Eugene Luther Vidal
Eugene Luther Vidal | |
---|---|
Born | Madison, South Dakota, U.S. | April 13, 1895
Died | February 20, 1969 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged 73)
Spouses |
|
Children | 3, including Gore Vidal |
Eugene Luther "Gene" Vidal (
In his obituary, Time noted: "Eugene Vidal, 73, pioneer promoter of civil aviation and father of author Gore Vidal; in Los Angeles, California. Vidal starred in football at
From September 1933 to March 1937 he was Director of the Bureau of Air Commerce (a predecessor of the Federal Aviation Administration) in Washington, where he organized and expanded the government's civil aeronautics program, including creation of the first air traffic control system. Later he served as a director and part owner of Northeast Airlines, and as aviation adviser to the Army Chief of Staff."[3]
Vidal became one of the pioneers in the commercial aviation industry and was an executive for three airlines during the 1920s and 1930s which developed into TWA,
Early life
Vidal was born in 1895 in Madison, South Dakota, the son of Margaret Ann (née Rewalt) and Felix Luther Vidal.[4][5] He was the second eldest of five children.[6][n 1] His paternal grandfather, Eugen Fidel Vidal, was born in Feldkirch, Austria, of Romansh descent, and his paternal grandmother, Emma Hartmann, was Swiss.[7]
Vidal was a versatile athlete in both high school and college. At the University of South Dakota from 1913 to 1916, he was a letterman in football, basketball, baseball, and track. Vidal was captain of the university's 1915 football and 1916 basketball teams, leading the basketball team in scoring in both years, thereby assisting the university in winning an Intercollegiate Conference Title during his participation. Vidal received an engineering degree from USD and subsequently accepted an appointment from Congressman Royal C. Johnson to the United States Military Academy in July 1916.[8]
As a football player for
At the age of 25, he was listed as 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm) in height and weighing 181 pounds (82 kg) by the
Military service, Olympics and football
Vidal's West Point class (originally Class of 1920) graduated on November 1, 1918, 19 months early because of World War I, with Vidal ranked 72nd in general merit. He was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in the
Vidal's national renown and prowess as an athlete resulted in many instances during his military career, with the war ended, where he was granted leaves or assignments outside his normal duties to perform in sports from
On July 2, 1921, Vidal was detailed to Carlstrom Field, Florida, for pilot training at the Air Service Pilot School, and transferred in grade to the Air Service on July 28. The course of instruction lasted four months and Vidal received his Airplane Pilot rating. On January 16, 1922, he was assigned for advanced flight training at the Air Service Observation School at Henry Post Field, Oklahoma, remaining until June 15, 1922.[12][n 3]
Vidal returned to West Point on July 5, 1922, for a four-year tour of duty as an assistant instructor in the Department of Tactics, the first member of the Air Service to be assigned to the academy staff. Later he was also an assistant instructor in Military Gymnastics and Physical Culture, with collateral duties coaching the academy's gymnastics (1922–1923) and track and field (1923–1924) squads. In 1925 Army head football coach John "Cap" McEwan named him an assistant football coach.[n 4] At the end of the 1925 season he took a leave of absence from the academy on December 12.[12]
Vidal resigned his commission on March 10, 1926, to go into
Olympics
Vidal participated as an athlete in the
Post-college football
While stationed at Carlstrom, Vidal also played briefly for the
Commercial aviation professional
In the
Department of Commerce
Vidal joined the United States Department of Commerce in June 1933, appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as assistant director for Air Regulation in its Aeronautics Branch. Over 40 candidates were being sponsored for the directorship by various political supporters of the president, including Vidal, but Roosevelt delayed making the appointment. On September 19, 1933, with Earhart's recommendation to Eleanor Roosevelt, Vidal was named Director of Aeronautics. Soon after his appointment he appeared on the December 18, 1933, cover of Time magazine and was recognized by the United States Chamber of Commerce as one of the "12 Outstanding Young Men of America." On July 1, 1934, with Vidal continuing as its director, the Aeronautics Branch was renamed the Bureau of Air Commerce (BAC) to emphasize its status as a regulatory agency.[21][22]
Vidal's term as director was a rocky one. In November 1933 he made public a proposal to develop a safe mass-produced light aircraft, the aviation equivalent of the Ford Model T automobile, that would cost only $700, calling it the "Poor Man's Airplane" project and part of a "New Deal for Aviation." The "$700 airplane" became an object of ridicule that would haunt the remainder of his time in government.[23][n 7] Vidal called for $1,000,000 to be Federally funded to underwrite the project, and half of that was immediately allocated by the Public Works Administration, but by March 1934 opposition had solidified and the funds were cancelled, leaving Vidal no option except to find private sector sources willing to experiment on their own.[24][n 8]
