William Whipple Jr. (Rhodes 1930)
U.S. Army Brigadier General. West Point. Rhodes Scholar, Magdalen College, University of Oxford. Princeton University. Council on Foreign Relations.
Peacetime assignments were in civil works, a traditional area of activity for the Army Corps of Engineers.[2]
A recognized authority on water resources, he wrote more than 100 books and articles on water supply, navigation, flood control, and power generation.[2]
After retiring again in 1996, he continued to write and to participate in conferences relating to water resources. His final book, Comprehensive Water Planning Regulation, proposed a holistic approach to water resources planning aimed at achieving general benefits from water resources projects while accommodating environmental concerns.[2]
Retiring from the Army in 1960 after 30 years of service, he became the chief engineer for the construction of the 1964-65 World’s Fair, under Robert Moses. He subsequently served as director of the New Jersey Water Resources Research Institute at Rutgers University, and participated in a number of professional associations, including serving as president of the American Water Resources Association. In 1982, he joined the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, where he played a key role in implementing a statewide water supply master plan and other key projects. His final employment was with the Greeley-Polhemus Group, an engineering consulting firm, in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
After returning to the U.S. in 1947 with the rank of colonel, he was sent to the Pacific Northwest where he led the planning for water resources development of the Columbia River Basin, and coordinated and edited the report of the project. He later held a civil works assignment in the Office of the Chief of Engineers in Washington, D.C., serving as division engineer for the Southwestern Division.[2]
After the war, while assigned to General Lucius Clay’s [West Point] headquarters in Berlin, he advocated the idea that U.S. policy toward the devastated German nation should be restorative rather than punitive. General Clay and others agreed, and the Morgenthau Plan to make Germany an agrarian nation was scrapped in favor of what became known as the Marshall Plan. General Whipple referred to his role in this development as “probably the most important thing I ever did.”[2]
1964 to 1965 - A fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, he was the chief engineer for the construction of the World’s Fair in New York.
WW2 - served as a member of General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Allied Headquarters, where his logistical planning helped to shape the course of battle in western Europe.[2]
Before World War II, he served for several years in the Omaha District, with responsibilities for navigation and flood control projects in the Missouri River Basin.
1930 - Rhodes Scholar, Magdalen College, University of Oxford.[1]
Died 23 Aug 2007, from Not Known. Age 98. Episcopal Church.
[2] - Arlington cemetery.net - William Whipple Jr. (Rhodes 1930)
[4] - The Masonic Brotherhood Center at the 1964 New York World’s Fair
[5] - Find a Grave - William Whipple Jr. (Rhodes 1930)
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