Memoirs
Whether or not it would be a good idea to have such a schedule for every Corps'
project is a matter of policy because there are many political factors involved. In any
administration as well as in the Congress, there are always questions as to where the
money
for civil works funding is going to be allocated. Having one project
that, in effect, gets priority sometimes affects the distribution of funding to other
projects.
suspect there was less than enthusiastic acceptance in some quarters of the fact that
we had put a strong claim on a given amount of money for any one year. That meant
this project had to be taken care of and other projects might not receive the funding
that other people might have desired. But for that particular project, think it was an
excellent idea. It proved to be both accurate in its forecast of time and cost and also
gave us the opportunity to plan realistically and to complete it over the eight-year time
frame.
Q ..
Are you
of other instances where this was used then or later?
A ..
I'm not aware of any. It may have been used in the Tennessee-Tombigbee project, but
I don't know.
Q ..
And you thought that method may have been from Polaris?
A ..
It originally came out of the Navy's Polaris program.
Q ..
And you became aware of it at CEBMCO?
A ..
Yes.
Q ..
How did you feel after this initial meeting with Senator Kerr when he offered you the
governorships of two states? You already had some strong political figures in Texas
that you had to deal with like Johnson and [John] Connally and others.
A ..
I was aware of political reality, of course, from my service in Washington. But I
realized that I had to have something more than guesswork to use in talking to these
people. I
to have factual information that could rely on in dealing with them,
because the pressure was always, to "get it done." Of course, Senator Kerr didn't live
a year after that time, but Arkansas Senator McClellan picked up the ball and continued
the close Senate interest in the program. It was essential to have factual basis for
commitments as to what could be done.
What would you see as the most challenging aspect of the Arkansas River system?
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