BIOGRAPHICAL DATA SHEET John L. McLucas
Date of Birth: August 22, 1920
Place of Birth: Fayetteville, North Carolina
Education, including degrees awarded:
B.S. in Physics, Davidson College,
M.S. in Physics, Tulane University, Ph.D. in Physics, Pa. State University, U.S. Navy radar school, Princeton/M.LT.
1941 1943 1950 1943-44
Military service:
U.S. Army R.O.T.C. Davidson College 1937-41
U.S. Navy, Radar Officer, C.LC. Officer, Communications Officer, Operations Officer 1943-46, Ensign & Lieutenant j.g.
U.S. Air Force, Pa. Air National Guard 1948-50 Radar Officer, Captain
Positions held in government:
1. Physicist, USAF Cambridge Research Center 1946-47
2.Deputy Director, Defense Research& Engineering 1962-64
3. Asst Secretary General for Science, NATO 1964-66
4. Undersecretary, US Air Force 1969-73
5. Director, National Reconnaissapce Office 03/17/1969-12/20/1973
6. Secretary, US Air Force 1973-75
7. Administrator, FAA 1975-77
8. Member, Defense Science Board 1968-69, AF Sci. Advis. Bd. 1966-69, 1977-83, DIA Adv.
Cte. 1967-69
9. Chairman, Air Force Studies Board 1990-93
10. Chairman, NASA Advisory Council 1990-93
11. Member FAA Advisory Committee 1992-
Positions held in private indllstry:
1. Haller, Raymond & Brown, physicist/engineer 1948-50
2. HRBIHRB Singer, Chief Engineer, Technical Director, VP, President 1950-62
3. C-COR Electronics, Founder/President 1953-58, Member of the Board 1982-90
4. MITRE Corporation, President/CEO 1966-69
5. COMSAT Corporation, President, Comsat General 1977-79
President, Comsat World Systems 1980-83 EXVP, COMSAT Corporation 1983-85
6. QuesTech, Chairman 1985-88 .
7. Wolf Trap Foundation, Chairman 1985":88
8. External Tanks Corp., Chairman 1988-
9. International Space University Chairman 1990-93, member of Board 1987-93
10. Member of the board: UCAR 1987-93; National Acad Eng 1987-93; Orbital Sciences Corp. 1987 US Space Foundation 1988
The following information is from the Arlington National Cemetery Website:

John L. McLucas, 82, a scientist and administrator who served during the 1970s as Secretary of the Air Force and Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, died of respiratory failure December 1, 2002, at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia. He had been in ill health since undergoing heart surgery 10 years ago.

Dr. McLucas spent his professional career in aviation and aerospace. After stepping down as FAA chief in 1977, he was a senior officer of Comsat. He retired in 1985 after having served as president of Comsat World Systems and chief strategic officer of Comsat Corp.

As a scientist, he was said to have had a healthy curiosity about how things worked and was something of an inventor. As a young man, he received a patent for a solar-powered sewing machine. Later in his career, he would patent more technologically sophisticated devices. He was an enthusiastic advocate for the widest possible use of modern technology and was an energetic supporter of making global positioning satellites available for civilian use, such as meteorology. He was a past president of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Dr. McLucas, a resident of The Fairfax community at Fort Belvoir, was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He grew up in the North Carolina mountains and on a South Carolina farm and graduated from Davidson College, working his way through with the assistance of an aunt who sent him $50 a month. As he advanced in his professional career and traveled far from his birthplace, the Carolina accent of his boyhood inevitably dissipated. But his children said it always returned on trips back home, when he sat on a front porch with family and friends to discuss such matters as the year's soybean crop.

He received a master's degree in physics from Tulane University and a doctorate in physics from Pennsylvania State University.

During World War II, he served in the Navy in the Pacific. Afterward he would describe his wartime work as involving "a project so secret that it had to be spelled backwards." When pressed on what exactly this was, he confided that it was something called "radar."

During the 1950s, Dr. McLucas was vice president and technical director and then president of Haller, Raymond & Brown Inc., a research company in State College, Pa. He came to Washington in 1962 as deputy director in the office of the director of defense research and engineering at the Pentagon.

He traveled to Paris in 1964 as assistant secretary general for scientific affairs at NATO, then from 1966 to 1969 he was president of Mitre Corp. in Bedford, Mass., a not-for-profit firm that does research for government agencies.