Vidal also organized Bureau headquarters so that decision-making authority was divided among himself and two assistant directors, for Air Navigation and for Air Regulation, in an attempt to make the Bureau more effective in its regulatory role. Of the BAC's seven functional divisions, however, only Administration and Aeronautic Information were responsible to Vidal and disorganization resulted from a lack of clear lines of authority. A dearth of procedures and policy created what one aviation historian described as a "paper jungle" of rules, bulletins, notices, and reports.[25][n 9]
After
In the face of criticism of his aviation policy by Congress and the airline industry, Roosevelt moved to reorganize the BAC, dismiss Vidal and his two assistant directors, and appoint a lawyer to replace him. He was compelled to reinstate Vidal, however, when Earhart advised Mrs. Roosevelt that she would publicly withdraw her support for FDR's re-election if he did not.[29][30] After Copeland announced a new round of investigations in November, disorganization in the Bureau and continuing hostility from the aviation industry contributed to his resignation on February 28, 1937.[28][n 11]
After the 1936 elections, Earhart began final planning for her proposed
Between November 1935 and July 1936, Vidal directed the establishment of the first air traffic control centers in the United States, initially negotiating an interline air traffic agreement with the airlines to build and operate several until funding could be appropriated for a Federal takeover of the system, which was obtained in March, 1936 for the next fiscal year. The BAC took over air control duties at the first three centers in Cleveland, Newark and Chicago on July 6, 1936, and hired the first 15 Federal air traffic controllers.[33]
As head of the BAC, Vidal occupied the Chair 10 position on the 15-member Main Committee of the
His expertise in aviation led him to a number of consulting positions in industry and the government. After leaving the BAC, Vidal was a technical consultant for
Post-New Deal entrepreneur
In 1935, while pushing his concept of the $700 airplane, Vidal had seen the Atwood Duply Airmobile (civil registration number NC-15318), an experimental aircraft invented by
Howell W. Miller, a designer of light aircraft doing business as the Summit Aeronautical Company of Westfield, Massachusetts,[n 13] worked with Vidal in Bendix Borough to build a small airplane entirely from Weldwood: the Summit HM-5. A prototype was built (NX25332) and successfully flown.[n 14] In 1940, based on the successful fabrication of the HM-5, Vidal began a project under the Aircraft Research trade name to manufacture a basic trainer for the Air Corps, designated the XBT-11,[n 15] But, Vidal was unable to procure a contract from the Materiel Division of the Air Corps after fabricating a mockup.[36]
After the United States was drawn into World War II, Vidal obtained contracts to manufacture war materiel, primarily deck houses for
Vidal wanted to re-enter military service in the Army Air Forces during the war but, in July 1942, suffered a massive heart attack, spending eight months as a convalescent, which prevented him from serving again.[9][38] He retired from active participation in his company in the early 1950s, but remained a part-owner and director of Northeast Airlines. He continued to make furniture and other products out of Weldwood in his home workshop.[9]
Vidal acted as aviation adviser to the
Personal life
On January 11, 1922, Vidal married
- Gore Vidal (born Eugene Louis Vidal) (1925–2012)
They divorced in 1935 and Nina subsequently married stockbroker
- Gene Vance Vidal (born 1943)
- Valerie Vidal Hewitt (born 1946)[42]
It is alleged in Susan Butler's biography East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart, and the possibility endorsed by Kathleen Winters in Amelia Earhart: The Turbulent Life of an American Icon, that Vidal had a long-standing romantic relationship with Earhart,[43][44] from 1929 when they worked together for Transcontinental Air Transport to her disappearance in 1937. His son, Gore Vidal's, cover testimonial to Butler's biography adds credence to the story.[45][n 17]
Vidal died of complications from kidney cancer[46] in 1969 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 73, while on a trip around the world.[3] His ashes were scattered at Fort Belvoir, which had been Camp A.A. Humphreys and his first posting after graduation from West Point.[9]
Legacy
- Vidal is in the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame.[15]
- Vidal was portrayed by actor Ewan McGregor in the 2009 film Amelia.[47]
- Since 1971, each year the Gene L. Vidal Memorial Award is presented at the United States Military Academy to the Cadet who has the "Most Significant and Practical Suggestion Adopted for Future Benefit of the United States Military Academy."
