Harold Elstner Talbott, Jr. (March 31, 1888 – March 2, 1957) was the third
United States Secretary of the Air Force
The secretary of the Air Force, sometimes referred to as the secretary of the Department of the Air Force, (SecAF, or SAF/OS) is the head of the Department of the Air Force and the service secretary for the United States Air Force and United ...
.
Biography
He was born in
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...
, in March 1888 and died in 1957. He attended
The Hill School
The Hill School (commonly known as The Hill) is a coeducational preparatory boarding school located on a campus in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about northwest of Philadelphia. The Hill is part of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization (TSAO). ...
in
Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and spent two years at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
before returning to his father's construction company in 1911. He was a well-known polo player.
Family
Talbott's father was a wealthy engineer who was involved in the construction of the
Soo Locks
The Soo Locks (sometimes spelled Sault Locks but pronounced "soo") are a set of parallel locks, operated and maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, that enable ships to travel between Lake Superior and the low ...
on
Lake Superior
Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...
and had various railroad and paper milling interests.
[Mrs. Talbott's Gesture - TIME](_blank)
/ref> Talbott Sr. was the first mayor of Oakwood, Ohio. He was also involved in the recovery of Dayton from the 1913 flood. He served as the director of the City National Bank of Dayton.
His mother was active in the Dayton anti-suffrage league, which opposed giving women the right to vote. She was also involved in the Anti-Saloon League
The Anti-Saloon League (now known as the ''American Council on Addiction and Alcohol Problems'') is an organization of the temperance movement that lobbied for prohibition in the United States in the early 20th century.
Founded in 1893 in Ober ...
and was a patroness of the Dayton Westminster Choir.
His brother Nelson "Bud" Talbott was the coach for the Dayton Triangles professional football team, a predecessor to today's Indianapolis Colts.
His great-nephew Strobe Talbott was a deputy secretary of state in the Clinton administration.
In 1925, Talbott married Margaret Thayer (1898–1962), who was the daughter of Marian Longstreth Morris Thayer, a survivor of the disaster, and John B. Thayer, a railroad executive who perished aboard the ship. Harold's and Margaret's children included Margaret Noyes, Pauline Toland, John Thayer Talbott, and H. E. Talbott III.[Encyclopedia Titanica Message Board: Jack Thayer's full name](_blank)
/ref> In July 1962 his wife (Margaret Thayer) committed suicide by jumping from the 12th story of their Fifth Avenue apartment in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
During World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the Runnymede Playhouse on the Talbott family estate in a residential neighborhood of Oakwood, Montgomery County, Ohio (a suburb of Dayton), hosted the Dayton Project
The Dayton Project was a research and development project to produce polonium during World War II, as part of the larger Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bombs. Work took place at several sites in and around Dayton, Ohio. Those workin ...
(the part of the Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
involved in creating the neutron
The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , which has a neutral (not positive or negative) charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. Protons and neutrons constitute the nuclei of atoms. Since protons and neutrons beh ...
-generating triggers for the first atomic bombs from radioactive polonium
Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84. Polonium is a chalcogen. A rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to selenium and tellurium, though its metallic character ...
). Charles Allen Thomas
Charles Allen Thomas (February 15, 1900 – March 29, 1982) was a noted American chemist and businessman, and an important figure in the Manhattan Project. He held over 100 patents.
A graduate of Transylvania College and Massachusetts Institute ...
, a Delco-GM and Monsanto Company chemist who was in charge of the project, was married to Harold's sister Margaret.
Career
From 1906 to about 1913 Harold Talbott served as president of Platt Iron Works in Dayton along with his polo teammate Edwin F. Platt.
Talbott's interest in aviation dated from the early days of the Wright brothers. He was a pupil of Katharine Wright
Katharine Wright Haskell (August 19, 1874 – March 3, 1929) was the younger sister of aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright. She worked closely with her brothers, managing their bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, when they were away; acting as ...
and a customer of the Wright's bicycle shop. In 1915 Talbott helped build one of the first wind tunnels for aviation experiments in Dayton. In the spring of 1916, his father, Edward A. Deeds, and Charles Kettering
Charles Franklin Kettering (August 29, 1876 – November 25, 1958) sometimes known as Charles Fredrick Kettering was an American inventor, engineer, businessman, and the holder of 186 patents.
For the list of patents issued to Kettering, see, Le ...
formed the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company, which reused the factory buildings of the 1909–1916 Wright Company
The Wright Company was the commercial aviation business venture of the Wright Brothers, established by them on November 22, 1909, in conjunction with several prominent industrialists from New York and Detroit with the intention of capitalizing o ...
but was a completely different business. The young Talbott became the company's president, while Orville Wright received a courtesy position as a consulting engineer. Talbott was a passenger on Orville's last flight in 1918.
At the beginning of World War I, Deeds joined the US Army with the rank of colonel and became Chief of Aircraft Production. At McCook Field, a precursor to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Deeds supervised aircraft procurement. The Dayton-Wright Company took over the newly built Delco-Light plant. The expanded plant constructed the two-seat fighter, the DeHaviland–4, later modified to the DeHaviland–9, and turned out about 400 training planes. In 1918 the plant, which employed 12,000 people, produced 38 planes per day and manufactured more wartime aircraft overall than any other U.S. plant.