He returned to Washington in 1969 as undersecretary of the Air Force, a position he held until 1973, when he became secretary. During his leadership, he backed the admission of women to the Air Force Academy and argued in favor of allowing female Air Force officers to fly planes. Decades later, high-ranking female Air Force officers would thank him for this contribution to their careers. It was a source of personal pride to Dr. McLucas that during his years with the Air Force, he flew every type of plane the service had, although in some cases this involved taking over the controls for only a few minutes.

From 1975 to 1977, Dr. McLucas was FAA administrator, dealing in this period with a variety of aircraft safety issues and also the concerns of an increasingly restive and vocal Professional Air Traffic Controllers union.

He was author of a book, "Space Commerce," published in 1991, and a former chairman of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Advisory Committee and the Presidential Task Force on Aircraft Crew Complement, which was established in 1981 to determine how many pilots aircraft should carry in the cockpit. He was a member of the Defense Science Board and the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.

He was a lifelong Presbyterian, a member of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria, and a former chairman of the Wolf Trap Foundation. After the Filene Center at Wolf Trap was destroyed in a fire in 1982, Dr. McLucas led a $9 million fundraising drive to rebuild the facility.

At home he composed doggerel for special family occasions, did crossword puzzles in ink and made up lively animal stories to tell his children, one of whom won a compliment from his teacher when he repeated the story at school.

His marriage to Patricia Knapp ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife of 21 years, Harriet Black McLucas of Fort Belvoir; four children from his first marriage, Pam Byers of San Francisco, Susan of Boston, John C. of Baltimore and Rod of New York; five stepchildren, Matthew Black of Washington, Bruce Black of Yardley, Pa., Elizabeth Black of Falls Church, Beverly Roca of Haymarket and Robert Black of Alexandria; a sister; and nine grandchildren.

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Courtesy of the United States Air Force:
DR. JOHN L. MCLUCAS
Secretary of the Air Force from July 19, 1973 to November 12, 1975. Died December 1, 2002.



Dr. John L. McLucas became Secretary of the Air Force on July 19, 1973. He had been Acting Secretary of the Air Force since May 15, 1973, and Undersecretary of the Air Force since March 1969. Prior to his appointment as Undersecretary, he was president and chief executive officer of MITRE Corp., of Bedford, Massachusetts, and McLean, Virginia.

Dr. McLucas was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He attended public schools in McColl and Latta, South Carolina, graduating from Latta High School in 1937. He received a bachelor of science degree from Davidson College in 1941, a master of science degree in physics from Tulane University in 1943, and his doctorate in physics from Pennsylvania State University in 1950.

During World War II, he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1946. After one year at the Air Force Cambridge Research Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he enrolled at Pennsylvania State University.

From 1950 to 1957, he was vice president and technical director of Haller, Raymond and Brown Inc., an electronics firm at State College, Pennsylvania. In 1958 he was made president of HRB-Singer Inc. He joined the Department of Defense in May 1962 and served as Deputy Director of Defense Research and Engineering (Tactical Warfare Programs).

Two years later, he was appointed as assistant secretary general for scientific affairs at NATO Headquarters in Paris, France. In 1966 he became president of MITRE Corp., where he remained until his appointment as undersecretary of the Air Force on March 17, 1969.

From 1969 through 1973, Dr. McLucas also served as director of the National Reconnaissance Office, working directly for the Secretary of Defense with support from the Central Intelligence Agency.

In November 1975, President Gerald Ford swore in Dr. McLucas as the eighth administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Dr. McLucas is the author of numerous scientific articles and holds ten U.S. patents. He is the founder or co-founder of several small businesses, and has been active in civic affairs in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

He was elected a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in 1962; and associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1971; and a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1969. He received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service in 1964, and first bronze palm in 1973; and the Air Force Exceptional Service Award in May 1973.

He is a member of the Chief Executives Forum; American Physical Society; Operations Research Society of America; and of several honorary societies, including Sigma Pi Sigma and Sigma Xi. He is a former member of the Defense Science Board, Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, and the Young Presidents Organization.

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Federal Aviation Administration Notification:
On December 1, John L. McLucas died at the age of 82 in Alexandria, Virginia. McLucas served as FAA's eighth administrator from November 24, 1975 to April 1, 1977. He gave up his position as Secretary of the Air Force when President Gerald Ford asked him to take on the critical FAA position.

