By Frank A. Blazich Jr., Historian, U.S. Navy Seabee Museum
Rear Adm. Harry H. Rousseau as Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, Jan. 6 Mar. 25, 1907. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum)
Although his tenure as the 13th Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks (BuDocks) lasted only 78 days, Rear Admiral Harry Harwood Rousseau achieved numerous firsts during his tenure. He became the youngest man ever to attain the rank of rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, the youngest chief of BuDocks, youngest chief of the Civil Engineer Corps (CEC), and the first CEC officer to be depicted on a postage stamp. His greatest achievement, however, came after his tenure as BuDocks chief, when he resigned his post to serve on the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC) and helped to construct the Panama Canal.
Rousseau was born in Troy, New York on April 19, 1870, the son of William White and Jeanette (Parker) Rousseau.[i] He entered Troy Academy and other public schools in Troy where he excelled academically, graduating as valedictorian of Troy High School in 1887.[ii] Remaining in his hometown, he attended nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, became a member of the Rensselaer Society of Engineers, and received his Bachelor s in civil engineering in 1891. He began his engineering career in Albany, New York as a structural engineer until 1892. Thereafter, he moved on to work as the assistant engineer for the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad in 1893, joining the American Society of Civil Engineers the same year.[iii] Rousseau s work in Albany and New York focused on structural steel work.[iv] Rousseau next headed west, working for the Pittsburgh Bridge Company in Pennsylvania from 1894 to 1898, rising to the post of principal assistant engineer in 1896. After ranking first in a CEC competitive examination, he was appointed as civil engineer in the Navy on September 29, 1898 and commissioned with the relative rank of lieutenant junior grade.[v]
Initially assigned to BuDocks, he was ordered on December 14, 1898 to the New London Naval Station for special duty. On June 7, 1899, he received orders to return to Washington, D.C. for duty with the Bureau.[vi] While assigned to the Bureau headquarters, Rousseau worked directly under BuDocks Chief Rear Admiral Mordecai T. Endicott, responsible for the immediate supervision and direction of the Bureau s work performed in the Navy Department annex. This specifically involved the overseeing of over 20 draftsmen, mechanical and electrical expert aids, structural and architectural draftsmen, and assistants.[vii] In 1900, he served on a board for arranging the establishment of a naval station at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.[viii] The following year, Rousseau traveled to South Carolina to handle land sales for the establishment of a naval station at Charleston, South Carolina and torpedo boat station at Port Royal.[ix] In the latter half of 1902, Rousseau participated in an inspection of sites in the Great Lakes region of Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan for the establishment of a naval station and training school.[x] For his next assignment, on February 10, 1903, Rousseau moved across country to assume the position of public works officer at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California.[xi] Over the next few years, he oversaw the construction of a new dry dock, and dredging of the channel.[xii] In the latter capacity, a flusher designed by Rousseau and installed at Mare Island proved a boon in keeping the channel to the yard clear from sediment.[xiii]
Rear Adm. Harry H. Rousseau, c. 1907. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum)
Meanwhile in Washington, BuDocks announced on November 28, 1906 that Rousseau would succeed Endicott as the next bureau chief, vaulting the young lieutenant over 11 officers of higher grade.[xiv] On December 15, 1906, Rousseau received orders to report to Washington to become Chief of BuDocks. Along the way, he was detached for temporary duty at the Puget Sound Navy Yard with stops at the New York and League Island Navy Yards before arriving in Washington.[xv] He took his oath of office as Bureau Chief on January 5, 1907, elevated to the temporary rank of rear admiral. This made Rousseau, at the age of 36, both the youngest bureau chief and rear admiral in the Navy, a record to this day.[xvi] Exactly why President Roosevelt chose Rousseau over so many other qualified officers is not entirely known. Apparently Rousseau was personally known to Secretary of the Navy Victor H. Metcalf and by President Theodore Roosevelt, who he served occasionally as an aide.
