Hinckley, Robert Henry, 1891-1988

When the federal government set up its emergency relief program in 1933, Robert H. Hinckley had served on Governor George H. Dern's Voluntary Relief Committee from 1931 and had been appointed in 1933 by Governor Henry H. Blood as director of the state emergency relief program enacted by a special session of the legislature of that year. The responsibility of supervising the expenditure of relief funds from their respective states as well as large sums of money provided by the federal government fell on the state directors. Within a few months after Mr. Hinckley took the job of distributing federal funds the success of his administration attracted attention in Washington, D. C., and in September 1934 he was appointed by Harry L. Hopkins to serve as assistant administrator of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and continued as field representative of eleven western states, and Hawaii and Alaska, a position in which he served until 1938. His work in the state and national relief programs launched a long career of government service.

Robert H. Hinckley was born in Fillmore, Utah, June 8, 1891, the son of Edwin S. and Addie Henry Hinckley. His father was professor of geology and chemistry at Brigham Young University from 1895-1915 and served in other positions at that institution during his lifetime. It was in this college atmosphere that Robert H. Hinckley grew up and was educated, receiving his early education at the Brigham Young Training School. Upon graduating from Brigham Young High School in 1910, he served as a missionary in Germany for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He completed his college work at Brigham Young University in 1916, with a B. A. degree.

On June 23, 1915, Robert Hinckley married Abrelia Clarissa Seely, daughter of John H. and Margaret Peel Seely. After graduating from Brigham Young University, he and Mrs. Hinckley moved to Mount Pleasant, Utah, where Mr. Hinckley became a member of the North Sanpete High School faculty. In the same year he established the Seely-Hinckley Automobile Company in Mount Pleasant.

In 1918 Mr. Hinckley was elected to the Utah State Legislature from Sanpete County and in 1923 he was elected mayor of Mount Pleasant. Hinckley moved to Ogden, Utah, in 1927 and established an automobile business. He became active in business, civic, and state affairs. He helped organize, and became an officer of, the Utah-Pacific Airways, Inc. This company survived the pioneering stages of aviation with a perfect safety record. It carried thousands of passengers and taught hundreds of students to fly during the ten years Mr. Hinckley was associated with the company. It was the first flying service to furnish airplanes to the government for the purpose of taking a game census in Yellowstone National Park. Utah-Pacific Airways demonstrated that it was possible to count moose, elk, mountain sheep, etc., by airplane. This became a common practice as did the technique of dropping supplies to forest fire fighters by small parachutes, also developed by Utah-Pacific Airways.

Robert H. Hinckley's enthusiasm for flying developed early. He attended his first International Air Meet at Belmont Park, New York, in 1910. Three years later at Templehofer Field, Berlin, Germany, he made his first flight with Melli Beese, the champion woman flier of the world at that time and wife of the French airman Charles Boutard. Years later, in 1927, he was one of the first revenue passengers to fly between Salt Lake City and Reno on a Boeing Air Transport plane. He became one of the most frequent users of commercial airplanes while serving as regional director of the Western Region for the Works Progress Administration and played an important role in the development of airports under the WPA program.

It was because of this background of successful administration and his outstanding contribution to the development of airports and airways that Robert H. Hinckley was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to become a member of the Civil Aeronautics Authority in 1938. He was sworn in August 8. Known as a man of action, it is not surprising that in November the Washington National Airport was begun. It was completed in June 1940. Mr. Hinckley became chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Authority in April 1939 and a year later, he was appointed assistant secretary of commerce. In this position he was responsible for the direction of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the United States Weather Bureau, and the Coast and Geodetic Survey.

Undoubtedly Mr. Hinckley's most outstanding accomplishment during his service in the Civil Aeronautics Authority was the Civilian Pilot Training Program. This program, originally conceived by him as a peacetime project to give flight training to the youth of college age, proved to be one of the greatest contributions to the nation's war effort. The program was planned in 1938 and launched in 1939 with the passage by the Seventy-sixth Congress of the Civilian Pilot Training Act. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 (less than three years since the inception of the Civilian Pilot Training Program), pilots were trained and airplanes were available for an all out war effort.

A favorite expression of Mr. Hinckley in reference to the growth of aviation was "air-condition." He thought the country should prepare for the air age he knew was sure to come. "Air-conditioning" to him was conditioning people to the air, just as the people of the South Sea Islands are conditioned to the water, that other strange element to man. He said in his article Air-Conditioning American Youth, Collier's Magazine (September 1942), In short, to be air-conditioned means to be in a state of readiness to do something about aviation and not just feel strongly about it. He pursued his idea of air-conditioning America long after he left the CAA. Robert H. Hinckley resigned as assistant secretary of commerce in 1942.

When Mr. Hinckley joined Sperry Corporation (Sperry Rand) after his resignation from the Commerce Department, it was in the belief that he would be undertaking work of great importance to war production and that he would give up government service and remain in private business until his retirement. This belief was short-lived when, in 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated him for Senate approval to be director of Contract Settlement for a term of two years.

The settlement of government contracts was one of the most serious problems of the country's transition from war to peace. The Contract Settlement Act of 1944 stated that It is the policy of the Government, and it shall be the responsibility of the contracting agencies and the director to provide war contractors with speedy and fair compensation for the termination of any war contract. It was hoped the policies established by the act would shift the United States economy from wartime to peacetime production with as little unemployment, waste, and other economic problems as possible.

The organization was set up and functioning successfully when Mr. Hinckley resigned eighteen months later, February 1, 1946, to return to private life. President Harry S. Truman summed up his praise of Robert H. Hinckley's service in Contract Settlement as A superior performance of a difficult task.

Back in private life Robert Hinckley helped found the American Broadcasting Company with Edward J. Noble, long a close friend and colleague. Commercial television had become a reality, and it was in this exciting new medium, as well as radio, that Mr. Hinckley was to become involved. He was elected vice president and director of what was soon to become one of the major networks, merging in 1951 with Paramount Theatres, and extending throughout the United States.

Further demands for Mr. Hinckley's talents in government service came from President Harry S. Truman who appealed to him as a member of the Economic Cooperation Administration Public Advisory Board to do a special inspection tour of European countries to determine the success of the Marshall Plan. Mr. Hinckley took a leave of absence in August, 1949, from American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres to complete the inspection. He continued to serve on the advisory board when the Economic Cooperation Administration was succeeded by the Mutual Security Agency.

Robert H. Hinckley generously served state and national government, industry, educational institutions, and philanthropic causes during his lifetime. He was a member of many boards of directors. He served four terms on the University of Utah Board of Regents, serving until 1973. He established the Robert H. Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah May 10, 1965, with a gift from himself and the Edward John Noble Foundation.

On April 13, 1977, Robert H. Hinckley, eighty-five years of age, received the ninth annual Brotherhood Citation Award from the Utah Chapter, National Conference of Christians and Jews. The citation reads that Mr. Hinckley is honored for his indelible impression of service to town and country as a state legislator, a mayor, a teacher, a national administrator, a presidential advisor, a giant of the business world, and as a benefactor of great universities.

Robert H. Hinckley died in 1988.

From the guide to the Robert H. Hinckley papers, 1891-1997, (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)