Jerry Ackerman
Q ..
How about Jerry
A
Jerry Ackerman, yes I knew him. I had a few committees that I worked on with him.
Now, are you talking about the Ackerman that was in MRD or are you talking about the
Ackerman that worked for the Illinois State Water?
Q ..
No, this was the one that was in
and I guess he was in OCE at one time, too.
He was Chief of Engineering in MRD. But I don't think he was ever, to my knowledge,
A
he was never in OCE. But he followed Wendell Johnson, I think, or closely after Wendell
Johnson was Chief of Engineering at MRD. He was a good man too.
Joe
Q ..
How about Joe Caldwell?
A
He was a prince of a man. He was a kind of guy who really worried about taking care of
his employees--he got to be Chief of Engineering for a while there. He really didn't have
the right background for that job. He had the personality for it, but his background was
primarily coastal. He designed coastal structures and that sort of thing.
He really hadn't been much involved in major darns and levees and things like that, so that
he was missing a lot of the background he probably should have had as Chief of
Engineering. But he really knew how to deal with people, and he could pick up on things
real quickly. It didn't take him long to learn once he had a chance. But, it's tough when
you go into a top position like that, it's not a very good place to be learning.
Q.
Yes, it's a little late, isn't it?
l
A
It's kind of tough to have to be getting the basics on a lot of the things. But he was really
a great man as far as I was concerned. He knew a lot of the important people in Congress
because of his background down in Mississippi, Jamie
mouse of Representatives,
Chairman of the Appropriations Committee] and people like that, why he patted them on
the back. They'd have a hearing or something over there, and he'd walk in the room and,
some of the prominent Senators and Congressman, say, "Hey, Joe how ya doing?" It
would make the generals feel a little inadequate.
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