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Wheelon (Albert D.) papers
mssWheelon
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Albert D. Wheelon papers
Creator:
Wheelon, Albert D. (Albert Dewell), 1929-2013
Identifier/Call Number: mssWheelon
Physical Description:
46.07 Linear Feet
(111 boxes, 2 oversize folders, and 1 volume)
Date (inclusive): 1917-2013
Abstract: The Albert D. Wheelon papers primarily
focus on his career at the United States Central Intelligence Agency, Hughes Aircraft
Company, and his research on electromagnetism.
Language of Material: The material is in
English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at
the Huntington Library for more information.
Restrictions apply to: Approximately 1.5 linear feet of classified documents require
further review by the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO). These documents will be
added to the collection, and the finding aid updated, if and when they are declassified.
Restrictions apply to: Audiovisual materials in boxes 107, 108, 111. Not available for
paging until reformatted. Please contact Reader Services for more information.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item], Albert D. Wheelon papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Gift of Cicely Wheelon, 2014.
Processed by Gina Giang under the supervision of Lorraine Perrotta, 2019. The collection
contained numerous classified documents. In coordination with the Information Security
Oversight Office (ISOO), it was determined that many of the documents have already been
declassified. In the content list, these documents are noted by the word "DECLASSIFIED." As
of February 2019, we are coordinating with ISOO further review of documents for which the
classification status was unclear. These are not included in the content list and we do not
have a timeline for the review process. These documents will be added to the collection, and
the finding aid updated, if and when they are declassified. In February 2020, approximately
0.8 linear feet of classified documents were reviewed and returned by the ISOO and they were
returned to the collection.
The contents in Series 2: Subseries 2 may not relate to the title on each folder. Most of
the material arrived unorganized and the cataloger does not have a background in the field
of electromagnetism.
Albert D. (Albert Dewell) Wheelon, (January 18, 1929 - September 27, 2013) joined the CIA
in 1962 and served as the Deputy Director for Science and Technology until 1966. During this
time, he established the Agency's broad program in research and development for the
collection and analysis of technical intelligence. Wheelon joined the Hughes Aircraft
Company in 1966 as Vice President for Engineering. Four years later, he took on the
responsibility for building the Hughes Space and Communications Group. Over the next fifteen
years, this group built a wide variety and large number of military and scientific
satellites. In 1986 he was named Executive Vice President for the Company at large and in
1987 was named Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Hughes. He retired in
May 1988. He was appointed a visiting professor and lectured at MIT in 1989. Dr. Wheelon
received a B.S. in Engineering from Stanford University in 1949 and a Ph.D. in Physics from
MIT in 1952. National Academy of Engineering. Source: "Dr. Albert D. Wheelon." National
Academy of Engineering. Accessed 4 February 2019.
https://www.nae.edu/88479.aspx.
Series 1: Subseries 1 primarily consists of personal material
related to Albert D. Wheelon, however, there are some professional items related to his
career. For instance, the appointment books contain professional and personal entries. The
correspondence comprises much of Series 1 and spans from 1928 through 2012. The letters and
e-mails are mostly personal, but due to Wheelon's scientific background and career path,
there are many conversations with professionals in the public and private sector. After his
career at Hughes Aircraft Company, he continued to conduct research and distributed his
writings to colleagues, which is evident in the correspondence and Series 5 material. There
are also numerous diaries and printed ephemera related to his travels all over the world
with his first wife, Nancy Helen Hermanson and later, his second wife, Cicely Jean Evans.
These entries are mostly typewritten, so they may or may have not been recorded during his
trips. Also, included is material related his early education at Pacific Palisades School,
Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High School, and University High School. Loose invitations,
photographs, and printed ephemera from Wheelon's time in the United States Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) are in this series; the pages that remain intact from the
scrapbook are found in Series 7: Audiovisual and oversize.
Series 1: Subseries 2 consists of material related to Wheelon's
education at Stanford University, where he earned his B.S. in Engineering in 1949. This
subseries primarily includes correspondence from Wheelon updating friends and family about
school and social life. In one letter, he expresses his priorities to his parents: "Helen is
from Salem, Oregon...She seems to like me quite a lot...She is worth hanging onto, I guess,
but right now I have too much studying to do to worry about women" Box 20 (4). There is
later material related to Stanford University, which includes reunions and classes taken in
the late 1980s.
