Dr. Furnas goes to Washington

Editor's note: This story is part of "UB Then," an occasional feature highlighting people, events and other interesting elements of UB history pulled from the University Archives.

With all of the new presidential appointees in Washington these days, UB Then was reminded of when one of UB’s own got the call from the nation’s capital.

No, not Millard Fillmore, who served as U.S. president, as well as vice president, while still chancellor of UB. It was former UB Chancellor Clifford C. Furnas who came to mind.

Furnas, a former Olympic distance runner, scientist and professor of chemical engineering at Yale University, was chancellor of UB for a little more than a year when he was tapped to serve as deputy secretary of defense for research and development in late 1955 in the Eisenhower administration.

The University Council granted Furnas a 14-month leave of absence to serve in Washington while vice chancellor for business affairs, Claude E. Puffer, was named acting chancellor until Furnas returned.

In a farewell letter that appeared in The Spectrum, Furnas spoke of his new government role and said nothing was of greater national importance than helping prevent World War III.

“It is a tremendously important job,” Furnas told media at the time. “I’m a little skeptical about my ability to handle it, but others don’t seem to be.

“The only deterring factor is that there is also a tremendous job to be done at the University of Buffalo,” he said. “The question is, where can I be most useful?”

Furnas had experience in Washington, including time as head technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee, coordinating a research and development program during the early years of World War II.

Furnas also had extensive experience in the field of aviation and expertise in guided missiles. Prior to leading UB, Furnas was director of the Curtiss-Wright Research Laboratory, which later became the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, where he rose to executive vice president.

Now, as a member of the policy staff at the Defense Department, Furnas would administer a research budget totaling billions of dollars.

His assignment was to direct and supervise a weapons development program that not only included conventional guns, tanks and ships, but advanced concepts for rockets, missiles and atomic-powered submarines, according to his obituary in The New York Times.

But as often the case in Washington, Furnas would find himself caught between Congress and the administration over weapons development, particularly in the field of guided missiles, according to the Times.

Members of Congress thought the Eisenhower administration was not spending enough on military research, while Furnas contended the nation’s weapons-development program was technically superior to that of the Soviet Union’s.

Furnas would finish his time at the Defense Department, as scheduled. President Eisenhower accepted his resignation and was “deeply grateful for his services,” according to documents in University Archives.

“While I regret that you find it necessary to leave the Department of Defense,” Eisenhower was quoted as saying, “I am most mindful and appreciative of your interest in helping keep the educational institutions of our country strong.”

Furnas would go on to assist the government in a variety of scientific roles over the years, but his primary focus was the university.

He returned to Buffalo and resumed his role as chancellor in February of 1957, ushering in a period of growth for the university and a new era as part of the State University of New York.

He retired from UB in 1966.