Ernest Graves
Q:
Anyone in particular?
A:
Well, there is a man who was always called Judge [Joseph J.] Mansfield. His son, Bruce
Mansfield, worked for the Corps. Judge Mansfield was the chairman of the House
Rivers and Harbors Committee, I believe it was called in those days.
There was a Congressman [William M.] Whittington who was another very powerful
member of Congress.
Q:
Also called "Judge," I think.
A:
Also called Judge.
These are two that I remember my father talking about. Huey Long was in the Senate,
and his son, Russell Long, came along behind. The other senator from Louisiana was
Senator [John H.] Overton, who appointed me to West Point. The relations between
these members of Congress and the Corps of Engineers were a good example of how
our government works.
Q:
Senator Overton's name is on one of those flood control acts, I think.
A:
I think it is. Two Corps of Engineer civilian engineers, Val Darling and Carter Page,
worked with my father from the time they were very young. Page went into the Army
during the war and became a colonel and then returned to OCE [Office of the Chief of
Engineers] as a civilian after the war. These three men were idea men and also the
expediters for a lot of the innovative things that happened in civil works in the 1930s.
The particular position my father occupied was on the Mississippi River Commission.
In those days one of the members of the commission was in Washington. Now, of
course, three division engineers and an officer from NOAA [National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration] serve as the members from the government on the
commission.
Q:
So he was like the resident member here?
A:
He was a resident member here. That was the title he was given. I don't know why he
was resident here, but that is what he was called, the resident member. That was the
office which he occupied. He and Darling and Page were in the midst of many things.
Q:
His influence so obviously transcended that of a colonel in the Army--you know, it is
apparent--
11
Previous Page