Notes
Footnotes
- ^ The Vidal children were: Lurene Vidal (born 1893), Gene Vidal, Amy Vidal (born 1903), Margaret Vidal (born 1910), and Felix L. Vidal, Jr. (born 1912). Felix graduated from West Point in 1933 and became a career officer in the United States Air Force, rising to the rank of brigadier general.
- ^ The 13th Engineers were the school unit for the Engineer School. When not detailed to athletics, Vidal spent his entire service in the Corps of Engineers at the school.
- ^ From 1920 to 1924, because of a lack of appropriations, the Air Service offered only primary flying training to pilot trainees, conducted at either Carlstrom or March Field, California. All advanced pilot training was provided only in one of the four combat specialties (Pursuit, Bombardment, Attack, or Observation), and only Observation then had a specialized school for it. (A formal school for phased advanced pilot training was finally instituted in 1924 at Kelly Field.) The Air Service had only two pilot ratings in 1921-1922, Airplane Pilot and Junior Airplane Pilot, with the latter normally awarded only to enlisted pilots who did not undertake advanced training and be commissioned. (Cameron, pp. 223-226)
- ^ Vidal and McEwan played together on the 1916 Army team, McEwan as a defensive standout.
- ^ Vidal stated that he also played briefly for the New York Giants of the National Football League, apparently during its inaugural season while he was stationed at the academy. (Association of Graduates memorial page)
- Eastern Air Transport for a rate triple its own bid, subsequently led to the Air Mail scandalof 1934.
- ^ While Vidal's admirers in general attribute the opposition to conservative opponents of the New Deal or those with vested interests in expensive commercial aircraft, most who opposed it did so on economic grounds, particularly the costs for engines and owner maintenance. Established manufacturers, who were being called upon to develop the product, saw it as a direct attack on themselves and the industry with the "unmistakable implication" that they were not making an honest effort to produce a safe aircraft at the lowest possible price, which they feared would undermine public confidence in aviation itself. (Innovation and the Development of Flight, p. 183)
- ^ National Air and Space Museum curator Tom D. Crouch put possibly the final word on "the People's Car" in 1999: "At a fundamental level, Eugene Vidal was wrong. ... Flying is not like driving an automobile. It is an unforgiving pursuit that demands a high degree of concentration and specialized skill." (Innovation and the Development of Flight, p. 184)
- ^ Earhart's biographer Butler alleges he was undermined by his two assistants, both of whom she states coveted the director's job. Although they remained with the BAC when Vidal left, neither subsequently got the job when the Bureau was reorganized in April, 1937. FDR's Secretary of Commerce Daniel C. Roper ordered the shakeup of the BAC, citing "divided responsibility," "inefficient administration," and a "mess" in the Bureau. The two assistant positions were immediately reduced to one and their occupants sent on "study missions" to Latin America and Europe.
