Eugene M . Zuckert Eugene Martin Zuckert ( November 9 , 1911 – June 5 , 2000 ) was the seventh United States Secretary of the Air Force from January 23 , 1961 to September 30 , 1965 . During his service as secretary , he witnessed the shifting of decision - making powers from the military departments to the Office of the Secretary of Defense , a process that continued throughout the 1960s . He observed that the Air Force ought to investigate technologies that would have some bearing on future aerospace military operations , leading to " Project Forecast , " a study initiated in March 1963 . Biography . Zuckert was born in New York City . He attended public elementary and high schools in suburban New York , received preparatory education at the Salisbury School , Salisbury , Connecticut , and earned his bachelor of arts degree from Yale University in 1933 . Zuckert entered the combined Yale Law School - Harvard Business School course sponsored by William O . Douglas , who later served on the Supreme Court . That course , a pioneer experiment by Yale and Harvard , supplemented legal training with administration to foster an awareness of the business problems of clients . After graduation , Zuckert became a member of both the Connecticut and New York Bars . He later became a member of the Bar in the District of Columbia . In 1940 , he became an instructor in government and business relations at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration , and later he became an assistant dean . While at Harvard he also served as a special consultant to the commanding general of the Army Air Forces in developing statistical controls . In 1944 Zuckert entered the US Navy as a lieutenant and worked in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations , where he was assigned to the service ' s inventory control program . In September 1945 he was released from the Navy to become executive assistant to the administrator , Surplus Property Administration , under W . Stuart Symington . When Symington became assistant secretary of war for air in February 1946 , Zuckert became his special assistant . With the passage of the National Security Act in 1947 and Symington ' s subsequent appointment as the first secretary of the Air Force , Zuckert took the oath as assistant secretary of the Air Force . His principal duties were in the field of management . He helped institute Symington ' s program of " Management Control Through Cost Control , " an initiative to place the U . S . Air Force on a business - like basis , using accepted industrial practices as a yardstick for establishing Air Force procedures . Zuckert represented the Air Force in the formulation of the fiscal 1950 budget , the first joint Army - Navy - Air Force budget in U . S . history . The accomplishment that Zuckert considered his most professionally satisfying stemmed from President Harry S . Truman ' s 1948 directive requiring the armed services to abolish segregation . Working with Lieutenant General Idwal H . Edwards , head of Air Force personnel , Zuckert oversaw implementation of the integration program . In addition , Zuckert served as the Air Force member of the Interservice Committee created by Secretary of Defense James Forrestal to develop a Uniform Code of Military Justice for the Department of Defense . Remaining in the secretariat after Thomas K . Finletter succeeded Symington as secretary , Zuckert was charged with handling the " highly controversial and vexatious problem of the civilian components , including the reserves and the Air Force National Guard . " As Finletter concentrated more on larger issues , such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and nuclear weapons development , Zuckert dealt with the daily operations of the office . When he left his position as assistant secretary in February 1952 to become a member of the Atomic Energy Commission , he left an Air Force cost - control system that had established a new high point in sound business administration within the military establishment , and he had secured a personal reputation as one of the top - flight , younger career officials in government . In December 1960 , Robert S . McNamara , President - elect John F . Kennedy ' s designee for secretary of defense , recommended to Kennedy that Zuckert be appointed Air Force secretary . Zuckert was nominated and confirmed in January 1961 . With nearly six years of Air Force experience , Zuckert was better prepared for and more knowledgeable about the secretariat and its organization than any previous appointee . Zuckert was involved in controversies associated with the XB - 70 , AGM - 48 Skybolt , and the TFX ( later the F - 111 ) weapon systems , and with direct participation in the war in Vietnam . Both he and Air Force Chief of Staff General Thomas D . White opposed the administration ' s decision to cut the XB - 70 bomber . Zuckert later admitted that he erred in promoting the bomber because of its increasing vulnerability to enemy defenses . The TFX was a tactical fighter - bomber designed and built for both the Air Force and the Navy . In negotiations over the development of that weapon , Zuckert supported the administration , which wanted the plane , against the Air Force , which did not . In so doing , he strained his relationship with the Air Force and lost a measure of the confidence it had placed in him . When the Skybolt missile was canceled in December 1962 , Zuckert and the Air Staff were allied , as they had been during the XB - 70 debate , against the secretary of defense and the administration . Zuckert often found himself to be the " man in the middle , " at times supporting the Air Force against the secretary of defense and the administration . Shortly after Zuckert left office in September 1965 , the Air Force instituted the Zuckert Management Award , which is given annually in September to a general officer or high - level civilian for " outstanding management performance . " The award perpetuates Secretary Zuckert ' s commitment to sound and effective management within the Air Force . Zuckert himself attended every awards ceremony through 1998 . Until his retirement in 1988 , Zuckert practiced law , did consulting and was active in pursuing his long - standing interest in corporate governance . Over the years he served as a director of several small , technically oriented companies . On June 5 , 2000 , Eugene Zuckert died at the age of 88 of pneumonia complicated by a heart ailment .