Glennan, Thomas Keith, 1905-1995

Variant names
Dates:
Birth 1905-09-08
Death 1995-04-11
English

Biographical notes:

Glennan served as administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1958-1961.

From the description of Diary and memoir, 1958-1961. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 81001322

Glennan was NASA Administrator. Brucker was Secretary of the Army.

From the description of Cooperative Agreement on the Army Ordnance Missile Command between NASA and the Department of the Army, 1958 Dec 3. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733095983

From the description of Cooperative Agreement on JPL between NASA and Deptartment of the Army, 1958 Dec 3. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733095981

Glennan was the Administrator of NASA.

From the description of Cooperative Agreement on Jet Propulsion Laboratory between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of the Army, 1959 June 16. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733095220

Thomas Keith Glennan (1905-1995) was the first Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, formally established on October 1, 1958, under the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. While at NASA, Glennan was president-on-leave of the Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland, Ohio, which he had headed since 1947 and returned to following his NASA experience. Born in Enderlin, North Dakota, Glennan earned a degree in electrical engineering from the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University in 1927. Following graduation, he became associated with the newly developed sound motion picture industry, and later became assistant general service superintendent for Electrical Research Products Company, a subsidiary of Western Electric Company. During his career he was studio manager of Paramount Pictures, Inc., and Samuel Goldwyn Studios, and was briefly on the staff of Vega Airplane Corporation. Glennan joined the Columbia University Division of War Research in 1942, serving throughout World War II, first as Administrator and then as Director of the U.S. Navy''s Underwater Sound Laboratories at New London, Connecticut. At the end of the war, Dr. Glennan became an executive of the Ansco Corp., Binghamton, New York. From this position he was called to the presidency of Case. During his administration, Case rose from a primarily local institution to rank with the top engineering schools in the nation. From October 1950 to November 1952, concurrent with his Case presidency, he served as a member of the Atomic Energy Commission. Dr. Glennan was also very active in national and civic affairs. He was chair of the board of the Institute for Defense Analysis, and served on the board of the National Science Foundation and the Council on Financial Aid to Education. In Cleveland he took an important part in many civic activities. As NASA Administrator, Glennan presided over an organization that had absorbed the earlier National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics intact; its 8,000 employees, an annual budget of $100 million, and three major research laboratories--Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, and Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory--and two small test facilities made up the core of the new NASA. Within a short time after NASA''s formal organization, Glennan incorporated several organizations involved in space exploration projects from other federal agencies into NASA to ensure that a viable scientific program of space exploration could be reasonably conducted over the long-term. He brought in part of the Naval Research Laboratory in NASA and created for its use the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. He also incorporated several disparate satellite programs, two lunar probes, and the important research effort to develop a million-pound-thrust, single-chamber rocket engine from the Air Force and the Department of Defense''s (DOD) Advanced Research Projects Agency. In December 1958 Glennan also acquired control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a contractor facility operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California. In 1960 Dr. Glennan obtained the transfer to NASA of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), located at Huntsville, Alabama, and renamed it the Marshall Space Flight Center. By mid-1960 Glennan had secured for NASA primacy in the Federal Government for the execution of all space activities except reconnaissance satellites, ballistic missiles, and a few other space-related projects, most of which were still in the study stage, that the DOD controlled. Upon leaving NASA in January 1961, Dr. Glennan returned to the Case Institute of Technology, where he was continued to serve as president until 1966. During this period he helped to negotiate the merger of Case with Western Reserve University, creating Case Western Reserve University. After his retirement in 1966, Dr. Glennan spent two years as president of Associated Universities, Inc., a Washington-based advocate for institutions of higher learning. A resident of Reston, Virginia, for twenty years after his retirement, he moved to Mitchellville, Maryland, in the late 1980s.

From the description of Glennan, Thomas Keith, 1905-1995 (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). naId: 10677609

Glennan was NASA Administrator.

