Garrison Norton
Norton (left)
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
In office
July 7, 1956 – February 5, 1959
Preceded byJames H. Smith Jr.
Succeeded byJames H. Wakelin Jr.
(as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research and Development))
Personal details
Born(1900-10-09)October 9, 1900
Chicago, Illinois
DiedSeptember 9, 1995(1995-09-09) (aged 94)
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Emily McMullan
​
​
(m. 1943)​
RelationsWendell Phillips Garrison (grandfather)
Lucy McKim Garrison (grandmother)
Lloyd K. Garrison (cousin)
Children2
Parent(s)Charles D. Norton
Katherine McKim Garrison
EducationGroton School
Alma materHarvard College

Garrison Norton (October 9, 1900 – September 9, 1995) was Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR) from 1956 to 1959.

Early life

1833 Portrait of his great-grandfather, William Lloyd Garrison, by Nathaniel Jocelyn which Norton bequeathed to the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

Garrison Norton was born in Chicago on October 9, 1900, the son of banker Charles Dyer Norton and the former Katherine McKim Garrison.[1][2] His father was a "man of impeccable London tailoring and equally impeccable conservatism" who served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary to President Taft. Garrison, however, was described as "receptive to new ideas and as liberal as his father was conservative" even though he was also a Republican.[3]

His maternal grandparents were editor Wendell Phillips Garrison (a son of the Civil War abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison) and the poet Lucy McKim Garrison (a daughter of Presbyterian minister James Miller McKim and sister to architect Charles Follen McKim).[2]

He was raised in Washington, D. C. and Manhattan and attended the Groton School. He was educated at Harvard College, receiving a bachelor's degree cum laude in 1923.[1] While at Harvard, he was a member of the school's first 150-pound varsity crew team.[3]

Career

After college, Norton joined the accounting firm of Arthur Young & Company. During this period, Norton became interested in aviation and received his Private Pilot License.[3] This brought him in contact with several figures in the aviation industry, some of whom became his clients. He was made a partner of Arthur Young & Company in 1932.[1]

Government service

Norton first joined the government in 1934, when he became deputy general manager of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation. He later went on to serve as assistant to the chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Authority and director of the Office of Transport and Communications in the State Department.[1]

With the outbreak of World War II, Norton enlisted in the United States Navy serving as a Navy flight instructor and with the Bureau of Aeronautics, ultimately attaining the rank of captain by the war's end in 1945. In 1947, President of the United States Harry S. Truman nominated Norton as an Assistant Secretary of State, with responsibility for international transportation and communications.[4][5] He held this office until 1949.[6]

He served as a director of the Export-Import Bank and as an alternate governor of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund before leaving the State Department in 1949. In the early 1950s, he worked for Donald A. Quarles, the Secretary of the Air Force, in research and development.[7] In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated Norton to succeed James H. Smith Jr. as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR),[8] and he would serve in this office from July 7, 1956, until February 5, 1959. His primary goal as Assistant Secretary of the Navy was with expanding the Navy's research and development capabilities. He was the last Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR), as the post was re-designated Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research and Development) in 1959.[7]

Later life

Norton left government in 1959, becoming president of the Institute for Defense Analyses, succeeding Gen. James McCormack, who became vice president of MIT.[9] He served as president until his retirement in the 1960s. He also went on to serve as chairman of the Carnegie Institution for Science.[7]

Personal life

In 1943, Norton was married to Emily McMullan, who trained as a surgical nurse and served in World War II.[10] Together, they had a home in Georgetown and a farm in North Haven, Maine.[3] They were the parents of a son and daughter:[7]

He died on September 9, 1995, at the age of 94 in his home in Washington, D. C.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Pace, Eric (11 September 1995). "Garrison Norton, 94, Assistant Secretary Of State and Navy". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 "MRS. NORTON, RELATED TO-ABOLITIONIST, 75". The New York Times. 10 February 1948. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Times, Special to The New York (17 December 1957). "A Flying Accountant; Garrison Norton". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  4. ↑ TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (13 March 1947). "PRESIDENT NAMES AN AIDE TO CLAYTON; Garrison Norton Is Nominated Assistant Secretary for Air, Ships, Communications". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  5. ↑ "Senate Confirms Garrison Norton". The New York Times. 22 March 1947. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  6. ↑ "Garrison Norton - People - Department History - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. United States Department of State. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "GARRISON NORTON, FEDERAL OFFICIAL, DIES". Washington Post. September 11, 1995. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  8. ↑ "NAVY AIR AIDE NAMED; Garrison Norton Is Selected to Succeed J.H. Smith Jr". The New York Times. 29 May 1956. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  9. ↑ Times, Special to The New York (20 December 1958). "ARMS STUDY AIDE SET; Garrison Norton to Be Head of Defense Analysis Unit". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  10. 1 2 Reese, Thelma; Kittredge, B. J. (2020). How Seniors are Saving the World: Retirement Activism to the Rescue!. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-2698-1. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
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