James McCormack

James McCormack Jr. (8 November 1910 – 3 January 1975) was a United States Army officer who served in World War II, and was later the first Director of Military Applications of the United States Atomic Energy Commission.

James McCormack, Jr., was born in Chatham, Louisiana, on 8 November 1910.

He attended the Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Georgia, before entering the United States Military Academy at West Point on 2 July 1928.

A 1932 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, McCormack also studied at Hertford College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, earning a Master of Arts degree in Romance languages, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned a Master of Science degree in civil engineering.

He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Corps of Engineers on graduation on 14 August 1932, ranking 19th in his class.

He departed for England where he studied at Hertford College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar.

He was promoted to first lieutenant in August 1935, and awarded his Bachelor of Arts degree in Romance languages from Oxford (this was later converted to a Master of Arts degree).

On returning to the United States, he was posted to the 8th Engineers at Fort McIntosh, Texas, as a troop commander.

In June 1936 he became a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he graduated with a Master of Science degree in civil engineering in August 1937.

His thesis was a joint project with three other student officers from the Army Corps of Engineers under the supervision of Kenneth C. Reynolds.

He then became a student officer at the Engineering School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

In June 1938, he reported to Vicksburg, Mississippi, as Assistant Project Engineer on the Sardis Reservoir Project.

McCormack reported to Fort Benning, Georgia, as a company commander in the 21st Engineers in October 1939.

He was promoted to captain on 9 September 1940, and after serving as adjutant of the 20th Engineers at Fort Benning, he temporarily commanded one of the regiment's battalions before assuming command of the 76th Engineer Company at Fort McClellan, Alabama, in mid-1941.

In 1942, he was assigned to the War Department General Staff.

Later that year he attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College, after which he was promoted to major on 1 February 1942, and posted to the War Department General Staff.

He was Assistant Chief of the Types and Allowances Branch of G-4 from March 1942 to March 1943, with a promotion to lieutenant colonel on 9 October 1942, and then Chief of the Construction Branch of G-4 from March 1943 to September 1943.

In October 1943, McCormack became Chief of the Transportation Branch of the First United States Army Group, and was promoted to colonel on 1 December 1943.

On 1 July 1944, he became the Chief of the Movements Branch of Twelfth United States Army Group, remaining in this role until 28 May 1945.

He then returned to the War Department General Staff, where he served in the Operations and Plans Division.

On 1 July 1944, he became the Chief of the Movements Branch of Twelfth United States Army Group, remaining in this role until 28 May 1945.

For his services in the European Theater of Operations, he was awarded the Legion of Merit on 30 December 1944, and the Bronze Star Medal in May 1945.

The British government made him an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 24 March 1945, while the French government awarded him the Croix de guerre with the silver star on 29 January 1945, and made him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor on 3 October 1945.

On 4 June 1945, McCormack returned to duty with the War Department General Staff as a member of the Policy Section of the Strategy and Policy Group, becoming the assistant section chief on 16 September 1945.

He was then a staff officer with the Strategy and Policy Group from 16 February until 16 August 1946, when he became chief of the Politico-Military Survey Section of the Operations and Plans Division.

The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 had created the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to oversee research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons.

The Act had created a statutory position inside the AEC called the Director of Military Applications, which the AEC commissioners envisaged as a staff post responsible for military planning and policy formulation.

By law, the Director of Military Applications had to be a serving armed forces officer.

The frontrunner for the post was the wartime commander of the Manhattan District, Brigadier General Kenneth Nichols.

Indeed, Nichols was the War Department's only nominee.

However, the AEC commissioners had different ideas.

In 1947, McCormack was chosen as the Director of Military Applications of the United States Atomic Energy Commission with the rank of brigadier general.

He took a pragmatic approach to handling the issue of the proper agency to hold custody of the nuclear weapons stockpile, and encouraged and supported Edward Teller's development of thermonuclear weapons.

For his service with the War Department General Staff, he was awarded an oak leaf cluster to his Legion of Merit on 8 April 1947.

At this point, McCormack had become apprehensive about his career, but in early 1947 a new and exciting opportunity opened up.

He transferred to the United States Air Force on 25 July 1950, and was appointed Director of Nuclear Applications at the Air Research and Development Center in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1952.

He was subsequently promoted to major general, and became Deputy Commander of the Air Research and Development Command.

After retiring from the Air Force in 1955, McCormack became the first head of the Institute for Defense Analysis, a non-profit research organization created to provide advice and support to the Department of Defense's scientific and technological research efforts formed by ten universities.

In 1958 he became vice president for industrial and governmental relations at MIT, in which capacity he originated the proposal that the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics be used as the basis for a new space agency, which eventually became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

He was Chairman of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and from 1965 to 1970 was chairman of the Communications Satellite Corporation.