From the description of Directive that satellite vehicles carry the designation "United States" and not NASA : memo to Dr. Silverstein, 1959 Mar 2. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733098417

From the description of Frank Goddard - NASA assignment : letter to William H. Pickering, JPL Director, 1960 Oct 31. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733097575

From the description of Suggestions for Centaur Transfer : letter to Donald A. Quarles, 1959 May 6. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733095987

From the description of Staff Paper on Project Management : memo to Participants at the Williamsburg Conference, 1960 Oct 14. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733097564

From the description of Recommendations for Saturn Transfer : letter to Donald A. Quarles, Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1959 May 7. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733095986

From the description of Improved JPL / NASA Relationships : letter to William H. Pickering, JPL Director, 1960 Jul 27. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733098428

From the description of Further Comments on Monterey Conference : memo to Operating Heads of NASA Headquarters Offices and Directors, NASA Centers, 1960 Mar 10. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733095620

From the description of Clarification of Issues Based on Original Letter to Secretary of Defense and Paper on Implementation and Counter Proposal : teletype to W.J. Hjornevik, 1958 Nov 4. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096004

From the description of Decision to Negotiate on the Lunar Capsule : memo to Director, Office of Business Administration, 1960 May 9. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733095615

From the description of Notes of Meeting with Representatives of BMD - STL, 1959 Apr 7. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096322

From the description of Responsibility for Looking at the Vega and Centaur Programs : memo to the Chairman, Civilian-Military Liaison Committee, 1959 Jul 21. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096323

From the description of Meeting of the Space Council on 1959 Aug 13 About the Program and JPL's Capabilities : letter to William H. Pickering, 1959 Aug 13. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096442

From the description of Functions and Authority - NASA Atlantic Missile Range Operations Office (AMROO) : memo, 1959 May 1. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096687

From the description of Agreement on Principles for Operating the Jet Propulsion Laboratory by the California Institute of Technology : letter to William H. Pickering, 1958 Dec 23. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096344

From the description of Operational Framework of JPL Responsibilities for the Vega Vehicle : memo to the Director of Space Flight Development, 1959 May 28. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733098421

From the description of Transition Memorandum for New NASA Administrator, 1961 Jan. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733098367

From the description of Staff Paper on Project Management : cover memo to Participants at the Williamsburg Conference, 1960 Oct 14. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096858

From the description of Schedule slippage of the Agena Program : letter to William H. Pickering, Director of JPL, 1960 Jun 17. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733097181

From the description of Transfer of JPL and part of ABMA to NASA : letter to Neil H. McElroy, Secretary of Defense, 1958 Dec 1. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096007

From the description of Directives on Sterilization : letter to Dr. Hugh Odishaw, Executive Director, Space Science Board, National Research Council, 1959 Oct 13. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733095902

From the description of Requirements for Sterilization of Space Probes by NASA : letter to Hugh Odishaw, Space Science Board, 1959 Oct 14. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096450

From the description of Documenting decision to concentrate on lunar activities with lesser attention to Venus and Mars shots : memo to File, 1959 Jul 24. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733100742

From the description of Decontamination and Sterilization Procedures for Lunar and Planetary Space Vehicles : memo to Program Directors, NASA Headquarters and Directors, Field Centers, 1960 Dec 23. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096813

From the description of NASA-JPL Relationships, JPL staffing : letter to Lee A. DuBridge, President of Caltech, 1959 Aug 10. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096434

From the description of Decontamination and Sterilization Procedures for Lunar and Planetary Space Vehicles : memo to Program Directors at NASA Headquarters and Field Center Directors, 1960 Dec 23. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733095837

At the time this letter was written, Glennan was Assistant to the Chairman of The Urban Coalition and former NASA Administrator.

From the description of Comments on the Ranger Chronology : letter to Eugene M. Emme, NASA Historian, 1969 Jan 2. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096791

Glennan was the NASA Administrator.

From the description of Decontamination and Sterilization Procedures for Lunar and Planetary Space Vehicles : memo to NASA Headquarters Program Directors and Field Center Directors, 1960 Dec 23. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733096065

From the description of Organizational Changes - NASA Headquarters : circular, 1959 Dec 29. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733099283

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Information

Subjects:

  • Agena rocket vehicles
  • Centaur launch vehicle
  • Centaur project
  • Communication of technical information
  • contract management
  • Cooperation
  • Cost
  • Explorer satellites
  • Intellectual cooperation
  • Lunar programs
  • Lunar spacecraft
  • Management
  • management planning
  • Military-industrial complex
  • Missile ranges
  • Nasa programs
  • News media
  • Organization
  • Project management
  • Ranger 7 lunar probe:
  • Ranger project :
  • Research and development
  • Research and development contracts, Government
  • Saturn project
  • schedules
  • Selective dissemination of information
  • Sergeant missile
  • Spacecraft sterilization
  • Space Exploration
  • Space sciences
  • University coopertion
  • Vega project
  • VEGA PROJECT 2 nasat

Occupations:

not available for this record

Places:

  • United States (as recorded)