EERI Oral History Series, Vol. 5, William W. Moore

CONNECTIONS The EERI Oral History Series William W. Moore Stanley Scott, Interviewer Earthquake Engineering Research Institute CONNECTIONS The EERI Oral History Series William W. Moore Stanley Scott, Interviewer Earthquake Engineering Research Institute Editor: Gail Hynes Shea, Albany, CA Cover and book design: Laura H. Moger, Moorpark, CA Copyright 01998 by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley. No part may be reproduced, quoted, or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the executive director of the Earthquake Engi- neering Research Institute or the Director of the Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the oral history subject and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute or the University of California. Published by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute 499 14th Street, Suite 320 Oakland, CA 94612-1934 Tel: (510) 451-0905 Fax: (510) 451-5411 E-Mail: [email protected] Web site: http://www.eeri.org EERI Publication No. :OHS- 5 ISBN 0-943198-63-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Moore, William W., 1912- William W. Moore / Stanley Scott, Interviewer. p. cm - (Connections: the EERI oral history series; OHS-5) Includes index. ISBN: 0-94-3 19863-1 1. Moore, William W., 1912- -Interviews, 2. Civil Engineers-California-Interviews, 3. Earthquake Engineering-California-History. I. Scott, Stanley, 192 1- 11. Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. 111. Title. IV Series. TA140.M617 S28 1998 624.1'762'092-dc2 1 98-37974 CI2 Printed in the United States of America 123456 02 01 00 99 98 Acknowledgments The help, encouragement, and editorial feedback of EERI executive director Susan K. Tubbesing and the EERI Board of Directors were instrumental in both establishing Connections: The EERI Oral Histoy Series and in bringing this volume to publication. EERI also gratefully acknowledges partial funding of this project by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The EERI Oral Histom Series J This is the fifth volume in Connections: The EERI Oral Histoy Series. The Earthquake Engi- neering Research Institute initiated this series to preserve the recollections of some of those who have pioneered in earthquake engineering and seismic design. The field of earthquake engineering has undergone significant, even revolutionary, changes since individuals first began thinlung about how to design structures that would survive earthquakes. The engineers who led in making these changes and shaped seismic design theory and practice have fascinating stories. Connections: The EERI Oral History Series is a vehicle for transmitting their impressions and experiences, their reflections on the events and individuals that influenced their thinking, their ideas and theories, and their recollections of the ways in which they went about solving problems that advanced the practice of earthquake engineering. These reminiscences are themselves a vital contribution to our understanding of the development of seismic design and earthquake hazard reduction. The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute is proud to have part of that story be told in Connections. The oral history interviews on which Connections is based were initiated and are being carried out by Stanley Scott, formerly a research political scientist at the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, who has himself for many years been active in and written on seismic safety policy and earthquake engineering. A member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute since 1973, Scott was a commissioner on the California State Seismic Safety Commission for 18 years, from 1975 to 1993. In 1990, Scott received the Alfred E. Alquist Award from the Earthquake Safety Foundation. Recognizing the historical importance of the work that earthquake engineers and others have been doing, Scott began recording interviews in 1984 with Henry Degenkolb. The wealth of information obtained from these interviews led him to consider initiating an oral history project on earthquake engineering and seismic safety policy, and in due course, the Regional Oral History Office of the Bancroft Library approved such an oral history project on a continuing, but unfunded, basis. First undertaken while Scott was employed by the Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California at Berkeley, the effort has continued following his retirement in 1989. For a time, modest funding for some expenses was pro- vided by the National Science Foundation. Scott’s initial effort with Degenkolb was extended to a number of other earthquake engineers who have been particularly active in and close observers of seismic safety policy and vii practice. Key members of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute became interested in the project when asked to read and advise on the oral history transcripts. This led to EERI’s decision to publish Connections. The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute was established in 1949 as a membership organization to encourage research, investigate the effects of destructive earthquakes and the causes of building failures, and bring research scientists and practicing engineers together to solve challengng engineering problems through exchange of information, research results, and theories. In many ways, the development of seismic design is part of the history of EERI. EERI Oral History Series Henry J. Degenkolb 1994 John A. Blume 1994 Michael V. Pregnoff and John E. Rime 1996 George W. Housner 1997 William W. Moore 1998 Interviews completed or nearing completion include: Robert E. Wallace LeRoy Crandall Ralph McLean George A. (Art) Sedgewick Work on several other interviews is in progress. viii Table of Contents Acknowledgnients V The EERI Oral History Series vii Foreword xi ... A Personal Introduction by Neville Donovan Xlll Chapter 1 Background and Early Interests 1 Chapter 2 At Caltech 5 Chapter 3 Starting Out 9 Chapter 4 Dames & Moore: The Beginnings 19 29 Chapter 5 Growth of Dames & Moore Chapter 6 Managing the Expanding Firm 45 Chapter 7 Surmounting Crises and Shifting to Environmental Work 53 Chapter 8 Quality of Professional Practice 63 Chapter 9 Consulting Engineers: Leadership and Standards 75 Chapter 10 Observations on the History of Structural Engineering in California 85 Chapter 11 The Human Side of Engineering and the Wise Use of Technology 95 Chapter 12 Earthquake-Related Activities 119 Photographs 135 Index 139 ix Foreword The interviews were conducted in the office of Dames & Moore in San Francisco, beginning in 1987 and ending in 1995. During the final editing and correcting process, however, one or two meetings were held in Moore’s home in San Rafael. Through the sessions, Bill Moore seemed actively enthusiastic about the interviews and the subject matters discussed. His wide-ranging interests span the science and techniques of soil engineering to what he sees as important social and public policy issues affecting the engineering profession and society at large. His leadership role in many capacities also comes through clearly, although his modesty required some prodding and questioning to bring this out. During the interview process, the following readers were asked to review and comment on the transcribed material: Wilson Binger, LeRoy Crandall, Trent Dames, Robert Darragh, Neville Donovan, I. M. Idriss, Joseph Lamont, Robert Lawson, George Leal, Joseph Nicoletti, Frank McClure, Ralph McLean, Robert Perry, Robert Pyke, Clarkson Pinkham, Robert Preece, Roland Sharpe, Stanley Teixeira, James Thompson, and Tom Wosser. They were asked to read the interviews particularly with a view to suggesting additions or correc- tions. Their guidance was much appreciated, and proved extremely helpful to both me and Bill Moore in completing the interviews published here. I also wish to thank Willa Baum and others in the Regional Oral History Office at UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library for advice, encouragement, and moral support over the years. Stanley Scott Research Associate Institute of Governmental Studies University of California, Berkeley May 1998 xi A Personal Introduction As a young undergraduate enigneering student in New Zealand, one of my lecturers made the comment that “You aren’t engineers. What we have given you is the technical education so that in time you should be able to become engineers.” That lecturer understood the difference between education and experience-a theme that runs throughout this oral history of Bill Moore. When I joined Dames & Moore in 1963, the firm was already 25 years old. Their practice at the time was for all new employees, regardless of either their education or past experience, to spend some time in the laboratory and on field drilling jobs. This useful practice unfortu- nately had to be abandoned when the firm’s growth became more rapid. Having spent graduate education summers worlung on field sites and in soil laboratories in the eastern United States I was impressed, probably more so

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