Sheila Widnall: Difference between revisions

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	==Controversy==		==Controversy==

	On July 27, 1997, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogelman asked Sheila Widnall to relieve him of his duty and allow him to retire a year before he was scheduled to do so. Fogelman, who many remember for his courageous stand against the senate on the Kelly Flinn matter, resigned over the refusal of Secretary ~~Widnall~~ to promote Brig. Gen. Terry Schwalier.		On July 27, 1997, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogelman asked Sheila Widnall to relieve him of his duty and allow him to retire a year before he was scheduled to do so. Fogelman, who many remember for his courageous stand against the senate on the Kelly Flinn matter, resigned over the refusal of Secretary William Cohen to promote Brig. Gen. Terry Schwalier.

	Flinn, a female B-52 pilot, had been fired for lying to her commanding officer about a love affair she’d had with the husband of an enlisted woman. Attacked in a senate hearing over the firing, Fogelman stood up to then-Sen. Trent Lott and insisted that she was fired not for being a woman or having an illicit affair but because she lied to her commander. Fogelman won that one.		Flinn, a female B-52 pilot, had been fired for lying to her commanding officer about a love affair she’d had with the husband of an enlisted woman. Attacked in a senate hearing over the firing, Fogelman stood up to then-Sen. Trent Lott and insisted that she was fired not for being a woman or having an illicit affair but because she lied to her commander. Fogelman won that one.

	But he lost when he insisted that Schwalier,the commander of the Saudi facility at which the al-Quida bombing of the Khobar Towers killed 19 American servicemen, was denied promotion. Fogelman, after an investigation, determined that Schwalier did everything a commander could have done to prevent it, but ~~Widnall~~ insisted someone be held accountable. ~~She~~ chose Schwalier.		But he lost when he insisted that Schwalier,the commander of the Saudi facility at which the al-Quida bombing of the Khobar Towers killed 19 American servicemen, was denied promotion. Fogelman, after an investigation, determined that Schwalier did everything a commander could have done to prevent it, but Cohen insisted someone be held accountable. He chose Schwalier.

	In a 1997 interview, Fogelman talked about his many frustrations with the civilian leadership, ranging from fact-defying decisions on force structure to Flinn to Schwalier.		In a 1997 interview, Fogelman talked about his many frustrations with the civilian leadership, ranging from fact-defying decisions on force structure to Flinn to Schwalier.

	~~Widnall’s~~ decision on Schwalier was the last straw. Fogelman said, “As chief of staff of the United States Air Force, charged with providing military advice to the civilian leadership that the civilian leadership did not value for whatever reason, I had become ineffective as a spokesman. This was a crowd that took any kind of military advice that ran counter to administration policy or desires as a sign of disloyalty on the part of the person providing the advice. That was one element; the other was based on what I had seen and the way the Khobar Towers tragedy had been handled. I simply lost respect and confidence in the leadership that I was supposed to be following.” <ref>		Cohen’s decision on Schwalier was the last straw. Fogelman said, “As chief of staff of the United States Air Force, charged with providing military advice to the civilian leadership that the civilian leadership did not value for whatever reason, I had become ineffective as a spokesman. This was a crowd that took any kind of military advice that ran counter to administration policy or desires as a sign of disloyalty on the part of the person providing the advice. That was one element; the other was based on what I had seen and the way the Khobar Towers tragedy had been handled. I simply lost respect and confidence in the leadership that I was supposed to be following.” <ref>
	{{cite web \|url=http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?print=yes&id=33828\|title=Lyndon Baines Obama\|date=5 October 2009}}		{{cite web \|url=http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?print=yes&id=33828\|title=Lyndon Baines Obama\|date=5 October 2009}}
	</ref>		</ref>

Revision as of 13:52, 26 May 2011

Sheila E. Widnall
Sheila E. Widnall (official portrait)

18th Secretary of the Air Force
In office August 6, 1993 – October 31, 1997
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Donald B. Rice
Succeeded by	F. Whitten Peters

Personal details
Born	Sheila Marie Evans (1938-07-13) July 13, 1938 (age 86) Tacoma, Washington
Nationality	United States
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	William Soule Widnall
Children	William Widnall Ann Marie Widnall
Alma mater	MIT
Profession	aeronautical engineer professor academic administrator

Sheila Marie Evans Widnall (born July 13, 1938) is an American aerospace researcher and Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She served as United States Secretary of the Air Force between 1993 and 1997, making her the first female Secretary of the Air Force and first woman to lead an entire branch of the U.S. military in the Department of Defense. (Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole had previously been in charge of the United States Coast Guard, which falls under the Department of Transportation during peacetime.)

Widnall graduated from MIT with an S.B. in 1960, S.M. in 1961, and Sc.D. in 1964, all in Aeronautics. She was appointed as the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1986 and joined the Engineering Systems Division, was Chair of the Faculty 1979–1981, and has served as MIT's Associate Provost from 1992–1993. In 1988 she was the President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

President of the United States Bill Clinton announced her nomination to be Secretary of the Air Force on the Fourth of July, 1993. The Senated received her nomination July 22, 1993, and confirmed her two weeks later on August 5, 1993, 183 days after inauguration and 197 after the office became vacant. During her tenure she handled the Kelly Flinn scandal. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1995, serving as vice-president from 1998 to 2005 and winning their Arthur M. Bueche Award in 2009.