When McLucas was nominated, Senator Howard Cannon said that he was as highly qualified an appointee as has ever been nominated to head the FAA. McLucas served our nation and aviation well, providing strong and steady leadership through a difficult period. He faced key issues on his watch, such as the threat of midair collisions, growing security concerns, and the pressing need to move forward with modernization.

McLucas was a scientist, with a doctorate in physics, as well as a seasoned manager with extensive experience in the private sector, including heading MITRE Corporation. His public service career began in 1962 when he joined the Defense Department as Deputy Director of Research and Engineering. After heading MITRE, he was named Under Secretary of the Air Force in 1969 and subsequently promoted to Secretary in 1973.

McLucas told FAA employees that machines would never replace people as the airspace system's most important element.That was true in 1977 and it is just as true today.

I know all of us at the FAA appreciate John McLucas' service to our agency and to the nation.

Sincerely,
Marion C. Blakey, Administrator

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McLUCAS, JOHN L.
Graveside service with full military honors will be held at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday, January 9, 2003, at 1 p.m. Attendees should meet at 12:30 p.m. at the Administration Building. Mr. McLucas died on December 1, 2002.
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MCLUCAS, JOHN L
LT(JG) US NAVY
WORLD WAR II
DATE OF BIRTH: 08/22/1920
DATE OF DEATH: 12/01/2002
BURIED AT: SECTION 30 SITE 464-1
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
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Posted: 7 January 2003 Updated: 14 June 2003 Updated: 1 November 2003 Updated: 16 September 2005

