Imprint Publications

Battling Tradition
Robert F. McDermott and Shaping the U.S. Air Force Academy

Paul T. Ringenbach
With a Foreword by General Ronald R. Fogleman

ISBN 1-879176-42-4 (Paper); xviii+333 pp.; biblio.; index; illus.; $29.95 (2008 edition)

Battling Tradition details the revolution in modern military education that became the ethos in the formative years of the United States Air Force Academy. The leader of this revolution was Robert F. McDermott. West Point graduate, World War II combat pilot, Harvard MBA, and a full colonel less than twelve years after commissioning, McDermott was assigned to the newly created Air Force Academy in 1954. Dreamers and Doers always exist, but rarely do individuals possess both traits, as did the brilliant McDermott. He had a vision of what the Academy could be, and then fought successfully to make it so. Building on the foundation of West Point’s devotion to “Duty, Honor, Country,” Dean of Faculty McDermott departed from the traditional educational ideas of Sylvanus Thayer and the senior service academies with his innovative academic programs. His goal was to match the excellence of America’s most prestigious colleges and universities in order to produce better career officers to serve in an increasingly complex geopolitical world. His most staggering accomplishment was obtaining formal accreditation for the Academy before the first class graduated in 1959, the first and only such occurrence in the history of American post-secondary education. In this skillfully researched and well-written narrative based on new primary sources, Paul Ringenbach recounts the founding of the Academy and McDermott’s extraordinary efforts that continue to impact the tens of thousands of graduates of the nation’s service academies. This study is about leadership and one remarkable individual’s success in overcoming entrenched opposition from traditionalists to bring the education of professional career officers into the modern era. Military retirement did not end McDermott’s story, however. Ringenbach sketches his second illustrious career as Chairman and CEO of USAA. McDermott turned USAA into a  national success story, and at the same time, led the civic movement to modernize San Antonio.

“Although I admired the charismatic General McDermott, I never really appreciated the difficulty and depth of what he did for the Academy, the Air Force, and the Nation until I read this biography.”—General Ronald R. Fogelman, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force 1994-97, in Foreword

“General McDermott’s courageous talent created an Academy for the ages. Paul Ringenbach has captured his essence here.” —Michael W. Wynne, Secretary of the Air Force


Contents:

Acknowledgments
Foreword by General Ronald R. Fogleman
Preface
1. Preparing for Takeoff
2. Birth of the Air Force Academy
3. Turbulent Beginnings—McD Emerges
4. High Energy
5. Enrichment, Majors, and Sputnik
6. Leadership Assures Accreditation
7. Overcoming the Friction of Tradition
8. Beyond Undergraduate Degrees
9. Majors for All
10. Honor and Dishonor
11. Ensuring the Future
Epilogue
Notes
Selective Bibliography
Index