- Air Line Pilots Associationresulted in denunciations from members of Congress. (Hopkins, pp. 85 and 87)
- Fred D. Fagg, Jr., an authority on aviation law and a professor at Northwestern University. Fagg may have been the lawyer FDR had in mind for the job in September 1936, as he was then a technical adviser to the Copeland Committee. Fagg had also been an Air Service pilot in Europe during World War I and was appointed to the BAC as a troubleshooter. He completely reorganized the Bureau, setting it in proper working order, and restored confidence in both the BAC and its programs before resuming his interrupted academic career. Of note, he created a safety and planning section in the BAC for the study of improved safety devices for pilots. Rudolph W. "Shorty" Schroeder, head of the airline inspection service and a noted former test pilot for the Air Service, was promoted to the only assistant director's position, directly accountable to Fagg.
- ^ "Duply" was a portmanteau derived from "DuPont," whose labs were the site of the first experimentation, and "plywood." Atwood still owned Atwood Carolina, a pre-war airplane manufacturing company. His biographer states that he and Vidal were vying to be known as the "Henry Ford of aviation" and Atwood felt he was "cheated" out of his patent by Vidal, whom he says purchased it for $10,000 in 1939 and then only paid a year's royalty before filing for a patent under his own name with slight changes in the process. Atwood's process and Vidal's superficially resembled each other but employed different bonding methods. (Mansfield, pp, 132, 165, and 185-186)
- Gee Bee racing aircraft. Starting with the New England Aircraft Corporation and the HM-1, he started a series of short-lived companies to market his original designs, one of which was Summit. (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Archives Division - SIRIS)
- Globe Swiftall-metal sport planes but was developed independently. The wings were made in three lateral sections and the fuselage in two halves, from Weldwood, using spruce and mahogany veneers. The HM-5 had a wingspan of 28 feet (8.5 m), a height of 7.33 feet (2.23 m), and an overall length of just 22 feet (6.7 m), roughly the size of an automobile, with a top speed of 138 mph (222 km/h), a very low landing speed with flaps of 38 mph (61 km/h), and without flaps of 42 mph (68 km/h). If Vidal felt justified that he had at last produced his "People's Airplane," he was disappointed that another was never built. The design was used for an additional prototype, a sport aerobatic trainer marketed by Summit as the "Westfield Trainer," but only one was flown before World War II shut down Summit's production. (Jane's All the World's Aircraft, 1941 edition)
- Vultee BT-13 and powered by the same Pratt & Whitney R-985-25(450 hp [ 340 kW ] / ) engine.
- ^ The variant of the Vidal process used for watercraft was known as Weldwood Marine.
- ^ On the other hand, another of Earhart's many biographers, Doris Rich, takes the same set of circumstances and concludes the opposite is true: that Vidal was "a family man, not a lover." (Rich, p.237)
Citations
- ^ "Index." TIME, v. 22, p. 46.
- ^ "Eugene Luther Vidal". Olympedia. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
- ^ Time magazine, February 28, 1969. Retrieved: 2013-03-07.
- ^ Longyard "Vidal, Eugene." 1974, p. 443.
- ^ Jim McClure, York Daily Record, "York County Civil War hero grandmom of Gore Vidal". Retrieved 2016-01-16
- ^ Kaplan (1999), p. 16
- ISBN 978-0-385-53757-5. Retrieved 2015-12-23
- ^ Kaplan (1999), p. 18
- ^ a b c d e f g Eugene L. Vidal 1918 Archived January 27, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Memorial page, USMA Association of Graduates. retrieved 2016-01-18
- ^ "Vidal New Army Captain." The New York Times, January 11, 1918.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Gene Vidal". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Cullum Vol. 7, p. 1374
- ^ Kaplan (1999), p. 27
- ^ "U Alumnus Derek Miles Earns Place on U.S. Olympic Team." University of South Dakota Press, July 13, 2004.
- ^ a b "Gene Vidal." South Dakota Hall of Fame.
