John W. Morris
of these buttons. The next thing I knew, Frank Camm, division engineer in San Francisco, wanted
to know where he could get them. I put up a sign-up list and the button took off. For several years
after that, Harry Dolphin was the "The Corps Cares" button procurer. The only thing was
everybody had to pay for them. I do believe we must have distributed 5,000 "The Corps Cares"
buttons in the first six months or so. In fact, the idea became so popular that General Clarke made
it the theme of one of his engineer dinners.
It seemed to make a difference, frankly. I know that was not the only reason, but it was a
contributor to what became a different attitude around the Missouri River Division and perhaps
throughout the Corps. I know we got a lot
knew we'd made it when it became the
subject of cartoons, particularly by our artist friend over in Arkansas, whoever he was. You
remember that guy?
the fat generals and everything?
Q: George Fisher.
A:
He put a "The Corps Cares" button on a fat general. I wasn't so fat in those days so I was sure it
wasn't me, but nevertheless, that "The Corps Cares" button came early and it stayed long and I
think created an interesting phenomenon. We had a little trouble with the Pentagon, wearing it
on a uniform, but we could adjust to that, of course.
Besides the "The Corps Cares" idea, I thought it'd be a good idea to do some internal decoration,
and we set up in the hallway of the division office an exhibit from each of the two districts.
Kansas City made an excellent piece. So did Omaha, for that matter, with pictures and so forth.
We had a third area with prominent previous division engineers including Generals Pick and
Sturgis-two Chiefs of Engineers. The visits by the U.S. presidents to the Missouri River
Division was displayed because every president beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt had been
there at that time except President [Richard] Nixon, and he came later.
We started publishing news items. As for public civic activities, the Corps of Engineers became
active in the College World Series of baseball played in Omaha each year. I pledged the Corps
would double its previous year's contribution. That wasn't too hard because they'd only given
about 0 the year before, but we did well enough to be a community leader and were
recognized in the paper.
In the meantime, I'd asked the newspaper publisher if he would put somebody on our beat. I knew
we were doing a lot of things that deserved some public attention, so Mr. Anderson, of the Omaha
e
Tribune, gave us an excellent supportive reporter. As a result, we began to get more news in the
paper.
Mayor Leahy was very active. We joined with him to make public areas available for parks and
recreation. So all in all, it was sort of a revitalization of what had been, for many, many years, a
very close relationship between the Corps team in Omaha and the public, and not only in Omaha
but also in Kansas City.
We also visited the governors of the states to discuss their water resource problems, and also we
visited the commanders of major military installations. So there was a resurgence of customer
interest. I think that plus the "The Corps Cares" thing seemed to turn Omaha into a more dynamic
activity. We had some outstanding people in the division and in the district. Omaha District was
a strong district and well directed by Pat Pendergast. Omaha was one of the five districts at that
time that had military construction. In fact, Omaha had the largest military construction program.
Pat Pendergast used to call it the "Super District." Well, it was in many ways. Yet Baltimore, Fort
Worth and Mobile were also heavy hitters in those days. Omaha may have had the biggest budget.
Kansas City did civil works only.
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