Ernest Graves
wanted. So when I came along, I was the last hope of Veysey. But I'm sure that after
he dealt with me for a while, he probably gave up on me, too.
Q:
General McIntyre told a colleague of mine that Mr. Veysey tended to treat General
Gribble with contempt.
A:
I think that the problem was something like this. Vic Veysey was a political appointee,
and, I think correctly, his view was that the political appointees in any administration
are supposed to set the policy and the direction.
The fact is, the Corps had tended to set its own policy and direction--in earlier
administrations--generally in accord with the national consensus. The Corps was a
group in the executive branch with whom Congress dealt directly. Some Presidents
resented this. Others accepted it as a fact of life and didn't get too upset.
The Corps reported to the President as commander-in-chief. But it also dealt directly
with Congress. And the Secretary of the Army had never taken a great part in this, I
guess if you go back to the '30s. [Harry H.] Woodring was the Secretary then.
The introduction of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works presumably
introduced a political appointee to deal with these issues. At the time the position was
originally proposed, it was thought that the Corps was losing out because the other big
water resource development agency--the Department of the Interior--had a series of
political appointees who were dealing with these issues, but the Corps had nobody
except its career people--military and civilian. The Corps needed to have a political
appointee. That was the theory.
It wasn't very perceptive because the political appointees, by and large, have had a
different agenda. Their agenda was not to work with Congress. The agenda was to
throttle the program because of not wanting to spend money. So there was always
tension when the political appointee came in. Here he saw this organization with this
labyrinthine relationship with Congress. And he wanted to get across the lines of
communication. It's a tough job.
Q:
Yes. I think the phrase that General McIntyre used, in fact, was that Veysey tended to
talk to General Gribble as a parent would to a child, that he did talk down to him and
this upset him a great deal.
A:
They were so different. Veysey was a politician through and through. Gribble was a
career government servant. They just had a different view of the world.
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