MISSILEMEN

KILLIAN

Dr. James Rhyne Killian Jr., 53, who moved to Washington this week as Special Presidential Assistant for Science and Technology, is no scientist. He is an administrator with a rare ability to understand both science and scientists, to cope with the problems of both, to get men to work together, to get things done.

Born in Blacksburg, S.C. into a farming family of Scots-Irish-German origin, he was educated at the McCallie School in Chattanooga, at North Carolina's old Trinity College (now Duke University) and at M.I.T. ('26), where he got a degree in business and engineering administration and made Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation he stayed on to work for M.I.T.'s Technology Review, was made editor in 1930, spent the next nine years picking up a general know-how of the whole spectrum of science and engineering, developing a facility for tight organization and clear, candid self-expression.

Beat the Enemy. Spotted as an administrator by M.I.T.'s late President Karl T. Compton, he was appointed M.I.T.'s assistant to the president (1939), executive vice president (1943) and vice president (1945) during the World War 11 years in which M.I.T.'s staff of scientists and engineers rose from 700 to more than 6,000. In 1948, when Compton resigned to become chairman of Washington's National Research and Development Board, Killian was named to succeed him. "We must continue," he said at his 1949 inauguration, "to muster the democratic ranks of American scientists into invincible battalions. We must again be able to beat the enemy to the draw as we did in developing the atomic bomb. Our schools of science and engineering, if they are strong, are a powerful fleet-in-being, a striking force that can be thrown instantly into action if needed."

As head of M.I.T., Killian presided over and expanded a unique academic organization with ties to private business, radiation research, radar, computation and missile guidance systems, and the whole range of weapons technology. An average two days a week, Killian spent in Washington as chairman of the Army Science Advisory Panel, chairman of the President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities.

Over the years Killian developed positive ideas about the relationship between science and national policy. He argued the need for a greater national respect for scientists and scientific research--"There has been avoid ance if not evasion of the intellectual tax that must be paid if we are to balance our intellectual budget"--and for a greater awareness by scientists of their national, social, human duty. "The specialist," he said, "must shun the view that lopsidedness is laudable. He must be politically and morally responsible." Most notably in the context of his new job, Killian expressed sharp skepticism about U.S. defense's present three-service structure. "So far," he said, "we have not been able, in the definition of the roles and missions of the services, to keep pace with evolving weapons system technology. As a consequence we lengthen our lead time, we make more difficult our decision-making processes, we needlessly increase costs, and we find it difficult to avoid friction and duplication of effort."

Less than an hour after the President announced his appointment, he promised: "I shall move as rapidly as possible to marshal the best scientific and engineering judgment and creative talent in the U.S. ... to integrate American science in every proper .way into national policymaking."

HOLADAY

William M. Holaday, 56, special assistant on guided missiles to the Secretary of Defense, is a longtime oil executive and research specialist. Born in New Vienna, Ohio, he was a husky tackle (6 ft. 1 in., 185 Ibs.) for, two seasons for Wilmington College until he damaged his right eye in a tackle and virtually lost its sight. He switched to Ohio State University, graduated as a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering ('25), worked in a succession of engineering jobs. In 1937 he was hired by Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. as an assistant laboratory manager, was appointed director of research seven years later. During World War 11 Holaday put in two years' service in Washington as a member of the Petroleum Administration for War, continued to serve after the war as a part-time member of the Military Petroleum Advisory Board. His specialty at Socony: aircraft fuels. In his six months as guided-missile assistant to the Defense Secretary, he has gone about the chaos-ridden interservice missile field without flamboyance; under his new orders, he will have more authority than ever before.

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