Dulles International Airport

A notable project that the FAA inherited from the CAA was establishment of a second major airport to serve Washington, D.C. Construction began in September 1958, with architect Eero Saarinen providing a prize-winning design for the terminal complex.

At left, FAA Administrator Elwood "Pete" Quesada inspects a model of a mobil lounge, an innovative concept aimed at speeding the flow of boarding and deplaning passengers at the new airport.

In 1959, President Eisenhower named the still-incomplete airport after his late Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles. In this scene from the facility's opening ceremony in 1962, Eisenhower admires a statue of Dulles in the company of President Kennedy and FAA's second Administrator, Najeeb E. Halaby.