We are confident that a close study of the present trend will lead to the realization of truly tremendous progress in the crossing of ocean barriers … - Juan Trippe

Trippe had been a continuous innovator, but the sad irony is that he failed to re-invent his company for the leaner, far more competitive age he had done so much to shape: the age of travel for Everyman. A decade after his death, his airline, substantially dismembered, finally expired in 1991. [...] Throughout his career, Juan Trippe had been driven by the great American instinct for seeing a market before it happened–and then making it happen. In a real sense, he fathered the international airline business. To do so, he took on the entire airline industry, and risked his company to see his vision through. You’ve just got to admire a guy like that.

A fierce antagonist in business competition, Mr. Trippe practiced a good-neighbor policy in dealing with foreign countries. He was a talented diplomat. If an earthquake or a hurricane occurred in Latin America, Pan Am was quickly on the scene, helping to remove refugees and providing emergency supplies.

Trippe wasn't a dictator, but he did want to take over the world.