Engineer Memoirs
We were able to handle that review and, I think, win grudging respect from the Carter
administration people, to get through the review with the support of the people up in
Congress for the way we handled it. Secretary of the Army Alexander was very
impressed with the way the Corps dealt with that. That involved a lot of politics--the
ability to perceive what the situation was and do the right thing. I've always been
interested in that. My father was always interested in it and was a very skilled
practitioner of these things.
So I think it was the combination of the technical challenges with management and
political challenges. Over its life, the Corps had handled these three things very well.
So it was a challenge. But it was very rewarding.
Q:
I hadn't really realized when we started talking that your interests lay in that field.
A:
It's perfectly true that I was fascinated by the nuclear energy business. That had a lot
of technical challenges and I did get my degree in physics. But over time there got to
be a lot of frustrations in that business. Actually, the nuclear business has suffered every
bit as much of a stalemate, if you will, not so much because of technical challenges, but
some of the management has not been that good and the political aspects have been
handled very poorly.
It's hard to compare the two fields. I had a lot of good friends and a lot of people in
both that I respected.
Q:
Given your interest in civil works, did you find it frustrating to be kept out of it for so
long?
A:
You have to remember that that was the principal thing that I was doing when I was the
division engineer in Chicago.
Up to that point, I had been involved in other things. When I went to the Pentagon from
the War College into the Office of the Under Secretary of the Army to work on the
Panama Canal, I had hoped to get a district. But General Wilson was adamant that I
should go into the headquarters. I think his view was, since I had not been in the
Pentagon up to that point and was completing 21 years of service, unless I went into
the Pentagon and had the experience that you get there and had the exposure that you
get there, I wouldn't advance in the Army. And he was right.
Q:
One other thing you mentioned earlier, your description of military construction as
messy and civil works as more organized.
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