Theodore M.
But it's an interesting facet of our political history that the Republican Party
really was the liberal party. My family, I'm sure, were all Republicans. I was
named "Theodore" because my mother and father had such a great respect for
Theodore Roosevelt.
Now we've had a complete changing of the political spectrum, starting with
Taft when he changed the nature of the Republican Party and when Teddy
Roosevelt with his Bull Moose campaign was defeated.
Let me continue on that for a second, because actually, while on the one hand,
of course, the Eisenhower administration was trying to exert some control over
the enormous costs of water resources projects, on the other hand there was
some legislation passed in the 1950s that, in some senses, expanded the federal
role in water resources. I'm talking specifically about legislation involving
coastal engineering projects and also legislation involving water supply, the
1958 Water Supply Act.
I wonder if you might give us a little bit of background on either one or both
of those acts? I'm particularly interested, frankly, in the Water Supply Act,
because that seems to be something that is of some interest to us today. Did
you get involved in any of
The Water Supply Act of `58 was Title III of this bill that I was talking about
that was vetoed, and that was one of the reasons that we vetoed it twice. That
was one of the objections, because it opened up a whole new area. The Bureau
of the Budget, at least, was dead against it, and the President supported us.
Now, I have to say that, on the third try, they took out more projects and the
recommendation on cost sharing for changed land enhancement. The President
eventually signed the bill, but that was after I had left the Bureau of the
Budget. But Title III stayed in the bill and became law.
Legislative Reference Service, Library of Congress
I think I ought to tell you how it came about that I left the Bureau of the
Budget to accept the position of senior specialist in Engineering and Public
Works at the Legislative Reference Service at the Library of Congress. The
reason I got that job was they had interviewed Howard Cook, and also Eugene
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