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JAMES C.
JAMES C FLETCHER scientist engineer, corporate executive,
educator, and administrator- died on December 22, 1991, at
the age of seventy-two. He made important contributions in all
of the these fields. For the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), he was the right man in the right place
twice. Twice he was administrator of NASA at times of crisis, and
twice he calmly led NASA to focus, balance, and advances in
science, space transportation, aeronautics, and long-range plans
for exploration.
Jim was born on June 5, 1919, in Millburn, New Jersey. He
received an undergraduate degree in physics from Columbia
University in 1940. He did research at Harvard's Cruft Labora-
tory, taught at Princeton, and then received his Ph.D. in physics
from the California Institute of Technology.
He started his industrial career at Hughes Aircraft Company
in 1948. In 1954 he joined the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation,
where he helped develop the broad systems analysis and over-
sight practices then being initiated for management of the
intercontinental ballistic missile programs. In 1 95X his entrepre-
neurial interests led him to form, with an associate, the Space
Electronics Corporation in Glendale, California. Sputnik had
led to the expansion of space programs, and with Jim's talent for
picking good people and good programs, the company pros-
pered. In 1960 Space Electronics merged with a portion of
FLETCHER
1919-1991
BY DALE D. MYERS
35
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Aerojet to form Space General Corporation, and Jim became
president, and later chairman.
In 1964 Jim was asked to become president of the University
of Utah, and with his enthusiasm for new challenges, he ac-
ceptec3. In the seven years that he was at the university, the
enrollment doubled and he brought new emphasis to the sci-
ence and mathematics curriculum.
While at the university, Jim was elected a member of the
National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Over the years, he
servecl as a member of the NAE's Council and Finance Commit-
tee; the Governing Board of the National Research Council
(NRC); and NRC's Commission on Physical Sciences, Math-
ematics, and Resources. In 1991 he became a member of the
NAE Development Advisory Committee.
His first opportunity to be the right man at the right place with
NASA happened in 1971. President Nixon asked him to be the
fourth administrator. By that time, NASA had met President
Kennedy's challenge to lance a man on the moon ant! bring him
home safely. Budgets were tumbling down, but NASA's long-
range plans called for such ambitious expansion that budgets
would have had to increase unrealistically.
With his usual calm, analytic approach to a difficult problem,
he developed an approach that the President, the mannecl-
flight supporters, and the growing science group accepted.
Under pressure from the administration to reduce budgets, he
chose to fall back from the fully recoverable shuttle design to the
partially recoverable configuration we have today. That proposal
reduced the development cost by more than 50 percent and was
accepted by President Nixon.
He still was a scientist by training and inclination, and he
playoff a key role in developing and implementing the strategy
of first flying by the planets, then orbiting them, and finally
landing on them. During that period as administrator of NASA,
he also encouraged early NASA experiments in communication
satellites and studies of the Earth from space. He initiated the
multispectral viewing space telescopes, including the Hubble
Space Telescope.
After leaving NASA in May 1977, Jim moved to a more flexible
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NAMES C. FLETCHER
37
position as a consultant and member of several boards. He was
appointed to the Whiteford Chair of Technology and Energy
Resources at the University of Pittsburgh, and a member of
several government committees. During this time, he was par-
ticularly active with the National Academy of Engineering. He
was on (or led) several classified studies that made substantial
contributions to the nation's defense.
In 1986 after the shuttle Challengerdisaster, President Reagan
asked Jim to return to NASA to lead the recovery of the nation's
space program from the devastating effect of the accident. He
reluctantly agreed to come back for the duration of the Reagan
administration. He was confirmed by the Senate in May 1986,
four months after the accident. Morale was at its lowest. Jim again
took on the challenge. He looked for and found new, good
people by his usual thorough technique of calling many, many
people that he trusted for recommendations. He traveled to all
the centers, talking to large groups. He spoke of the exciting
things to come and inspired confidence in the future. This was
a case where leadership was rewarded. His strong reputation of
"leveling"with people caused them to believe him, and to believe
in him. Later, he said in confidence that he had made promises
in those early trips that he had to fulfill. He did.
Uncler his leadership, morale recovered, and steady progress
was made in rebuilding the shuttle and in reorganization, com-
munications, and safety. When the organization was functioning
again, he initiated forward planning and led NASA in defining
a "vision" and a long-range plan. That work led to the major
Presiclential Directive on Space signed by President Reagan in
February 1988. It called for continuing strong science programs,
leadership in aeronautics, support of commercial space pro-
grams, and the expansion of human presence in the solar
system.
Concerned with the ongoing space station definition, Jim felt
that it was vital to the future direction of space, but directed a
reduction in its size. That action left room in the projected!
budgets for an ambitious growing space-science and Earth-
observation program and a vigorous aeronautics program.
With the shuttle program recovered, and with organizational
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
changes accomplished to improve safety and communications,
Jim retired from NASA for the second time in April 1989. He
returned to the University of Pittsburgh as Distinguished Public
Service Professor and to his continuing service as adviser, board
member, and committee member.
Jim would never admit to being a politician, but throughout
his career his careful articulation of his views and his ability to
argue logically his position resulted in reaching many important
conclusions in the committees, businesses, and government
activities in which he was constantly involved. Most of those
activities were on the cutting edge of technology and made
important contributions to defense or to the civil space program.
In the 1950s, for example, he contributed to thevon Neumann
committee that addressed the feasibility of intercontinental
ballistic missiles. He made expert contributions concerning
guidance. More recently, in early 1983 he led a committee doing
the original architectural studies for technical evaluations, de-
ve~opment planning, and the Space Defense Initiative (SDI)
program. That study, initiated at the time President Reagan
suggested the SDI, scoped and outlined the system configura-
tion options and the research and development work that was
required to move from concept to working system.
Jim Fletcher was a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers, the American Society of Arts and Sci-
ences, the American Astronautical Society, and the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was in the first
group to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award of the Califor-
nia Institute of Technology, and he held honorary degrees from
several colleges and universities. He was awarded the United
States Air Force Exceptional Civilian Service Medal, the NASA
Distinguished Service Medal, and the American Defense Pre-
paredness Association's Strategic Defense Award. In 1989 he was
presented the prestigious Arthur M. Bucche Award for demon-
stratecI statesmanship in the field of technology from the Na-
tional Academy of Engineering. He was granted patents con-
cerning sonar and missile guidance.
Jim Fletcher distinguished himself in every activity he under-
took. He was always a leader, always the cool analyst, always
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JAMES C. FLETCHER
39
seeking the best advice available, and at all times an aggressive,
enthusiastic producer of results. His many contributions to the
nation in defense and education, and to the world in civil space,
will be permanent reminders of his dedication, intelligence,
. . . .
vision, anc . patriotism.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
president reagan
