Ernest Graves
By the time it came down to it, Chuck McGinnis was the Director of Civil Works. They
had a big meeting in OCE. Secretary Alexander was involved, and all this was to sort
out the division of the Potomac River water.
That's just one example. Nobody completely solves a civil works problem in one tour
of duty. They go on. The guy who knows what he's doing is going to talk to his
predecessor to find out what had been done before he came on board.
Q:
People who worked with General Morris sometimes observe that he didn't like to face
controversial issues directly. Did you find that to be true?
A:
I think that's a little harsh. I think Jack tried to find a way to handle controversial issues
that didn't confront individuals. A controversial issue has several sides to it, obviously.
One way is to make everybody confront the issue. Jack was always trying to find a
solution where everybody would be satisfied.
In other words, he felt it was possible--and very often he was right--to find some
solution where nobody had to feel that he'd been put down. I think that in trying to do
that Jack may have created the impression that he didn't want to face it.
He knew what the issues were. His view was that a leader could figure out a way to
come up with a solution in which there was something for everybody. Now sometimes
that was not the right way. There were some issues where that wasn't true. Sometimes
I guess compromise was not the best way.
Q:
Later, in the context of the Israeli project when there were officers who refused to go
and they weren't made to retire, one officer who was involved in one of those issues
who did go told me that it was the Deputy Chief's job to make sure that people did
what they were supposed to do. This takes me, in a way, back to what you said about
General Lee, who had been more or less a disciplinarian on Eisenhower's staff.
A:
I don't think it's necessarily bad tactics to make the deputy do the harsh work.
Q:
Does the deputy do the harsh work?
A:
Yes, and that's fine. Most deputies don't mind that because, if the deputy calls
somebody and says, "All right, this is it," particularly if the Chief of Engineers has told
him that's the way it's going to be, he feels, "Well, this isn't my responsibility. The
Chief made this decision." Yes, I think it's better for the Chief to stand back from these
things.
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