Henry Logan Brandon (April 22, 1923 – June 21, 1997) was an American

Naval Aviator Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-based a ...

and attorney. He sat on the Board of Directors of Unocal Corporation of California, and was the company's Vice President of International Development. He also sat on the board of directors of Union Oil in

Dahomey The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. Dahomey developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a region ...

(now Benin), West Africa.

Background and family

Henry Logan Brandon was born in

Moore County, Tennessee Moore County is a county located in the south central part of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,461, making it the third-least populous county in Tennessee. It forms a consolidated city-county government w ...

, on April 22, 1923. He died on June 21, 1997, in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

World War II

Henry L. Brandon enlisted November 19, 1942, and trained at the Naval Air Primary Training Command 1943. He served as a

from 1945 to 1948. Qualified for carrier landings on an

FM-2 Wildcat The Grumman F4F Wildcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that entered service in 1940 with the United States Navy, and the British Royal Navy where it was initially known as the Martlet. First used by the British in the North Atlant ...

on the , off Jacksonville, Florida. Went through gunnery training on an FG-1D Corsair at US Naval Air Station Alameda. Joined Corsair Fighter-Bomber Squadron VBF-82 in preparation for

Operation Downfall Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II. The planned operation was canceled when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, th ...

. After his discharge from the Navy he attended the Southern Methodist University, and Vanderbilt University, where he earned a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

International business career with Union Oil

During his time with the Unocal Corporation, Brandon worked as the company's general manager in Cuba and Guatemala. In 1961 he became the company's Vice President of International Development. That year he participated in Union's entry into the Indonesian oil market, writing a "contract of work" arrangement, which was a first for Indonesia. In a speech on Indonesian Independence Day in August, 1961, then President

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of ...

talked at some length about "production sharing", which included some of Brandon's suggestions.Taylor, F. (1976). Unearthing Buried Riches. In Sign of the 76: The fabulous life and times of the Union Oil Company of California. (1st ed., Vol. 1, p. 362). Los Angeles: Union Oil Company of California. As Vice President of International Development, he negotiated Unocal's entry into the UAE oil market. In the 1960s, he met extensively with Saqr bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, the Emir of Ras Al Khaimah, to craft the legal agreement between his country and Unocal Corporation. In 1969 he became Vice President, and a member of the Board of Directors of Union Oil Company of

, West Africa.

Footnotes

*Taylor, F. (1976). Unearthing Buried Riches. In ''Sign of the 76: The fabulous life and times of the Union Oil Company of California''. (1st ed., Vol. 1, p. 362). Los Angeles: Union Oil Company of California.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brandon, Henry American business executives Southern Methodist University alumni 1923 births 1997 deaths United States Navy personnel of World War II Vanderbilt University alumni