Engineer Memoirs
shape physically, and we just didn't need to wait another months while a study was being
made. To me there was a time beyond which we shouldn't go with the present structure. It
may be 18 months, it may be 18 years, but the dam was in bad shape, and we should get it
replaced quickly.
I mentioned the word "safety" in that letter, and it upset him because one of the president's
personal priorities was to emphasize dam safety to avoid more dam failures.
Secretary Alexander called me over to make this point personally. I admired him for that, in
hindsight. We had quite a discussion. My point was simply that I didn't know anything about
the 18 months, and that if he felt he had to go with 18 months, I would support it, but that as
his engineer I desired a chance to present a position on engineering matters prior to
commitment.
I don't want this to sound like it was aknockdown-dragout, but that was the essence of it. He
respected my position, and from then on, we never had a problem.
He became the Corps' most ardent supporter when the issue of reorganizing the Executive
Branch arose. I can't overstate how supportive he was, and how outspoken he was in defense
of the Corps. We couldn't have had a better advocate than Secretary Alexander. From my
view he and I had an unusually constructive arrangement. That's not to say that we always
agreed, but we always could communicate.
Other persons that we haven't talked about were the Chiefs of Staff, the military bosses. I had
two Chiefs of Staff. One was General Bernard W. Rogers and then E. C. Meyer.
Understandably, they were both very strong individuals. As mentioned previously Rogers and
I were classmates, so I'd known him a long time. He was a principal in the Corps' becoming
a major command. He and Mr. Hoffman got along so well-that whole arrangement between
the Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Army, as far as I was concerned, was very
comfortable.
The Corps had some problems that involved the Chief of Staff Charleston District and
Senator Hollings for example.
Then we had the blizzard in Buffalo while Dan Ludwig was the Buffalo District engineer.
I heard about troops being sent to Buffalo on the TV one morning. At the Chief of Staff's
meeting that same morning, I mentioned the fact that when the troops arrived up there, they
were going to be working for a Corps of Engineers colonel. It would be nice if he knew who
was coming since the Corps of Engineers was in charge of the emergency snow removal and
so forth. We were, thereafter, to my recollection.
Secretary Alexander, in reviewing the documentation to support the Corps' becoming a major
command, was impressed with the responsibilities of the Chief of Engineers and
unbeknownst to me, had decided that he would support making the Chief of Engineers a four-
star position. Since Rogers was leaving, Alexander decided he'd wait until General Meyer
came in.
Meyer came to see me on the 7th of December 1979 for a briefing. The four-star subject did
not come up. Three weeks later, Secretary Alexander apparently indicated he would like to
get the Chief of Engineers' position elevated to four stars. Meyer seemed very upset with me
about that because I didn't mention it to him in early December.
The truth of the matter is this whole thing about getting the position upgraded was handled
with Morelli because they didn't want me to be involved in it. Unfortunately, we got trapped
a little bit. General Meyer told the secretary he didn't want to do it. I believe the job has
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