Former Commissioner Floyd Dominy, 98, Recalls Reclamation’s Vibrant History
Memory Strong and Agile During April Interview for Agency’s Oral History Project
A delegation from Reclamation’s Washington office traveled
to the rural Virginia home of former commissioner Floyd Dominy as part of the agency’s ongoing oral history project.
Serving in the post from 1959 to 1968, the 98-year-old Dominy is considered the most colorful commissioner in Reclamation’s history. He was appointed and reappointed commissioner under Democrat and Republican presidents alike and enjoyed unparalleled influence with key members of the United States Congress.
Dominy’s wit and recollection were in fine form on April 29, when he was visited at his farm outside Boyce, Va. by the Washington delegation, which included Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary Brenda Burman, Deputy Commissioners Kris Polly and Karl Wirkus, Chief of Public Affairs Dan DuBray, Mid-Pacific Public Affairs Chief Jeff McCracken, and Carter Brown, Special Assistant for Legislative Affairs. McCracken conducted nearly an hour-long videotaped interview with Dominy as part of the visit.
Dominy’s commitment to irrigation in the arid American West stemmed from his hardscrabble upbringing on a Nebraska farm. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wyoming in 1932 and, following stints as a teacher, an agricultural agent and assistant director of the Food Supply Division, joined Reclamation as a land settlement specialist.
In his interview with McCracken, Dominy recalled that his first interview for a job with Reclamation occurred on the same day that he mustered out of the U.S. Navy at the conclusion of World War II. Dominy’s final hours with the Navy were served at the Navy Department headquarters, just a few dozen steps from the site of the main headquarters of the Department of the Interior – where it is still located today.
Dominy used his brief time in Washington that day to telephone Goodrich W. Lineweaver – then Reclamation’s Director of Operations and Maintenance – and ask directly for a job. He now recalls that Lineweaver initially tried to give him the brush-off but, after Dominy used his adroit skill of persuasion – a skill that would later come into play in his work with Congress – Lineweaver agreed to grant Dominy a 10-minute personal interview in his office later that same day.
He got the job. Just 13 short years later, in 1959, he was appointed by President Eisenhower to serve as Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation. By this time, Dominy’s position as the “go-to” guy when it came to testifying before congressional committees was well-established. “I doubt if the basic principles that I used in dealing with Congress has changed all that much,” Dominy said, recalling that each member has individual aims and goals and always demanded to be “treated with courtesy and respect.”
For an example, he harkened back to a hearing in the 1960s on Upper Colorado River issues in which a congressman (who Dominy said was by then “in his dotage”) publicly and angrily demanded to know why the Bureau of Reclamation had gone to the trouble of building Rainbow Bridge, near Page, Ariz., if there was no water running under it. Dominy says he explained to the congressman that it was really a misnomer to call it a “bridge” since it was more accurately an “arch” created by natural forces and not built by man. Dominy says that by letting the congressman down gently and without embarrassment he cemented a stronger professional relationship and also impressed the other congressmen in attendance.
Dominy says his key to success on Capitol Hill was his ability to do his homework: studying the resumés of each member of the committee that he would face and learning each and every item in the Reclamation budget that could possibly be a potential question.
At 98, Dominy is still as sharp as ever but draws the line at offering any advice for Bob Johnson or any future Reclamation commissioners. “It’s been 38 years since I’ve been there,” he said. “I wouldn’t know what advice to give.”
Last Updated: 5/22/08