Engineer Memoirs
there as the Director of Military Application and going back to civil works. I could
easily have stayed four years in the military application job. Giller, one of my
predecessors, had stayed five.
Q:
You were happy doing that?
A:
Yes. But, I had to think about what that meant for the future. I concluded--I don't
know whether this was right or not--that if I stayed on there, it would be the end of my
career in the Army. There wouldn't be any place else for me to go, I would retire from
that job, and I would probably end up working in some nuclear activity.
That was one choice. The other choice was to go back to the Corps of Engineers and
become involved in the civil works program. I decided I would rather go back.
During the time I was at the Atomic Energy Commission, the commission came to an
end. That's a long, involved story that I am not sure I fully understand to this day. Dixie
Lee Ray was the chairman, and there were several forces at work. One had to do with
broadening the activities into other energy areas. Another had to do with separating the
regulation of nuclear activities from the development. The commission was responsible
for both development and regulation.
In the end, Congress passed a bill that abolished the Atomic Energy Commission,
created the Energy Research and Development Administration, and created the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission.
I was there for this transition. The first administrator of the Energy Research and
Development Administration was [Robert C.] Bob Seamans [Jr.], who had been
Secretary of the Air Force. There were assistant administrators for various areas,
including one for defense programs. General Dodd Starbird, who had retired from the
Army, became the assistant administrator for defense programs. He was my boss.
Q:
Not the first time.
A:
It was the first time I had worked directly for him. He had been instrumental in getting
me into the canal business. But I had been out in Livermore, not working directly for
him. I knew him very well. We were in SHAPE at the same time, but I had not worked
directly for him.
Working for Dodd Starbird was a mixed blessing. He was a very bright, a very patient
person. Easy to work for in that he didn't get upset. He was always very even. But he
was a very detailed supervisor. He didn't give you very much freedom. He was very
polite about all this, but you spent a great deal of time just tending to what Starbird
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