When you’re in the travel and hospitality business, you must travel and be hospitable in any circumstance. One day you’re managing one of the smallest airfields in the world, and the next day the president of the United States and a five-star general are yelling at each other in your living room.

That was the situation facing 33-year-old Ed Swofford on Oct. 15, 1950. Pan American Airways’ station master on 4-square-mile Wake Island, Swofford was suddenly handed a one-day summit conference with international implications, as President Harry S. Truman faced down legendary Gen. Douglas MacArthur, reminding him that civilians are in charge of the U.S. military, not the other way around.

True to his responsibilities and nature, Swofford handled the assignment with good humor and impeccable organizational skills, another step in a long career that spanned Pacific aviation history.

Edward E. Swofford, 98, died April 14 in Honolulu.

For that historic meeting in 1950 about the Korean War, Swofford was notified by secret message Oct. 11 that the general and the president were descending upon Wake, and at first he refused to believe it. Two days later, however, the summit was confirmed, and, as Swofford put it, “The fur really began to fly.”

For security reasons the number of aircraft and dignitaries that would be arriving was not broadcast, so Swofford’s tiny Pan Am outpost needed to be ready for anything. Eventually, four transport aircraft settled on the islet — including one with 56 reporters and photographers. Swofford made all the arrangements. The president stayed in Swofford’s Quonset-hut home. Newspapers called it the Little White House, and it was there that Truman and MacArthur had their showdown over how MacArthur was conducting the war.

The family got in on the action. During a photo shoot, 7-year-old Susie Swofford nudged Truman with her elbow and said, “Move over, I want to get in the picture, too!” During a break in the talks, 9-year-old Greg Swofford took the president for a tour of the beach.

Swofford, a Republican, admitted afterward that he was impressed with Truman, a Democrat, but that he thought MacArthur was a “truly great man.”

Born in Terre Haute, Ind., to Everett and Pearl Swofford, and raised in Riverside, Calif., Swofford grew up loving airplanes. He took odd jobs to be near them and, when he was old enough, took flying lessons, paying for them by washing the aircraft afterward.

After graduating from college, he joined Pan American Airways in 1943 as a junior airport manager at San Francisco’s Treasure Island, a year later shifting to Honolulu station manager. During the war Pan American had been essentially drafted into the Navy, and Swofford was brevetted as an ensign. From that point on he was Pan Am’s point man all over the Pacific, working revolving stints at San Francisco, Honolulu, Tokyo, Guam and Wake.

“Ed was loved and respected by the entire worldwide Pan Am family, as most of us worked for him sometime in our careers,” recalled Darlene Laster, who worked with Swofford in the Pan American retirees association. “He will be greatly missed by all of us here in Hawaii, and we will always be especially grateful to him for his longtime efforts to preserve Pan Am history in the Pacific Aviation Museum Ford Island at Pearl Harbor.”

When the war ended, Swofford became Pan Am’s first station manager on Guam, overseeing construction of a new base only to see it destroyed in a typhoon. Swofford rolled up his sleeves and started over.

In 1949, taking command of the Wake Island terminal, he was the first U.S. commissioner of tiny Wake Island, which saw only one aircraft landing a week. A year later, due to the Korean War, Wake was the busiest hub in the Pan Am system, landing 25 aircraft a day — and then Truman and MacArthur came calling.

In 1951 he headed Pan Am operations at Tokyo Airport, becoming regional director of Japan, Okinawa and South Korea in 1954.

In 1958 Swofford became Pan Am’s regional director for both the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

He settled again in Hawaii in 1970 as Pan Am’s divisional vice president for the entire Pacific, leaving only to become president and CEO of Aloha Airlines in the late 1970s. He led the company during the difficult airline deregulation period, during which time Aloha had fewer customer complaints than any other U.S. airline.

Although he retired in 1983, Swofford was in demand as a board member for dozens of organizations, including various Masonic temples, the Pacific Islands Development Council, Royal Aloha Vacation Club, Pacific Area Travel Association, Aloha Council of the Boy Scouts of America and Aloha United Way. He also held chairmanships of the Hawaii Visitors Bureau and Hawaii Visitor Education Council, and was president of the Alaska Travel Promotion Association.

Swofford was director emeritus of the Pan Am Historical Foundation, and with Frank Der Yuen helped created the Pacific Aerospace Museum at Honolulu Airport, a collection that later migrated to the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor.

“He’s a legend. There’s no doubt that Ed was one of the great aviation pioneers on the Pacific,” said Donn Parent, former aviation museum director. “Not only did he help create Pan Am’s presence in this ocean, he did a hell of job leading Aloha Airlines through a tough time. At the museum he was a mentor, a real guiding light, and I don’t think without Ed we could have ever gotten it going.”

A longtime member of Central Union Church, Swofford and his wife, Karen, made it their mission to acquire a new organ for the sanctuary. Swofford was also instrumental in the founding of Hospice Hawaii and Tokyo Union Church.

In addition to his wife, Swofford is survived by sons Greg of New York and Hayden of Langley, Wash.; daughter Susan Crane of Kenmore, Wash.; grandsons Scott Painter of Los Angeles, Tyler Painter of Lafayette, Calif., and Shaw Swofford of Canada; and granddaughter Laura Jean of Washington state.

Services will be held at 5 p.m. May 11 in the Central Union Church sanctuary; visitation starts at 4:15 p.m.