Of greater importance to the president at this same time was the construction of the Panama Canal. Endicott, recently retired from the Navy, currently served on the third ICC at the time of Rousseau s appointment. It is possible that the president intended to replace Endicott on the commission; by elevating Rousseau to BuDocks Chief, he thus positioned the young naval officer to assume this important position. Rousseau had previously worked closely with Endicott, who Roosevelt retained as BuDocks Chief during the bulk of his presidency. The elder rear admiral was well-positioned to suggest his replacement on the commission to the president, and well-versed in the skills and capabilities of Rousseau.[xvii]
Rousseau s tenure as BuDocks Chief lasted a scant 78 days before President Roosevelt appointed him to serve on the ICC. As chief, Rousseau addressed bureau appropriations, urging changes in the disbursement and recording of funds to improve the economy and utilization of resources in the navy yards and for the naval establishment in general.[xviii] On March 15, 1907, one day after Endicott resigned as a member of the commission, President Roosevelt appointed Rousseau to replace him. Prior to the announcement, Rousseau had personally met with the President and Lieutenant Colonel George Washington Goethals, incoming chairman of the ICC, who told the young naval officer about his appointment to the commission.[xix] Rousseau gave his resignation to the Office of Chief of BuDocks effective March 25, then reverted to his rank of lieutenant. On March 26, Rousseau took the oath of office and set out for Panama.[xx]
The youngest member of the ICC, Rousseau became an indispensable member of the entire canal project. Initially in 1907 through 1908, he served as head of the Department of Municipal Engineering, Motive Power and Machinery, and Building, in charge of a staff of over 10,000 employees headquartered in Culebra, Canal Zone, Panama. In this capacity, he oversaw sanitation measures for the employees of the ICC, installing plumbing in the homes of workers; building sewer systems and roads; and erecting housing, hospitals, schools, mess halls, and clubhouses for almost 40,000 workers. In addition, Rousseau s department installed and operated steam shovels, locomotives, dump cars, pile drivers, and repair facilities to keep the equipment and canal construction moving forward.[xxi]
After ICC was reorganized on July 1, 1908, Goethals placed Rousseau in charge of the Second Division of the Chief Engineer s Office, with the title of Assistant to the Chief Engineer. Working directly under Goethals, Rousseau held this position until the ICC was terminated on April 1, 1914. The Second Division was responsible for all mechanical questions that arose, overseeing expenditures, preparing estimates, and supervising costs. In this new capacity, Rousseau s division sought to maximize the resources and labor of the ICC to build the canal while staying within the budget allocated by Congress. In this role, Rousseau proved invaluable to Goethals, serving as the acting Chairman of the ICC and Chief Engineer in the Army officer s absence.[xxii]
In 1911, Goethals tasked Rousseau to supervise aspects of naval construction, principally the construction of the canal terminals in the Atlantic and Pacific. Specifically, Rousseau designed the dry docks, wharves, piers, ship repair shops, coal plants, fuel oil plants, breakwaters, and floating cranes necessary to meet the requirements of the Navy and for requisite merchant traffic.[xxiii] Following the termination of the ICC, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Goethals as the first Governor of the Canal Zone. As the terminal construction remained unfinished, Goethals named Rousseau to the post of engineer in charge of the Division of Terminal Construction on April 1, 1914. In this position, he continued the duties of the Second Division, the road, street, and sewer work formally under the landscape architect, and the breakwater construction at the Atlantic terminal.[xxiv] Rousseau remained in this post until the division completed its work and was abolished on May 31, 1916. He was subsequently relieved of duty with the Panama Canal effective July 7, 1916.[xxv] During Rousseau s time as head of the Second Division and Terminal Construction, Secretaries of the Navy George von Lengerke Meyer and Josephus Daniels contemplated reappointing him as Chief of BuDocks, but were advised by Goethals that Rousseau was indispensable to the Canal work. Furthermore, Rousseau preferred to remain at the isthmus to see the job through.[xxvi]
Canal Zone stamp No. 112, issued in 1932, commemorating Rear Adm. Harry H. Rousseau. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum)
During his time in the Canal Zone, Rousseau s work and personal life both flourished. Shortly after arriving, he began courting Miss Gladys Fargo Squiers, the daughter of Herbert G. Squiers, the U.S. Minister of Panama. Despite the bitter opposition of Miss Squiers parents, the two continued to build their romance, even exchanging notes through intermediaries when her parents refused to allow them to meet. In secret, during a bachelors dance at the Hotel Tivoli on April 4, 1908, Judge Herman A. Gudger married the two in a civil ceremony in the hotel lobby before two witnesses. With her parents enraged, Rousseau and his bride were married again on April 11, 1908 in a Catholic service in the presence of Goethals and the other ICC commissioners.[xxvii] On January 12, 1909, the couple welcomed the birth of their first child, Henry Harwood Rousseau.[xxviii Later that year, the Navy promoted Rousseau to the rank of lieutenant commander on October 18.[xxix] In addition to Henry, the couple had two other sons: William P. Rousseau, born in 1914 and John Bard Squiers Rousseau, born in 1917.
As work on the Canal began and the success of the endeavor became only a matter of time, members of Congress proposed rewarding the ICC commissioners for building the canal. By an act approved March 4, 1915, Congress extended its thanks to Goethals, Rousseau, and the other commissioners. The legislation authorized President Wilson to advance Rousseau to the grade of rear admiral. He accepted and was thereafter commissioned with date of rank March 4.[xxx] In addition to his promotion, Rousseau remained connected to the Canal Zone, serving as a member of the Board of Directors for the Panama Railroad Company and the Panama Railroad Steamship Company, positions he held from 1907 to the end of his life.[xxxi]
With his civil engineering work in Panama complete, Rousseau returned to the United States and resumed his naval career. On August 29, 1916, the Navy ordered Rousseau to duty as a member of the Commission on Navy Yards and Naval Stations (known as the Helm Commission) to investigate and report on the establishment of additional Navy yards and stations.[xxxii] In this capacity Rousseau and the other commission members studied the nation s coast in regards to locating future naval and aviation bases, work that continued into the 1920s.[xxxiii]
Following American entry into World War I, Rousseau was named on April 9, 1917 as a member of the General Munitions Board for the Council of National Defense, charged with supplying the Army and Navy with munitions and equipment.[xxxiv] On June 9, 1917, Major General Goethals brought Rousseau on board with the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation, initially in the post of Assistant General Manager and later as Head of the Shipyards Plant Division.[xxxv] By 1918, Rousseau also served as manager-in-charge of the expenditure of Navy funds for improvements of shipyards holding contracts for naval vessels as a member of the United States Shipping Board.[xxxvi]
For his wartime service, Rousseau received the Navy Cross (awarded then for meritorious service). His citation read: For exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility in charge of plant extension work at the many industrial establishments where Naval funds were utilized to increase facilities for the production of war material. Also, as a member of the Navy Yard commission and as an assistant to the Bureau of Yards and Docks. [xxxvii]
Postwar, Rousseau remained involved with various boards and commissions. In September 1921, he served on a CEC promotion board and in December received appointment to a special board for the United States Shipping Board to examine ship subsidies, shipping routes, types of vessels, and immigration issues, among others.[xxxviii] On June 15, 1923, he returned to his
alma mater and delivered the commencement address at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.[xxxix] From 1924 to 1927, his chief duty was serving as the government receiver during litigation over Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1 (Elk Hills, California).[xl] In 1926, Rousseau sat on two promotion boards for CEC officers.[xli] After the Supreme Court returned custody of the Elk Hills field to the Navy, the department named Rousseau Director of Naval Petroleum Reserves on October 21, 1927. In this capacity, he supervised the policy of the Navy toward oil reserves and stewardship of these fields.[xlii] The following year, President Herbert Hoover designated Rousseau as chief coordinator for the Federal Services under the supervision of the Bureau of the Budget on September 25, 1928, assuming the office on January 1, 1929. In this new position, Rousseau handled all questions of coordination arising through the application of presidential and congressional policies to the routine business activities of the executive branch.[xliii]
Tragically, Rousseau s life was cut short at the dawn of the new decade. While sailing aboard the steamship SS
