Memoirs
A ..
Well, I don't know how strong the effort was. It was very clear that the
staff
wanted very much to have WES under their control, and my impression was that
inclined toward that view. I suspect that he had some early conversations with
[Emerson] Itschner, who was assistant chief for civil works, and was probably told that
it wasn't going to happen. As a result, I don't think he ever put himself out on a limb
to get it chopped off. There was a lot of discussion and a lot of talk, but I never felt that
a change was ever really imminent.
..
So it's not a case of anything having occurred since 1949 that raised doubts about he
wisdom of the original move?
A ..
I think the feeling was that MRC was the major headquarters in the area and al the
Corps activities in Vicksburg ought to be under one command. The one element that
wasn't was the experiment station, because the commission office, the division, and the
district were all under the commission. From that point of view, it made sense. But
from the point of view of work, no, it didn't make any sense at all
The station was supported by the division in many ways. The Vicksburg District
provided
estate support and a number of other services. It was a very close
association. But it wasn't necessary for the station to be assigned to the division.
Q ..
So it's really a question of the prestige of the experiment station and
A ..
And its relationship with other customers.
Q ..
I see that point. And this involved such things as attracting employees or getting the
better
A ..
I think that the real thing was to attract the work that we depended upon; having
challenging work was what made it attractive in employing people. Other districts and
divisions felt much freer in dealing with us directly than if they were required to go
through another office essentially parallel to theirs. There was too much opportunity
for them to feel that they were getting second-place treatment. Whereas, if they were
dealing with an OCE subordinate office, there was no reason to believe that they would
get any
priority than anybody else.
The station's prestige was also a factor. But that, in reality, meant that because people
weren't required to bring work to us, we had to convince them that we were the best
qualified.
Q.
How did you go about doing that?
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