- ^ Eugene Luther Vidal, Pro-Football-reference.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16
- ^ Kaplan (1999), pp. 29-30
- ^ Van der Linden (2002), pp. 193-194
- ^ Butler (1997), p. 295
- ^ a b Cullum Vol. 8, p. 402
- ^ Butler (1997), p. 289
- ^ Vidal and the Bureau of Air Commerce, Federal Aviation Administration. retrieved 2016-01-17
- ^ Pisano (2001), p. 13
- ^ Mansfield (1999), p. 166
- ^ Lehrer (2014), p. 150
- ^ Hopkins (1982), pp. 84-86
- ^ Pisano (2001), p. 16
- ^ a b Nolan (2010), p. 15
- ^ Butler (1997), pp. 349-350
- ^ Judith Thurman, "Missing Woman", The New Yorker, September 14, 2009.
- ^ Gillespie (2006), pp. 8-11
- ^ Gillespie (2006), p. 34
- ^ Krause, Dr. Theresa L. (2011). "Celebrating 75 Years of Federal Air Traffic Control", Federal Aviation Administration. Retrieved 2016-01-17
- ^ SP-4103 Model Research - Volume 2: Appendix B Committees, NASA. Retrieved 2016-01-17
- ^ Kaplan (1999), P. 113
- ^ Vidal (2007), p. 166.
- ^ Mansfield (1999), pp. 185-186
- ^ Kaplan (1999), pp. 139-140
- ^ Cullum Vol. 9, p. 298
- ^ "Miss Nina Gore marries." The New York Times, January 12, 1922.
- ^ ""Gore Vidal: Laughing Cassandra." Time, March 1, 1976.
- ^ "Vidal, Gore, 1925-. Papers: Guide." Harvard Library.
- ^ Butler (1997), p. 294
- ^ Winters (2010), p. 146
- ^ Butler (1997), pp. 294–295.
- ^ Kaplan (1999). pp.627–32.
- ^ " 'Amelia' Full credits." IMDb. Retrieved: 2010-01-13.
References
- Association of Graduates (2012). Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. West Point, New York: USMA Digital Library. Vol. 7 1920–1930; Vol. 8 1930–1940; Vol. 9 1940-1950 ("Cullum's Biographical Register")
- Bridgman, Leonard (editor) (1942). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1941, New York: The MacMillan Company
- Butler, Susan (1997). East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-306-80887-0.
- Cameron, Rebecca Hancock (1999). Training to Fly: Military Flight Training 1907-1945. Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program. OCLC 606500804.
- Gillespie, Ric (2006). Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance, Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute Press, ISBN 1-59114-319-5
- Hopkins, George E. (1982). Flying the Line: The First Half Century of the Air Line Pilots Association. Washington, D.C.:ALPA. ISBN 0-9609708-1-9
- Kaplan, Fred (1999). Gore Vidal: A Biography, New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-7475-4818-8
- Laurnius, Dr. Roger D. (editor) (1999). Innovation and the Development of Flight, College Station: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 0-89096-876-4
- Lehrer, Henry R. (2014). Flying the Beam: Navigating the Early U.S. Airmail Airways 1917-1941. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-1557536853
- Longyard, William H. (1974). Who's Who in Aviation History: 500 Biographies. Toronto, Ontario: Elsevier Canada. ISBN 978-0-08018-205-6.
- Mansfield, Howard (1999). Skylark: The Life, Lies, and Inventions of Harry Atwood, Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England. ISBN 0-87451-891-1
- Nolan, Michael (2010). Fundamentals of Air Traffic Control, Delmar Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4354-8272-2
- Pisano, Dominick A. (2001). To Fill the Skies with Pilots: The Civilian Pilot Training Program, 1939-1946. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. ISBN 1-56098-918-1
- Rich, Doris (1989). Amelia Earhart: A Biography, Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-87474-836-4
- Van der Linden, F. Robert (2002). Airlines and Air Mail: The Post Office and Birth of the Commercial Aviation Industry. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press. ISBN 0-8131-2219-8
- Vidal, Gore (2007). Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-30727-501-1
- Winters, Kathleen C. (2010). Amelia Earhart: The Turbulent Life of an American icon, New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-23061-669-1
External links
- Eugene L. Vidal 1918 Archived January 27, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Association of Graduates memorial page
- Time magazine article, February 28, 1969
- Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Gene Vidal". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020.
- Eugene L. Vidal papers at the American Heritage Center