Cristobal to the Canal Zone to inspect the Panama Railway as part of his director duties, Rousseau suffered a stroke and died on July 24, 1930. The ship put in to Charleston, South Carolina and his body was returned to Washington. Following services at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Rousseau was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery on July 28.[xliv] Posthumously, Rousseau s contributions to the Navy and his work with the Panama Canal would not be forgotten. In 1932, the Canal Zone issued a 20-cent stamp in commemoration of his work, making Rousseau the first CEC officer featured on a postage stamp.[xlv] During World War II, BuDocks authorized the establishment of advance base receiving barracks at Port Hueneme, California on October 23, 1943, naming the facility Camp Rousseau in honor of the 13th Bureau Chief.[xlvi] Perhaps the greatest legacy of all for Rousseau remains the Panama Canal, a mega construction project that successfully created a path between the seas and transformed the naval capabilities of the United States and the world.
Chronology for Rear Admiral Harry H. Rousseau, CEC, USN
April 19, 1870
Born, Troy, New York
1887
Graduates from Troy High School
1891
Graduates from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering
1891 1892
Structural Engineer, Albany, New York
1893
Assistant Engineer, Brooklyn Elevated Railroad
1894 1898
Assistant and Principal Assistant Engineer, Pittsburgh Bridge Company, PA
September 29, 1898
Appointed Civil Engineer in CEC; commissioned as Lieutenant (junior grade)
December 14, 1898
Ordered to New London Naval Station, Connecticut for special duty
June 7, 1899
Ordered for duty with BuDocks, Washington, D.C.
1900
Serves on board for arranging establishment of naval station at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
1901
Coordinates land sales in South Carolina for establishment of a naval station at Charleston and torpedo boat station at Port Royal
1902
Serves on inspection party of sites in Great Lakes region for establishment of a naval station and training school
February 10, 1903
Ordered to Mare Island Navy Yard, California to assume position as public works officer
1906
Promoted to Lieutenant
November 28, 1906
BuDocks announces Rousseau will become 13th Chief of the Bureau
December 15, 1906
Ordered to report to Washington as Chief of BuDocks
January 5, 1907
Receives oath of office as Chief of BuDocks; elevated to temporary rank of Rear Admiral
March 15, 1907
Appointed as member of Isthmian Canal Commission by President Theodore Roosevelt
March 25, 1907
Resigns as Chief of BuDocks; reverts to rank of Lieutenant
March 26, 1907
Receives oath of office for Isthmian Canal Commission; travels to Canal Zone, Panama
1907 1908
Director, Department of Municipal Engineering, Motive Power and Machinery, and Building, Canal Zone, Panama
April 4, 1908
Secretly marries Gladys Fargo Squiers in civil ceremony, Canal Zone, Panama
April 11, 1908
Marries Gladys Fargo Squiers in Catholic service, Canal Zone, Panama
July 1, 1908 April 1, 1914
Appointed as Assistant to the Chief Engineer, in charge of Second Division of the Chief Engineer s Office, Canal Zone, Panama
January 12, 1909
Son, Henry Harwood Rousseau, born
October 18, 1909
Promoted to Lieutenant Commander
April 1, 1914 May 31, 1916
Engineer in Charge of the Division of Terminal Construction, Canal Zone, Panama
March 4, 1915
Receives thanks of Congress and advanced to permanent grade of Rear Admiral for services rendered in building the Panama Canal
July 7, 1916
Relieved of duty, Canal Zone, Panama
August 29, 1916
Ordered to duty as member of Commission on Navy Yards and Naval Stations (Helm Commission)
April 9, 1917
Named as Navy member of General Munitions Board, Council of National Defense
June 9, 1917
Appointed to post of Assistant General Manager and later Head of the Shipyards Plant Division for the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation
1918
Manager-in-Charge of expenditure of Navy funds for United States Shipping Board
1919
Receives Navy Cross for meritorious service during World War I September and December
1921
Serves on CEC promotion board and special board for United States Shipping Board to examine ship subsidies, shipping routes, and other issues
June 15, 1923
Delivers commencement address at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
1924 1927
Government receiver during litigation over Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1, Elk Hills, California
1926
Serves on CEC promotion boards
October 21, 1927
Named Director of Naval Petroleum Reserves
September 25, 1928
Designated chief coordinator for Federal Services under supervision of Bureau of Budget by President Herbert Hoover
January 1, 1929
Assumes position as chief coordinator
July 24, 1930
Suffers stroke and dies at sea aboard SS
Cristobal
July 28, 1930
Interred, Arlington National Cemetery
Endnotes
[i] Ira E. Bennett,
History of the Panama Canal: Its Construction and Builders (Washington, DC: Historical Publishing Co., 1915), 482;
U.S. Census, 1880: Troy, Rensselaer, New York, NARA. Rousseau had a younger brother, William White Rousseau, Jr. who also attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and graduated with his Bachelors in Civil Engineering in 1895. See Hudson Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: Rousseau, Schenectady Digital History Archive, http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/families/hmgfm/rousseau.html (accessed April 11, 2014).
[ii]
Manual of the Board of School Commissioners of the City of Troy for the School Year Beginning March, 1884 (Troy, NY: William H. Young, 1884), 141; author unknown, Harry Harwood Rousseau at the Panama Canal, no date, 5, folder labeled Harry Harwood Rousseau at the Panama Canal: article, n.d.; Department of the Navy, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Bureau News Memorandum No. 10, Personnel Notes, August 1, 1930, 184, folder labeled Rousseau, Harry: articles and news-memo, 1927 1966, Record Group (RG) 4, Box 1, U.S. Navy Seabee Museum, Port Hueneme, CA (USNCBM).
[iii] Department of the Navy, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Bureau News Memorandum No. 10, Personnel Notes, August 1, 1930, 184, folder labeled Rousseau, Harry: articles and news-memo, 1927 1966; Department of the Navy, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Bureau News Memorandum No. 106, Section E Historical and General, Chiefs of the Bureau (Thirteenth), August 1, 1934, E-7, folder labeled Rousseau, Harry: biography and notes, n.d., RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM.
[iv] Department of the Navy, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Bureau News Memorandum No. 106, Section E Historical and General, Chiefs of the Bureau (Thirteenth), August 1, 1934, E-5; Harry H. Rousseau, Personal Biography Statement, folder labeled Rousseau, Harry: biography and notes, n.d., RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM.
[v] Notes from the Engineering School,
Engineering News and American Railway Journal 15, no. 14 (October 6, 1898): 210; Will be Appointed Civil Engineers,
The Sun (Baltimore, MD), October 5, 1898, 6;
Cong. Rec., 55th Cong., 3d sess., 1898, 32, pt. 1: 62; More Appointments,
Grand Forks Herald (ND), December 9, 1898, 8.
[vi] Department of the Navy,
Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the Navy of the United States and of the Marine Corps, to January 1, 1900 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1900), 64;
Cong. Rec., 55th Cong., 3d sess., 1898, 32, pt. 1: 189; Department of the Navy, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Bureau News Memorandum No. 106, Section E Historical and General, Chiefs of the Bureau (Thirteenth), August 1, 1934, E-5, folder labeled Rousseau, Harry: biography and notes, n.d., RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM. Rousseau s appointment as a CEC officer was also confirmed by the Senate on December 14, 1898.
[vii] Department of the Navy,
Shores Duties of Officers of the United States Navy, Detailed Statements Concerning the Duties of Naval Officers at the Navy Department, Navy-Yards, and Other Shore Stations in Response to the Departments Circular Letter of July 5, 1902 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1902), 10-11.
[viii] Naval Station,
Grand Forks Daily Herald (ND), March 13, 1900, 1; Hawaiian Naval Station: One Will be Established at Pearl Harbor,
Los Angeles Times, March 13, 1900, 14.
[ix] Army and Navy Notes,
Washington Post, March 7, 1901, 2; Port Royal s Claims,
Augusta Chronicle (GA), May 25, 1901, 6.
[x] Seek Naval Station Site,
Chicago Daily Tribune, August 1, 1902, 2; Great Lakes Naval Station,
New York Times, August 2, 1902, 8; Naval Training School May Come to Zenith City,
Duluth News-Tribune, August 7, 1902, 1-2; Picks Location for Naval Post,
Chicago Daily Tribune, December 14, 1902, 1.
[xi] Department of the Navy,
Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the Navy of the United States and of the Marine Corps to January 1, 1904 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1904), 74.
[xii] Harry H. Rousseau, Personal Biography Statement, folder labeled Rousseau, Harry: biography and notes, n.d., RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM.
[xiii] Mare Island s Flusher Aids: Contrivance Proves Successful in Channel,
Los Angeles Times, March 24, 1907, 14.
[xiv] Department of the Navy,
Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the Navy of the United States and of the Marine Corps to January 1, 1907 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1907), 82; Will Succeed Endicott,
Washington Post, November 29, 1906, 4. Rousseau was promoted to Lieutenant in the summer of 1906, although exactly when is not yet known.
[xv] Department of the Navy, Bureau of Navigation, Orders to Officers, U.S.N., December 15, 1906; Department of the Navy, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Bureau News Memorandum No. 106, Section E Historical and General, Chiefs of the Bureau (Thirteenth), August 1, 1934, E-5, RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM; Leaves Mare Island Yard,
Bellingham Herald (WA), December 31, 1906, 8.
[xvi] Department of the Navy, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Bureau News Memorandum No. 106, Section E Historical and General, Chiefs of the Bureau (Thirteenth), August 1, 1934, E-5; Department of the Navy, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Bureau News Memorandum No. 10, Personnel Notes, August 1, 1930, 184, folder labeled Rousseau, Harry: articles and news-memo, 1927 1966, RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM.
[xvii] NAVFAC Historical Information Board, RADM Harry H. Rousseau, CEC, USN, June 10, 1981, folder labeled Rousseau, Harry: biography and notes, n.d., RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM.
[xviii] Harry H. Rousseau to Victor H. Metcalf, March 11, 1907, reproduced in House Committee on Naval Affairs, Serial No. 20, Appropriations and Expenditures for Navy-Yards, December 19, 1907.
[xix] Canal Commissioners Out: Resignations of Three Accepted and New Personnel Announced,
Washington Post, March 15, 1907, 3; David McCullough,
The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870 1914 (New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 1977), 510-11.
[xx] Department of the Navy, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Bureau News Memorandum No. 106, Section E Historical and General, Chiefs of the Bureau (Thirteenth), August 1, 1934, E-5.
[xxi] Isthmian Canal Commission,
Annual Report for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1908 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1908), appendix C, 71-110; Isthmian Canal Commission,
Annual Report for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1909 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1909), appendix F, 143-50; author unknown, Harry Harwood Rousseau at the Panama Canal, no date, 7-11, folder labeled Harry Harwood Rousseau at the Panama Canal: article, n.d., RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM.
[xxii] Isthmian Canal Commission,
Annual Report for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1909 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1909), 1-2, appendix F, 152-80; author unknown, Harry Harwood Rousseau at the Panama Canal, no date, 14-19, folder labeled Harry Harwood Rousseau at the Panama Canal: article, n.d., RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM; Acting Chairman and Chief Engineer,
The Canal Record, February 1, 1911, 183; Acting Chairmen and Civil Engineer Acting Head Department of Civil Administration,
The Canal Record, May 11, 1911, 319.
[xxiii] Bennett,
History of the Panama Canal, 175-78; Graving Dock: Plans for the Dry Dock at Pacific Entrance,
The Canal Record, November 29, 1911, 111; Cargo-Handling Appliances at Terminal Docks,
The Canal Record, January 31, 1912, 181; Report on Method to be Used at Canal Terminals, The Canal Record, April 24, 1912, 280;
[xxiv] Isthmian Canal Commission,
Annual Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission and the Panama Canal for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1914 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1914), 8, 35-46; Bennett,
History of the Panama Canal, 183-86.
[xxv] Panama Canal, Office of the Governor,
Annual Report of the Governor of the Panama Canal for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1916 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1916), 1-9.
[xxvi] United States Navy: Army and Navy Gossip,
Washington Post, November 1, 1915, ES2; author unknown, Harry Harwood Rousseau at the Panama Canal, no date, 22, folder labeled Harry Harwood Rousseau at the Panama Canal: article, n.d., RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM.
[xxvii] Chat of Well-Known People,
Washington Post, April 9, 1908, 7; H.H. Rousseau Weds Publicly: Canal Commissioner Had Secretly Married Minister Squier s Daughter,
New York Times, April 12, 1908, 11; Love Will Find a Way: H.H. Rousseau of the Isthmian Canal Commission Weds Daughter of American Minister Despite Parents Objection,
The State (Columbia, SC), May 3, 1908, 17; Marriage of Commissioner Rousseau and Miss Squiers,
The Canal Record, April 8, 1908, 253.
[xxviii] Henry H. Rousseau graduated from Cornell University in 1931. He served in the Navy during World War II with the rank of Lieutenant Commander and postwar became director of Frito-Lay Inc. of Dallas and president of Frito-New York before dying of a heart attack on February 22, 1972. See H.H. Rousseau to Take Bride,
Washington Post, January 6, 1942, 12; Henry H. Rousseau, 63, Headed Frito-New York,
New York Times, February 24, 1972, 42.
[xxix] Army and Navy Gossip,
Washington Post, October 31, 1909, E3; Department of the Navy,
Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps, January 1, 1910 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1910), 94.
[xxx]
An Act to Provide for Recognizing the Services of Certain Officers of the Army, Navy, and Public Health Service for their Services in Connection with the Construction of the Panama Canal, to Extend to Certain of such Officers the Thanks of Congress, Public Law 167, 63d Cong., 3d sess. (March 4, 1915), 1190-91; May Give Goethals Highest Army Rank,
New York Times, December 2, 1914, 1; Army and Navy Gossip,
Washington Post, May 31, 1914, 20; Reward for Officers,
Washington Post, July 28, 1914, 5; Promote Canal Builders,
New York Times, March 3, 1915, 5; United States Navy: Army and Navy Gossip,
Washington Post, March 21, 1915, 22; Army and Navy,
Washington Post, March 28, 1915, B2.
[xxxi] Panama Railroad Company,
Sixty-seventh report of the Board of Directors of the Panama Railroad Company, for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1916 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1917), 3; Panama Railroad Company,
Annual Report of the Board of Director of the Panama Rail Road Company to the Stockholders (New York: Panama Railroad Company, 1930), 9-10.
[xxxii] Heads Pacific Naval Board: Admiral Helm is Chief of Commission to Study Navy Yard Situation,
Washington Post, August 30, 1916, 5.
[xxxiii] Naval Commission to Inspect Port Facilities Here,
Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), November 21, 1916, 1; For Great Aviation and Submarine Base Here: Mayor to Ask Council Today for Harbor Tract Gift for Government,
Los Angeles Times, November 22, 1916, II1; Seeking Naval Bases,
Idaho Statesman (Boise), January 3, 1917, 1; Navy Committee Arrives,
Los Angeles Times, January 7, 1917, I6; Navy Needs All Yards,
Washington Post, January 18, 1917, 2; Sites Seen Again,
Oregonian (Portland), February 7, 1917, 17.
[xxxiv] Government Forms Munitions Board, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 10, 1917, 12; Munitions Board of Experts Named,
Los Angeles Times, April 10, 1917, 13;
Cong. Rec., 65th Cong., 1st sess., 1917, 55, pt. 4: 3336, 3423.
[xxxv] Professional Notes,
United States Naval Institute Proceedings 43, no. 7 (July 1917): 1536; Goethals Associate in Canal With Him in Shipbuilding,
Augusta Chronicle (GA), June 20, 1917, 1; United States Navy, Washington Post, December 8, 1918, R6; Harry H. Rousseau, Personal Biography Statement, folder labeled Rousseau, Harry: biography and notes, n.d., RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM.
[xxxvi] Ship Plants are Lauded,
Oregonian (Portland), November 17, 1918, 36.
[xxxvii] Harry R. Stringer, ed.,
The Navy Book of Distinguished Service: An Official Compendium of the Names and Citations of the men of the United States Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Foreign Governments Who were Decorated by the Navy Department for Extraordinary Gallantry and Conspicuous Service Above and Beyond the Call of Duty in the World War (Washington, DC: Fassett Publishing Co., 1921), 124.
[xxxviii] News of the Army and Navy,
Washington Post, October 23, 1921, 31; Harding Will Ask for Ship Subsidy,
Jackson Citizen Patriot (MS), December 3, 1921, 1.
[xxxix] Rensselaer Commencement Speakers and Honorary Degree Recipients, 1891 1930, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, http://www.rpi.edu/dept/library/html/archives/history/commencement/1891-1930.html (accessed April 15, 2014).
[xl] Receivers Take Oil Land: Rousseau is Named for the Navy and Anderson for Doheny Interests,
New York Times, March 18, 1924, 1; Reserve Receivers Sworn,
Los Angeles Times, March 25, 1924, A9; Oil Shale Test to Take Years,
Los Angeles Times, October 4, 1924, 3; News of the Personnel of the Government Departments,
Washington Post, May 9, 1926, F6.
[xli] 3 Groups of Naval Officers Eligible for Next Advance, Washington Post, June 27, 1926, M18; Navy Promotion Body to Meet Tomorrow,
Washington Post, August 1, 1926, M27.
[xlii] Rousseau Heads Oil Reserves,
New York Times, October 22, 1927, 8; Navy Regains Teapot Dome,
New York Times, January 5, 1928, 12; Oil Inquiry Lists Adams and Hilles,
New York Times, March 27, 1928, 17; Department of the Navy, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Bureau News Memorandum No. 52, Personnel Notes, October 31, 1927, 671, RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM.
[xliii] Rousseau Named Chief Coordinator,
Washington Post, October 7, 1928, M12; Department of the Navy, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Bureau News Memorandum No. 75, Rear-Admiral Rousseau Designated as Chief Coordinator, October 15, 1928, 1039, RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM.
[xliv] Admiral Rousseau Dies Aboard Ship,
New York Times, July 25, 1930, 11; Harry H. Rousseau, Rear Admiral, Dies,
Washington Post, July 25, 1930, 3; Rousseau Burial in Washington,
New York Times, July 27, 1930, 23; Department of the Navy, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Bureau News Memorandum No. 10, Personnel Notes, August 1, 1930, 185, folder labeled Rousseau, Harry: articles and news-memo, 1927 1966, RG 4, Box 1, USNCBM.
[xlv] Rousseau Stamp a Collector s Item,
U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps Bulletin 9, no. 12 (December 1955): 25. This was Canal Zone stamp no. 112.
[xlvi] Department of the Navy,
Building the Navy s Bases in World War II: History of the Bureau of Yards and Docks and the Civil Engineer Corps, 1940 1946, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1947), 42.