USDOT at 50: the Early Years Compiled for the 50Th Anniversary, April 1, 2017
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USDOT at 50: The Early Years Compiled for the 50th anniversary, April 1, 2017 Edited by Alan E. Pisarski Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Transportation Library Release date: January 17, 2018 Table of Contents An Introduction Alan E. Pisarski 3 THE PEOPLE Excerpts from A Great Honor Alan S. Boyd 4 Characters of Early DOT John W. Barnum 10 Some Rambling: the early days of DOT Charles D. Baker 13 How John Volpe Saved the Washington Metro Jeffrey N. Shane 15 Secretary Claude Brinegar and the Oil Crisis Alan E. Pisarski 17 Bill Coleman’s Unique Decision-Making Process Donald T. Bliss 19 THE REGULATORY ERA The New DOT Takes on Transportation Regulatory Policy Jeffrey N. Shane 22 Early Policy Issues Robert L. Calhoun 27 President Ford and Deregulation John W. Snow 30 The US DOT’s leadership in Railroad Deregulation Robert E. Gallamore 32 Steven R. Ditmeyer Eric W. Beshers How DOT Battled DOJ on Behalf of Citizens Jeffrey N. Shane 39 Selling the Alaskan Railroad to the State of Alaska Steven R. Ditmeyer 41 How DOT Opened the Global Skies Jeffrey N. Shane 45 DOT and Me S. Fred Singer 58 DOT and the Environment Martin Convisser 59 Early DOT: Three Environmental Histories Laurence J. Aurbach 62 THE EVOLUTION OF PROGRAMS The 1972 and 1974 National Transportation Studies Arrigo Mongini 65 Expanding the Urban Transportation Planning Process Edward Weiner 67 National Transportation--Trends and Choices Alan E. Pisarski 73 Observations on the Establishment of DOT Kevin Heanue 76 Developing a Data Program at US DOT Alan E. Pisarski 78 The Evolution of Freight Transportation in US DOT Gary E. Maring 82 FUN The Day Donald Trump Came to DOT Jeffrey N. Shane 86 The Day Richard Nixon Came to DOT Jeffrey N. Shane 88 A Photo-op with Secretary Brinegar Alan E. Pisarski 90 Alan and the Cat Robert L. Calhoun 95 Biographies 96 1 An Introduction Alan E. Pisarski The essays and recollections appearing here have been assembled in the History Committee of the Transportation Research Board and will be housed in the US DOT’s National Transportation Library on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the US Department of Transportation. The opening document consists of excerpts from A Great Honor, the memoir of DOT’s first Secretary of Transportation, Alan S. Boyd, with his permission. The remaining pieces were prepared by some of those who were at DOT at the beginning, many of whom had leadership positions in significant areas that established the early policies and directions of the agency. It does not aim to be a comprehensive or exhaustive history, but rather seeks to set down for future reference notable events and decisions, some very momentous, some more light-hearted, deemed worth preserving in the eyes of those who were there. No attempt has been made to design, organize, or otherwise modify the thoughts of the preparers. These are their thoughts in their words. You will find some very skilled writers here addressing some very important events in transportation history, and many authors who went on to brilliant careers beyond their early DOT days. It is a tribute to the amazing collection of people assembled there in the formative years of the agency. This commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the opening of DOT has been marred by the death last night of William T. Coleman our fourth Secretary, whom we all remember with great fondness and respect. Several pieces, prepared over the past year refer to his role in the Department’s early days. His very distinguished tenure as Secretary is overshadowed by his immense influence in American History. Thus, with his loss, of the first four Secretaries who served in the formative early years of DOT, only Secretary Boyd remains. It is notable that the tenure of those first four; Boyd,Volpe, Brinegar and Coleman encompassed the first ten years of the Department’s history from January 1967 to January 1977. These documents focus on that first 10 years, the critical period in which the Department’s culture formed. It is the most distant period and therefore the most important to preserve. This collection is dedicated to Secretary Boyd, his successors and to the great agency they set on its path. 3 The People Excerpts from A Great were co-chairmen. For some reason the name of our group was the Boyd Task Force. Our charge was to Honor with the permission draft the organic law to present to Congress with the of Secretary Alan S. Boyd hope that it would be used as the basis to create the legislation for a new Department of Transportation. from Chapter XIII There were seven or eight members in all on the task force, each an expert on various aspects of the issue. A Coherent Transportation System Our White House liaison was Bill Moyers. In 1965, transportation represented about 20 percent The task force