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Secretary of the Air Force - Nomination of John Stetson.

March 22, 1977

The President today announced that he will nominate John Stetson, of Winnetka, Ill., to be Secretary of the Air Force. Stetson is president of the A. B. Dick Co., in Chicago.

He was born in Chicago on September 6, 1920. He received a B.S. degree in aeronautical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1943.

Stetson was a design engineer for the Douglas Aircraft Co. in 1943 and 1944. In 1944 and 1945, he served as an ensign in the U.S. Navy. In 1945 and 1946, he was a design engineer for Republic Box Co.

From 1946 to 1948, Stetson worked for George T. Schmidt, Inc., as a design and sales engineer. He was sales manager for Foote Brothers Gear & Machine from 1948 to 1951.

From 1951 to 1963, Stetson was a partner in the Chicago consulting firm of Booz, Allen & Hamilton. He served as executive vice president and president of the Newspaper Division of the Houston Post Co. from 1963 until 1970, when he became president of A. B. Dick.

The President also announced that he has approved an exception to the conflict of interest guidelines for Stetson.

Stetson is presently trustee of the John C. Stetson 1968 trust. He has agreed to name an independent trustee to serve in his place while he serves as Secretary of the Air Force.

The portfolio of that trust is well diversified except that 63 percent is represented by ownership of stock in the Mercantile National Bank of Hammond, Ind., and 16 percent is represented by stock in the Lansing Bank of Lansing, Ill.

The President has approved the exception because sale of the stock in these two small banks would be difficult, and because Stetson's disqualifying himself from acting on matters affecting their financial interest would rarely, if ever, affect his duties as Secretary of the Air Force, since neither bank does any business with the Department of Defense.

Jimmy Carter, Secretary of the Air Force - Nomination of John Stetson. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/243244

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