Widnall was a member of the board of investigation into the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

She currently works with the Lean Advancement Initiative.

Controversy

On July 27, 1997, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogelman asked Sheila Widnall to relieve him of his duty and allow him to retire a year before he was scheduled to do so. Fogelman, who many remember for his courageous stand against the senate on the Kelly Flinn matter, resigned over the refusal of Secretary William Cohen to promote Brig. Gen. Terry Schwalier.

Flinn, a female B-52 pilot, had been fired for lying to her commanding officer about a love affair she’d had with the husband of an enlisted woman. Attacked in a senate hearing over the firing, Fogelman stood up to then-Sen. Trent Lott and insisted that she was fired not for being a woman or having an illicit affair but because she lied to her commander. Fogelman won that one.

But he lost when he insisted that Schwalier,the commander of the Saudi facility at which the al-Quida bombing of the Khobar Towers killed 19 American servicemen, was denied promotion. Fogelman, after an investigation, determined that Schwalier did everything a commander could have done to prevent it, but Cohen insisted someone be held accountable. He chose Schwalier.

In a 1997 interview, Fogelman talked about his many frustrations with the civilian leadership, ranging from fact-defying decisions on force structure to Flinn to Schwalier.

Cohen’s decision on Schwalier was the last straw. Fogelman said, “As chief of staff of the United States Air Force, charged with providing military advice to the civilian leadership that the civilian leadership did not value for whatever reason, I had become ineffective as a spokesman. This was a crowd that took any kind of military advice that ran counter to administration policy or desires as a sign of disloyalty on the part of the person providing the advice. That was one element; the other was based on what I had seen and the way the Khobar Towers tragedy had been handled. I simply lost respect and confidence in the leadership that I was supposed to be following.”

Research

Widnall's research has been focused on Fluid mechanics, in particular the aerodynamics of high-speed vehicles, helicopters, aircraft wakes, and turbulence. One of her most notable works is on the elliptical instability mechanism with Raymond Pierrehumbert.

Writings

"Science and the Atari Generation." Science (August 12, 1983): 607.
"AAAS Presidential Lecture: Voices from the Pipeline." Science (September 30, 1988): 1740-1745.

References

"Sheila E. Widnall." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1631006966. Fee. Accessed 2008-10-31. Updated: 12/12/1998.
"Sheila Widnall." Notable Women Scientists. Gale Group, 2000. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1668000457. Fee. Accessed 2008-10-31. Updated: 11/05/2000
"Sheila E. Widnall." Notable Scientists: From 1900 to the Present. Online. Gale Group, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1619002898 Fee. Accessed 2008-10-31. Updated: 01/01/2001.
As of December 2008, Widnall remains the only woman to serve as Secretary of the Air Force.
Jehl, Douglas (1993-07-04). "M.I.T. Professor Is First Woman Chosen as Secretary of Air Force". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-31. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
Palmer, Betsy (2005-03-23). 9/11 Commission Recommendations: The Senate Confirmation Process for Presidential Nominees (PDF). CRS Report for Congress. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved 2008-01-31. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |origmonth= and |origdate= (help)
Stout, David (1997-05-24). "'Part of Me Has Died,' Pilot Says in Apology". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-31. Even as she asked in vain for an honorable discharge, First Lieut. Kelly J. Flinn said in a letter to the Secretary of the Air Force that having to leave the service was a punishment she would carry to her grave. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
National Academy of Engineering. "The Honorable Sheila E. Widnall".
"National Academy of Engineering Presented Extraordinary Impact Awards". Aerospace America. 47 (10): B10. 2009.
"NAE announces award winners John Casani and Sheila Widnall". 1 October 2009.
"Lyndon Baines Obama". 5 October 2009.
Pierrehumbert, Raymond; Widnall, Sheila (1982). "The Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Instabilities of a Spatially Periodic Shear Layer". Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 114: 59–82.

External links

"DoD image". U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved December 20, 2008
Sheila Widnall Playlist Appearance on WMBR's Dinnertime Sampler radio show March 2, 2005. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); External link in |accessdate= (help); line feed character in |accessdate= at position 18 (help)

Military offices
Preceded byGeneral Merrill A. McPeak (acting)	United States Secretary of the Air Force August 6, 1993 - October 31, 1997	Succeeded byF. Whitten Peters

v t e United States secretaries of the Air Force
Secretaries	Symington Finletter Talbott Quarles Douglas Sharp Zuckert Brown Seamans McLucas Reed Stetson Mark Orr Rourke Aldridge Rice Widnall Peters Roche Wynne Donley James Wilson Barrett Kendall
Under secretaries	Barrows McCone Gilpatric Douglas MacIntyre Sharp Charyk McMillan Paul Hoopes McLucas Plummer Mark Chayes Aldridge McGovern Foreman De Leon Peters DiBattiste Teets Sega Conaton Fanning Disbrow Donovan Jones Dalton

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