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JAMES HOBSON STRATTON
1898-1984
BY WILSON BINGER
j AMES HOBSON STRATTON, retired brigadier general in the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers anct partner in the engineer-
ing and architectural consulting firm of Tippetts-Abbett-
McCarthy-Stratton in New York, sliest of congestive heart
failure on March 16, 1984, at the age of eighty-five. Thus
encled a noteworthy professional engineering career,
marked by General Stratton's direction of a number of major
civil and military engineering projects.
Stratton was born in Stonington, Connecticut, on June 7,
IS98; he attenclect public schools in Paterson, New Jersey,
where his family tract subsequently moved. After the out-
break of World War ~ and the declaration of war by the
United States, Stratton enlisted in the National Guards
shortly thereafter, however, he was discharged to enter the
U.S. Army Military Academy at West Point. Upon gradua-
tion, he transferred to the Corps of Engineers.
During his pre-WorIcl War Il years with the corps, Strat-
ton was assigned to various district engineering offices. It was
during these tours that he became acquainted with the im-
portance of soil mechanics in the design and construction of
earth clams and later with the construction of military air-
fields. More than any other engineering officer at that time,
Stratton acted as a catalyst to incorporate the young science
of soil mechanics into the project development activities of
the corps.
327
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328
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
James Stratton encouraged engineers to develop their
skills and, through his leadership anc! expertness, provicled
them with an example. His work had a major impact on the
design ant! construction of dams at Denison, Texas; Franklin
Falls, New Hampshire; and Conchas, New Mexico; and of
the locks and dams on the upper Mississippi River. In actdi-
tion, he assumed a major role in the design and construction
of the airfield and flood control works at Cacicloa, Colorado,
inclucting the John Martin Dam.
At the onset of WorIct War II, James Stratton was assigned
to the Office of the Chief of Engineers. In this capacity, Strat-
,
ton was given responsibility for the engineering, planning,
ant] design of those facilities related to the extensive military
construction program that had clevolved upon the corps—as
well as the responsibility for the somewhat curtailed Civil
Works Program. As the selected representative of the chief
of engineers, James Stratton participated in the initial engi-
neering-related planning of the tangling operation on the
north coast of France in 1944.
In September 1943 he was assignee! to the European the-
ater of operations as a G4 in the Communications Zone; he
was stationed in London until being assigned to France in
July 1944. For his wartime services, General Stratton was
awarclect the Legion of Merit (1944) anti the Distinguished
Service Medal (19451. As the end of hostilities neared, he
returned to the Unitecl States for an assignment as assistant
chief of engineers. In this role he was responsible for reacti-
vating the Civil Works Program of the corps, which played
an important part in reducing unemployment following the
end of the war and the demobilization of the armed forces.
With the passage of Public Law 280, the seventy-ninth U.S.
Congress provi(le(1 for a study of the future Panama Canal.
Consequently, in early 1946 Stratton was named special en-
gineering assistant to the governor of the Panama Canal anti
placed in charge of the investigation and study of the Isth-
mian Canal. Years later, the results of these preliminary stucI-
ies established an invaluable basis for the more comprehen-
sive Sea Level Canal Studies program.
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JAMES HOBSON STRATTON
329
General Stratton's position of special engineering assistant
served far more than merely an administrative or even an
executive function, for his leaclership role of managing a
group of 150 engineers and geologists was a highly technical
assignment. General Stratton had the vision, creativity, and
attention to cletai! to ensure that the Panama Canal study was
thorough, well grounded in the technology of the time, and
supporter! by complete investigations in geology, soil me-
chanics, hydrology anct hydraulics, economics, urban plan-
ning, and military and naval sciences.
He completed this duty in micI-1948. His final active duty
assignment was as the New England division engineer at Bos-
ton, Massachusetts, following which, in 1949, after thirty
years of service, he chose to retire with the rank of brigadier
general.
Stratton then joined the engineering and architectural
consulting firm in New York that had been foundect many
years before by his West Point classmate Theodore T. Knap-
pen. After the death of Knappen in 1951, the firm's name
was changed to Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton. As a
partner, Stratton was responsible for many of the firm's ma-
jor dam projects; for a number of highway, port, harbor, and
airport construction projects; ant! for numerous feasibility
studies, all of which were successfully completed in many of
the fifty countries in which the firm was active. He retired
from the firm in January 1967.
Following his retirement from military service, General
Stratton was active in community affairs ant! for seven years
was a member of the boars! of education in Englewood, New
Jersey. He was also a member of the Special Curricula Com-
mittee, which was appointee] to advise the clean of the De-
partment of Civil and Sanitary Engineering at the Massachu-
setts Institute of Technology (MIT) regarding courses of
study for enrolled undergracluates. In acIdition, for three
years General Stratton served as a member of the board of
visitors, which met annually to advise this same MIT depart-
ment on substantive matters significant to the fulfillment of
the purposes for which MIT tract been established.
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Among his technical publications was an article on military
airfields, published in 1945 by the American Society of Civil
Engineers, for which Stratton was awarded the society's Ar-
thur Wellington Prize. He was also a contributing author to
the Handbook of Applied Hydraulics, eclite(1 by Calvin Davis,
and American Civil Engineering Practice, edited by Robert W.
Abbett.
Stratton was a member of Theta Xi fraternity at the Rens-
selaer Polytechnic Institute, and he was a Mason. His profes-
sional society affiliations included the Society of American
Military Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers,
the Boston Society of Engineers, and the American Institute
of Consulting Engineers. He was elected to the National
Academy of Engineering in 1981. General Stratton hell!
professional licenses in eighteen states.
In acIdition to his personal professional accomplishments,
Stratton provider! firm leaclership to his associates. He was
particularly generous in the encouragement, guidance, and
support of younger engineers, to whom Stratton believed in
giving responsibility. When he himself was in his seines, ne
said to a friend in his firm, "What's wrong with the world is
that the leaders are old men, ant! ~ mean men of my age!"
· . - .
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
hobson stratton
