Postwar base expansion was driven by commercial airline and economic ambitions

Evidence

American leaders were also guided by political and economic considerations. Looking forward to what many assumed would be massive postwar growth in international air travel, Roosevelt and other officials were intent on supporting U.S. commercial airlines. They saw this as critical to ensuring U.S. economic dominance not just in the airline industry but also in accessing worldwide natural resources, international markets, and investment opportunities. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 78

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels the reader’s existing ADDENDUM material on infrastructure-as-worldbuilding — here real-world bases double as commercial infrastructure with a second economic purpose.
• ADDENDUM: Connects to ‘Grafting & Growth: On Trees as Infrastructure’ in showing infrastructure built for one purpose (military) quietly serving economic empire-building.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 78