Editing Jimmy Doolittle (section)

===Reserve status===
On 5 January 1946, Doolittle reverted to inactive reserve status in the Army Air Forces in the grade of lieutenant general, a rarity in those days when reserve officers were usually limited to the rank of major general or rear admiral, a restriction that would not end in the US armed forces until the 21st century. He retired from the United States Army on 10 May 1946. On 18 September 1947, his reserve commission as a general officer was transferred to the newly established [[United States Air Force]]. Doolittle returned to Shell Oil as a vice president, and later as a director.

In the summer of 1946, Doolittle went to [[Stockholm]] where he consulted about the "[[ghost rockets]]" that had been observed over [[Scandinavia]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Operation Trojan Horse |year=1996 |isbn=978-0962653469 |page=122 |first=John |last=Keel |publisher=IllumiNet Press |url=http://galaksija.com/literatura/jk_oth.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130420102608/http://galaksija.com/literatura/jk_oth.pdf |archive-date=April 20, 2013 |author-link=John Keel}}</ref>

In 1947, Doolittle became the first president of the [[Air Force Association]], an organization which he helped create.

In 1948, Doolittle advocated the desegregation of the US military. He wrote, "I am convinced that the solution to the situation is to forget that they are colored." Industry was in the process of integrating, Doolittle said, "and it is going to be forced on the military. You are merely postponing the inevitable and you might as well take it gracefully."<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/1998/July%201998/0798color.aspx |title=When the Color Line Ended |first=Herman S. |last=Wolk |year=1998 |journal=Air Force Magazine |volume=81 |issue=7}}</ref>

In March 1951, Doolittle was appointed a special assistant to the [[Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force|Chief of Staff of the Air Force]], serving as a civilian in scientific matters which led to Air Force ballistic missile and space programs. In 1952, following a string of three air crashes in two months at [[Elizabeth, New Jersey]], the President of the United States, [[Harry S. Truman]], appointed him to lead a presidential commission examining the safety of urban airports.<ref>{{Cite web |editor-last=Preston |editor-first=Edmund |title=FAA Historical Chronology: Civil Aviation and the Federal Government, 1926–1996 |url=https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/37596/dot_37596_DS1.pdf |access-date=5 October 2020 |website=Repository and Open Science Access Portal; National Transportation Library; United States Department of Transportation |publisher=United States Federal Aviation Administration |quote=20 February 1952: President Truman established a temporary Airport Commission under the chairmanship of James H. Doolittle, with CAA Administrator C.F. Horne and J.C. Hunsaker of NACA as members. The action responded to a series of crashes, due to varied causes, in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. These events had raised residents’ fears and prompted authorities to close Newark Airport temporarily. |page=[https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/37596/dot_37596_DS1.pdf#page=55 55]-56}}</ref> The report "Airports and Their Neighbors" led to zoning requirements for buildings near approaches, early noise control requirements, and initial work on "super airports" with {{convert|10,000|foot|adj=on}} runways, suited to 150 ton aircraft.

Doolittle was appointed a life member of the [[MIT Corporation]], the university's board of trustees, an uncommon permanent appointment, and served as an MIT Corporation Member for 40 years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/corporation/membership/pastmembers.html |title=Members of the MIT Corporation |website=[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]}}</ref>

In 1954, President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] asked Doolittle to perform a study of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]; the resulting work was known as the [[Doolittle Report, 1954]], and was classified for a number of years.

From 1957 to 1958, he was [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics#NACA chairmen|chairman]] of the [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics]] (NACA). This period was during the events of [[Sputnik I|Sputnik]], [[Vanguard 1|Vanguard]] and [[Explorer I|Explorer]]. He was the last person to hold this position, as the NACA was superseded by [[NASA]]. Doolittle was asked to serve as the first NASA administrator, but he turned it down.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Putnam |first1=William D. |first2=Eugene M. |last2=Emme |author2-link=Eugene M. Emme |title=I Was There: 'The Tremendous Potential of Rocketry' |journal=Air & Space Magazine |date=September 2012 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |url=http://www.airspacemag.com/space/i-was-there-the-tremendous-potential-of-rocketry-18946468/ |access-date=16 December 2015}}</ref>

Doolittle retired from [[Air Force Reserve]] duty on February 28, 1959. He remained active in other capacities, including chairman of the board of [[TRW Inc.|TRW]] Space Technology Laboratories.  ''Doolittle Drive'' at TRW's [[Space Park]] was named in his honor.