During September 1918, Talbott was commissioned a major in the Air Service of the Signal Corps. His assignment as one of a group of officers in charge of aircraft maintenance and repair in France was canceled by the armistice. In October 1918 Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes Sr. (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948) was an American statesman, politician and jurist who served as the 11th Chief Justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the ...
and Attorney General Thomas Watt Gregory
Thomas Watt Gregory (November 6, 1861February 26, 1933) was an American politician and lawyer. He was a progressive and attorney who served as US Attorney General from 1914 to 1919 under US President Woodrow Wilson.
Early life
Gregory was born ...
reported to President Wilson on the results of an investigation into wartime aircraft production. Justice Hughes criticized the close relationship between Colonel Deeds and Dayton-Wright. Hughes specifically mentioned improper communications between Deeds and Harold Talbott about matters affecting aircraft procurement. Justice Hughes recommended that Colonel Deeds be court-martialed, but the Army did not pursue the case.
In 1919 General Motors acquired DELCO-Light, Dayton-Wright, and the Dayton Metal Products Company. All were businesses associated with Talbott, Deeds, and Kettering.
In 1922 GM established the Inland Manufacturing Division to build wooden steering wheels at the former Dayton-Wright plant. Talbott served as president of Inland.
In 1925 Talbott moved to New York and became a director of Chrysler Corporation. In the 1930s he served as President of the Cloud Club The Cloud Club was a lunch club that occupied the 66th, 67th, and 68th floors of the Chrysler Building in New York City. At one time it was the highest lunch club in the world. It opened in 1930 and closed in 1979.
History
Texaco, a prospective ten ...
located on the 66th, 67th, and 68th floors of the Chrysler Building
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...
in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
General Motors Corporation took a controlling interest in North American Aviation and merged it with its General Aviation division in 1933. In 1932 Talbott became chairman of the executive committee of NAA. In the 1930s he was also a director of TWA. At the time North American held shares in Douglas Aircraft Company which was building military aircraft. Talbott prevailed on Donald Douglas to enter the commercial market by building the DC-1
The Douglas DC-1 was the first model of the famous American DC (Douglas Commercial) commercial transport aircraft series. Although only one example of the DC-1 was produced, the design was the basis for the DC-2 and DC-3, the latter of which bei ...
and DC-2
The Douglas DC-2 is a 14-passenger, twin-engined airliner that was produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Company starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247. In 1935, Douglas produced a larger version called the DC-3, which bec ...
aircraft to TWA's specification.
Talbott was an active Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
presidential campaign fund-raiser in 1940, 1948 and 1952. He was chairman of the Republican national finance committee in 1948 and 1949. He also had been a member of the War Production Board during 1942 and 1943.
He became the third Secretary of the Air Force
A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a wh ...
on February 4, 1953, during a period when the Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
had jolted Congress into authorizing additional wings and their supporting infrastructure. Consequently, he was able to focus his efforts on the needs of airmen and their families. He succeeded in obtaining more military housing than had his predecessors. Combining better housing with pay increases and other needed improvements, he raised the service personnel retention rate by linking enhanced military benefits to reenlistment.
In September 1953, Talbott famously confronted Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...
about his management of the AIM-4 Falcon
The Hughes AIM-4 Falcon was the first operational guided air-to-air missile of the United States Air Force. Development began in 1946; the weapon was first tested in 1949. The missile entered service with the USAF in 1956.
Produced in both heat ...
project and the loss of top members of management, within the Hughes Aircraft Co.[David Leighton, ''The History of the Hughes Missile Plant in Tucson, 1947-1960,'' Private Publication, 2015] As a result, ICBM development for the Air Force transitioned to the Ramo-Wooldridge Corp (later TRW Inc.
TRW Inc., was an American corporation involved in a variety of businesses, mainly aerospace, electronics, automotive, and credit reporting.http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/TRW-Inc-Company-History.html TRW Inc. It was a pionee ...
).
During his tenure, Talbott appointed a commission to assist him in selecting the permanent site for the Air Force Academy
An air force academy or air academy is a national institution that provides initial officer training, possibly including undergraduate level education, to air force officer cadets who are preparing to be commissioned officers in a national air for ...
. After considering 580 proposed sites in 45 states, the commission recommended three locations. From those, he selected the site near Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...
.
In 1955, the Chattanooga Times uncovered that Talbott was using Air Force stationery to solicit business for an engineering firm of which he owned fifty percent, from contractors who sold to the Air Force. After a Congressional investigation, Talbott resigned his position as Secretary in August 1955.
Talbott died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 2, 1957.
References
External links
Official USAF bio
discussion]
''Time'' magazine article 23-Mar-1925
{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbott, Harold E.
People from Dayton, Ohio
United States Secretaries of the Air Force
1888 births
1957 deaths
United States Army officers
The Hill School alumni
Yale University alumni
Businesspeople from Ohio
People from Oakwood, Montgomery County, Ohio
20th-century American businesspeople