Frederick J . Clarke Frederick James Clarke ( March 1 , 1915 – February 4 , 2002 ) was a civil and military engineer with the United States Army Corps of Engineers . Clarke was one of three commissioners appointed to run the District of Columbia from 1960 to 1963 , and later rose to the rank of Chief of Engineers in the Corps of Engineers . Clark was born in Little Falls , New York . In 1937 he graduated fourth in his class at the United States Military Academy at West Point , New York . He was then commissioned in the Corps of Engineers , while continuing his graduate work . Clarke received a master ' s degree in civil engineering from Cornell University in 1940 and later attended the Advanced Management Program of the Graduate School of Business at Harvard University . He also completed graduate studies at the Army War College . During World War II he commanded a battalion of the 38th Combat Engineers that helped construct a military airfield on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic , a key refueling point for transatlantic flights to Africa . He also served in Washington , D . C . , in the headquarters of the Army Service Forces . He served as a logistics planner on General George C . Marshall ' s staff . He also was an early developer of the " Red Ball Express " operation that kept European beachheads supplied . As the war in Europe ended , he was involved in the frenzied planning effort to redirect supplies to the Pacific . Clarke also worked in the atomic energy field for the Manhattan Engineer District ( best known as the Manhattan Project ) . After the war his atomic work continued , with the U . S . Atomic Energy Commission at Hanford , Washington , and at the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project at Sandia Laboratory , Albuquerque , New Mexico . As the District Engineer of the Trans - East District of the Corps in 1957 - 59 , he was responsible for U . S . military construction in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia , and he initiated transportation surveys in East Pakistan and Burma . From 1874 to 1967 , before " District of Columbia home rule , " the District was governed by three federally appointed commissioners ( one a civil engineer , selected from the Army Corps of Engineers ) . In 1960 , President Dwight D . Eisenhower appointed Clarke as the District ' s Engineer Commissioner . He was the technician - in - chief , called to address the problems such as traffic gridlock , economic development and low levels of funding . At one point early in his term , he was the only commissioner available for full - time duty , because one post was vacant and the other commissioner had suffered a heart attack . In the early 1960s , Clarke participated in talks that led to the compact agreement for construction of the Washington Metro railway and subway system . As chairman of the District ' s zoning commission , he participated in early debates over the controversial proposal to build an interstate bridge near the Three Sisters Islands in the Potomac River , and over a planned freeway through the heart of the District . After his term as Engineer Commissioner ended in 1963 , he served as Director of Military Construction in the Office of the Chief of Engineers ( 1963 – 65 ) ; Commanding General of the Army Engineer Center and Fort Belvoir and Commandant of the Army Engineer School ( 1965 – 66 ) ; and Deputy Chief of Engineers ( 1966 – 69 ) . He achieved the rank of Lieutenant General . As Chief of Engineers Clarke guided the Corps as it devoted increased attention to the environmental impact of its work . He retired from the Army in 1973 after a 37 - year career , then served as executive director of the National Commission on Water Quality . In the 1980s , he was a consultant to the Tippetts , Abbett , McCarthy , Stratton engineering firm . After his death in 2002 , he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery . Clarke was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit . In 1973 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering .