James A. McDivitt oral history (Doug Ward)

Johnson Space Center Oral History Project James A. McDivitt
29 June 1999 12-72
on; and finally George and I decided that, “Look, you know, if I’m going to do this job, I’ve
got to do it now! I’m not going to do it—I’m not going to start it last.” So, he said, “Yeah,”
so he went and did something else on a temp—on an interim basis and I took over the
Program for 12 through 16.
WARD: What was your impression or recollection of George Low?
MCDIVITT: A great guy. A really great guy. Well, he was the right guy at the right time.
We were—there was a lot of unrest, uncertainty, finger-pointing, and things like that after the
fire. Unfortunately. You know, like I said earlier, I don’t think it was anybody’s fault. I
think it was part of the ballgame, and I’m surprised we didn’t kill more guys. But he came in
and pulled the NASA team together and solidified the relationship between the contractors
and NASA. And we got back on—got going again.
WARD: Did you consciously follow his style when you left? Or were your own person? I’m
sure you had your own approach to managing that was different from his.
MCDIVITT: Well—yeah! It sure was! I believe nobody does things like I do and other
people don’t do things like other people do. As a matter of fact, when I took over his—I
moved into his office and I had a executive assistant, secretary, assistant secretary, technical
assistant, and an administrative assistant. Well, hell, it took me all day long to figure out
what to tell them to do to keep them busy! So, you know, finally I decided: “I don’t need an
executive assistant.” So, I didn’t talk to her anymore. And after a while, she got the
message, and she applied for another job and she left. She was a very nice lady. I don’t even
remember her name anymore. But she was a very nice lady. But I couldn’t cope with all