started with the concept that, taken as of personal consumption expenditures. There were a whole, transportation constituted one system. It is thirty-five agencies with transportation-related not a means to an end in itself, but rather, a service responsibilities, with a cumulative annual budget of that moves goods and people to help businesses more than $5 billion. Many of us in government had and individuals achieve their goals. Given that, talked for years about how to improve the situation. our first focus was to determine what needed to be included—and excluded—in the proposed In 1966, President Johnson revived the idea in Department of Transportation. his State of the Union address: “I recommend that you help me modernize and streamline the We decided the department should include functions federal government by creating a new cabinet-level related to transportation policy, funding, safety, Department of Transportation, [which] is needed and research, but exclude economic regulation. We to bring together our transportation activities. The present structure...makes it almost impossible to examined thirty-five agencies to determine whether serve either the growing demands of this great they should be included wholly or in part, or to nation or the needs of the industry, or the right of the exclude them entirely. There were large agencies taxpayer to full efficiency and real frugality.” we thought should be included, such as the Coast Guard and the FAA, as well as smaller agencies such Six months before the address, the president had set as the Great Lakes Pilotage Association and the St. up a task force composed of representatives from Lawrence Seaway Administration. We also included the different transportation entities of the federal the Maritime Administration, the Panama Canal, the government. Charlie Zwick, the deputy director of Alaskan Railroad, and the Bureau of Public Roads— the Bureau of the Budget, and I (as undersecretary which didn’t have a large number of personnel, but for transportation in the Department of Commerce) did have an enormous budget. 4 Though we decided that the economic regulatory with the whole organization and an unwillingness functions of the Civil Aeronautics Board and to share information. We proposed five divisions: the Interstate Commerce Commission should Administration, Policy, Research and Development, remain independent, we determined that their International Aviation, and Public Information, transportation accident and safety investigation each with its own assistant secretary. In addition, functions should be part of the department. we suggested that the administrator of each agency However, we soon realized that to avoid any in the department report directly to the secretary. conflict of interest, safety investigation needed to be independent. We suggested the creation of a Once the task force finished the draft legislation National Transportation Safety Board. and the White House added its stamp of approval, it was time to shop the proposed legislation around Many decisions about what to include in the Congress. department were fairly straightforward. One thorny issue, however, was what to do with urban mass I met with Senator John McClellan, the chairman of transit. There were valid arguments for either the Committee on Government Operations. He was placing it in the Department of Transportation or fine with everything until he came to the earmarks letting it remain in the Department of Housing and proposal. An earmark is a provision within a bill Urban Development. Our task force, along with that directs a specified amount of money to a the White House and the Bureau of the Budget, particular project. Often this funding is for a project engaged in the debate. The ultimate, Solomon- to benefit a congressional representative’s home like decision was to leave it with Housing and district. Urban Development temporarily, until it could move to a new Urban Mass Transit Administration Even back in the 1960s, the validity of earmarks, (UMTA) to be created within the DOT. Though I sometimes called “pork,” was challenged. Our draft thought this was the right decision at the time, I legislation was written to remove transportation now think it was a mistake. Although UMTA was projects from the general appropriations process “transportation,” I believe HUD could have used and eliminate the use of earmarks. We wanted the mass transit funding to enhance and support their department to perform a cost analysis on every other development programs. project and report the findings to Congress, which would then vote on funding. This procedure would Fortunately, I don’t think we made many mistakes. reduce the opportunities for pork. In fact, I think the task force did a superb job of designing an efficient government department led After reviewing the earmarks proposal, Senator by a secretary, an undersecretary, a deputy secretary McClellan looked at me.