Enaineer Memoirs
My hope was that Congress would then authorize the navigation plan as a single objective,
therefore, when the Corps added an included segment, Congress would only have to refer to
the approved plan and wouldn't have to go through the laborious process of justifying each
addition as if it were a separate project to carry its own weight.
That study was finished after I became Chief and will be discussed further later.
Q ..
What about dam safety?
A
We'd had some dam failures throughout the country, not federal projects, but state and
private. A piece of legislation was passed while I was director of Civil Works-the dam safety
inspection program. Senator [John] Stennis called up one day, wondering how much money
it would take. I told him I was reluctant to give him a number but finally figured there were
probably 30,000 dams out there that we'd have to inspect at about ,000 a dam or something
like 0 million.
I came up with 0 million but asked that the 30,000 dams be mentioned as well. I didn't
know how many dams there were, and I didn't even know how much they were going to cost
per dam, but at least we had the equation. The dam safety inspection program was established
and estimated costs identified. Money was not appropriated, so we didn't do anything at that
time. One of the first things that happened after I became Chief of Engineers was the
implementation of that bill.
Q ..
Tell me about the Corps' participation in the Bicentennial.
A
We began to celebrate in 1975, so we put this together starting back about 1974. The Army
had criteria for military activities, but what was the Corps of Engineers going to do for its
public works role? I asked General Gribble at that time if it would be all right if we had only
one primary activity, and that I would like to spend
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million on it. He didn't object. The
Congress authorized us to spend up to
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million of otherwise appropriated funds for the
Bicentennial. The plan was that the historical role of Congress in the public works program
would be identified.
Lieutenant Colonel Bob Benning was working for me at the time, and I gave him this task.
Bob was an outstanding visionary who could get a job done. He had been in Kansas City
District. He suggested he not be burdened with a committee. We decided to look at the old
Sergeant Foyd, a work boat in the Missouri River Division. I had known the boat while
there, and it was about to be junked. Major General Andy Rollins, Deputy Chief of Engineers,
was anxious not to let the Foyd be scuttled, so we had a strong support up front and were able
to get an okay to make a traveling museum using the old work boat.
Benning contracted to refurbish the Foyd; put a barge in the front of it; paint everything red,
white, and blue; and install a six-speaker, six-screen visual setup to give the history of the
Corps, its nation building and water resource development roles. It became a traveling theater.
A barge platform in front was used for local entertainment. This exhibit went many thousands
of miles through the Mississippi, its tributaries, and the Gulf. Several million Americans
visited the Foyd. It was very good. Benning deserves a lot of credit. A song was prepared,
"Let Us Try," an environmentally sensitive song. We put a calliope on the boat to play this
song along the river either as a waltz, in a Dixieland style, or as a march. People would gather
at the dock and it was just-it was a good piece of work.
The Corps won the Silver Anvil for the effort. The Silver Anvil is a national award for public
relations. Competition included Gulf Oil, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, other big
Geographic. Naturally, we were very pleased to be chosen in
companies, even the
our class.
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