Coca-Cola and other top brands of the time. Loewy came to the White House to meet with the Kennedy’s, and go over potential designs. Legend has it that he and President Kennedy sat on the floor of the Oval Office and went over color schemes, and type fonts. Loewy elected to swap out ‘U.S. Air Force’ for a more powerful and less static title of ‘The United States of America’. He went over historical documents with the president and settled on the font used in the heading of the Declaration of Independence; Caslon, all caps.