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This information is from a message from Melvin Laird, Secretary of Defense:
In the final decade of the twentieth century, our nation focused attention on the noble and courageous men and women
who, 50 years earlier, had participated in World War II. Thanks to a best-selling book by newscaster Tom Brokaw, the Americans who came of age in the 1930s and early 1940s became known as "the greatest generation." Many of those who fought or supported the war effort humbly disavowed such a superlative. No one, however, can deny the achievements of our citizens who grew up in the hard times of the Great Depression. These young people helped win the largest conflict in world history and went on to make further contributions to our country during the long Cold War that followed. Despite all of its death and destruction, World War II accelerated the growth of scientific knowledge and the march of technology.
As one consequence of this, our military services—in
partnership with the nation's universities—trained many young Americans, especially those with a background in science and engineering, to operate and maintain the new technologies so important to the war effort. Others contributed as civilian scientists and engineers. After the war, many veterans who had been exposed to these new technologies took advantage of the G. I. Bill to seek advanced degrees in science, engineering, mathematics,
and related disciplines. When the Cold War set off a prolonged arms race and space competition with the Soviet Union, this well-educated cadre of the greatest generation was ready to provide the technical and managerial expertise needed to meet the Soviet challenge. Combining patriotism with a desire to be on the cutting edge of technology, these "technocrats" played key roles in the defense industry, university and federal research
centers, the military services, and other government agencies. Dr. John L. McLucas was one of the finest examples in this group of influential public servants. After a poignant childhood in the rural South, John took advantage of educational opportunities by earning a master's degree, served as a radar officer in the Navy, earned a PhD in physics, became president and chief executive officer of an innovative technology company,
managed research programs in the Pentagon, served as the top viii scientist in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and headed an eminent electronic systems engineering corporation. These were some of the achievements listed on John's résumé in early 1969 when I, as the newly appointed secretary of defense, was looking for some good people to help me lead our nation's military through a very difficult period. One of my preconditions for accepting Richard Nixon's request for me to take charge of the Department of Defense was being granted full authority to choose my own team of appointees, both
civilian and military. I selected them based on competency and compatibility, not politics. Being a nontechnical person myself, I made sure I hired some top managers with scientific and engineering expertise, starting with my deputy, the esteemed David Packard. To be secretary of the Air Force (the most technically oriented of the services), I selected Bob Seamans. Then a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bob had recently
served as deputy administrator of NASA. Dave, Bob, and I
wanted someone else astute in technology and experienced in defense matters to work with Bob as undersecretary of the Air Force and with Dave and me as director of the National Reconnaissance Office—a job that was then totally secret. I was extremely pleased when John McLucas—at a considerable sacrifice to himself and his family—agreed to return to Washington and fill this dual position.
I believe his willingness to serve the country rather than
pursue only private interests was a hallmark of the postwar generation of executives that John exemplified.
With inherited responsibilities for the divisive war in Vietnam, which was proving difficult to end on favorable terms, with Americans in uniform being ostracized by many of their fellow citizens, and with the defense budget declining steadily, the Pentagon of 1969 certainly did not seem like a pleasant place to work. I was determined, however, to help our defense establishment weather this difficult period, restore the public's faith in our military personnel and institutions, and prepare for
the continuing Cold War challenges we knew lay ahead. Well
aware of the acrimony and infighting that had often tarnished defense policies in the past, and realizing that a dictatorial approach to running the Pentagon quickly becomes counterproductive, I was determined to instill a sense of teamwork among the services and between them and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). I intended to take full advantage of the military experience of our top-ranking generals and admirals, whose advice had often gone unsought in previous administrations. I also wanted to restore authority to the service secretaries and their staffs, who, since the 1950s, had lost much of their prestige and influence as a result of centralized decision making at OSD. As one example of my philosophy, Dave Packard and I met regularly, both as a group and individually, with the service secretaries and undersecretaries to develop policy and keep each other informed. I also worked closely with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to make operational decisions and to seek their opinions on defense issues. I called this cooperative relationship with the services "participatory management." Bob Seamans and John McLucas were two of our most capable partners in this endeavor. Building on some of the planks in Richard Nixon's 1968 campaign platform, we focused on a number of specific goals for defense policy and management. These goals included reducing American forces and casualties in Vietnam as quickly as possible by de-Americanizing the war, phasing out the unfair and unpopular selective service system in favor of an all-volunteer force, reinvigorating NATO's force posture in Europe, improving our intelligence about Soviet military capabilities, reforming the defense procurement process, investing in needed research and development, better using reserve and national guard components as part of what we dubbed "total force," expanding equal opportunity within the Department of Defense, helping promote social progress with a program we called "domestic action," and working in close harmony with Congress on budgetary requirements. As so well documented in chapters 3 through 6 of this book, John McLucas played an important role in our efforts to meet all of these objectives. In January 1973, just before I left the Pentagon, I had the pleasure of awarding John the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. As I stated in his citation, "Dr. John L. McLucas has attained singular recognition as a leader,
administrator, and scientist." The two paragraphs quoted below are from a certificate I signed as secretary of defense, awarding John L. McLucas the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service (First Bronze Palm) "for exceptionally distinguished service from March 1969 to January 1973," and attest to John's technical and humanitarian achievements. He was deeply involved in all aspects of the statutory responsibility of the Secretary of the Air Force. . . . His direction of the Air Force space program has brought significant gains to the United States. His leadership, coupled with his impressive knowledge of electronics, has opened new horizons and capabilities in weapon delivery accuracy. Dr. McLucas stimulated new developments in reconnaissance concepts and operations that led to major advancements in this crucial defense area. Because of [his] personal interest and leadership in promoting domestic action programs, the Air Force has made exemplary progress in attaining and exceeding the human relations goals of the Department of Defense. His sensitivity to the complexities of equal opportunity issues in the armed forces and his perceptive and forthright leadership in this area have brought a new awareness to the field of personnel use, and enhanced the effectiveness of manpower management programs. I was not the only secretary of defense to think highly of John's talents. Several months after I left the Pentagon, Dr. James R. Schlesinger, recently named as defense secretary, asked Dr. McLucas to be his Air Force secretary. As expected, John moved into this position without missing a stride. Indeed, he performed so well during the next two and one-half years that, when Pres. Gerald Ford needed an experienced and trusted manager to run the Federal Aviation Administration on short notice, he called upon John McLucas. Dr. McLucas's contributions to American technology and scientific progress continued until his death in December 2002. As an executive in the Communications Satellite Corporation, he helped link together the global community with fast and reliable connections. He served on the corporate boards of advanced technology companies, as the chairperson of government committees, and as a top officer in prestigious professional and cultural organizations. Especially noteworthy was his advocacy of space technology for monitoring Earth's environment, expanding commercial opportunities, and fostering science education. Until his final days, he sat on the board of several high-tech companies and was an active advisor to the International Space University, which he was largely responsible for establishing. Late in life, John decided that a record of his career might be of historical value to those interested in defense technology, national security policy, and air and space developments through
several decades of the twentieth century. This interesting and informative book is the result. Since relatively few of his fellow technocrats have written detailed autobiographies, I believe the John McLucas story will expand the historical record of the institutions with which he was associated while shedding new light on some important chapters of the Cold War era.
MELVIN R. LAIRD
Secretary of Defense (1969–73)
Counselor to the President (1973–74)
Nine-Term Member of the United States
House of Representatives (1952–68)
Purple Heart Veteran of World War II