Ernest Graves
General Clarke probably thought I was a good one to send out to try to straighten this
out.
Q:
How did you feel about going out there?
A:
Generally pleased. It wasn't my first choice of a place to go. But I didn't waste much
time wishing that I could go to some other place.
Q:
Now you're getting your first civil works assignment, and it is a post-NEPA world.
A:
That was another factor in the North Central Division that I meant to mention. The
environmental movement was more active up in that part of the world.
Q:
Saint Paul District especially.
A:
Yes, Minnesota, Wisconsin--Michigan, also. New York was still very much an
industrially-oriented state. Ohio, as well, was leaning in the other direction, with the
[Governor John J.] Gilligan administration. They were liberal. The Corps was probably
under heavier attack in the North Central Division than in any other at that particular
time. That was another problem that hadn't been dealt with effectively.
Q:
Did you ever pause and compare that situation to the situation that your father had
faced in civil works?
A:
It was very different. When he was in it, it was an upbeat thing. The country was in an
era of development, and the Corps benefited tremendously from the New Deal. The
public works program of the Corps was part and parcel of the New Deal. We were
under terrific attack in the 1970s. General Clarke exerted tremendous leadership to turn
the Corps around to deal with this. That was easy for me to follow.
Q:
What did he want you to do in Chicago? Was it the management of that division that
he was concerned about?
A:
I think in terms of his focus, coming to terms with the environmental requirements was
the number one item. But right up there was getting the division more efficient. It
certainly needed that. This was punctuated when they had their command inspection a
few months after I arrived.
When I first went out there, I lived in the bachelor officers quarters at Fort Sheridan
[Illinois]. I was assigned on the 15th of December, went out for a week, then came back
for Christmas, then went back and lived in bachelor [quarters] until June because I had
children in school in Arlington.
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