Series 1: Subseries 3 consists of material related to Wheelon's
education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned his Ph.D. in Physics in
1952. This subseries also primarily consists of correspondence from Wheelon updating friends
and family about school and social life. In one letter, he offers advice to his younger
brother, Peter. Wheelon recommends: "You must plan to study (And I mean work hard reading
books) at least two hours every night. If you can get straight A's for the first two
semesters, you will find that you can get along with very little work for the rest of your
stay – sliding along mostly on your good reputation" Box 25 (6). Also included are
assignments, photographs, and school records.
Series 2 includes material related to Wheelon's career at TRW
Space Technology Laboratories (STL), a division of TRW Inc. from 1953 through 1962. There is
only one box related to his career at STL, where he was a Senior Member working on the
United States Air Force (USAF) Ballistic Missile and Space Program. A few items of interest
may be the printed material, which includes five Sentinel newsletters, a directory of
technical personnel at TRW, and material related to the Geneva Conference on Preventing
Surprise Attack in 1958.
The second subseries includes lectures, outlines, notes, and reprints related to Wheelon's
time as visiting professor of engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles
(UCLA). At UCLA, he taught radio wave propagation and propagation of electromagnetic waves.
There may be overlapping material in Series 5, where additional notes, reprints, and
writings related to scattering integrals and scintillation are found.
Series 3 consists of material related to Wheelon's career at the
CIA. Due to the sensitive nature of his work at the CIA, little was accumulated. However,
one memorandum from Marshall Sylvester Carter reveals a positive impression of Wheelon at
the agency: "I have been singularly impressed over the past months at the calm, unruffled,
quietly analytical, and remarkably astute manner in which Bud Wheelon approaches all
problem...He is one of our finest assets, and I am fearful he may be a dwindling one because
of certain factors of utilization and community presence beyond his control" Box 47 (3).
Included are photographs of a trip with the agency to Taiwan in 1965.
Series 4: Subseries 1 consists of material related to Wheelon's
career at Hughes Aircraft Company from 1966 through 1988. There is correspondence related to
several contracts with several countries under his leadership in the Space and
Communications Group, which includes Indonesia, Mexico, and Egypt. There are also numerous
Hughes News newsletters spanning from 1966 through 1992. One notebook of interest is a log
related to the startup of the Hughes Space and Communications Group, where he asks questions
and weighs the financial impact of the new division. This subseries also includes booklets,
clippings, photographs, and printed ephemera related to various satellites supplied.
Series 4: Subseries 2 consists of material related to the
corporate internal investigations and governmental investigations launched against Hughes
Aircraft Company. As Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Wheelon opened an
internal investigation into possible bribes on an air defense contract in Egypt in 1988. In
addition to the internal probe, the United States Department of Justice started to
investigate the possibility of bribes involving Wheelon in South America. In response to
these inquiries, Wheelon filed a complaint against Hughes Aircraft company for breach of
contract and fiduciary duty related to Hughes Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) and deferred
compensation. (The Department of Justice dropped the investigation into Wheelon after a
five-year long investigation.) Thus, this subseries contains numerous legal correspondence,
documents, exhibits, hearings, legal documents, and memorandums related to these matters.
The appointment books and logs in this subseries were used to compile a profile on the
extent of Wheelon's involvement at HAC. Wheelon also kept detailed notes and chronologies,
which are found in this subseries.
Series 5: Subseries 1 contains material related to awards given
Wheelon and other individuals. Wheelon was the recipient of the United States Distinguished
Intelligence Medal, the Baker Medal for Excellence in National Security Affairs, and the
R.V. Jones Intelligence Award. The contents found in this subseries includes letters of
congratulations, speeches, photographs, and printed ephemera. There is also material related
to Richard L. Garwin, William J. Perry, and Sidney Drell, who were all recipients of the
R.V. Jones Intelligence Award.
Series 5: Subseries 2 consists of Wheelon's extracurricular
activities. He participated in various discussion groups regarding topics such as foreign
relations, civil space activities, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Wheelon was also a trustee
at the California Institute of Technology, Rand Corporation, and Aerospace Corporation. This
subseries also includes his contribution to several committees including the U.S. Advisory
Committee on the Redesign of the Space Station, U.S. President's Foreign Intelligence
Advisory Board, and U.S. Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger
Accident.
Series 5: Subseries 3 consists of Wheelon's speeches and
lectures. The lectures are from his time as visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Stanford University. Also included in this subseries are talks related to the
history of spy satellites, a topic frequently discussed by Wheelon after his retirement. He
kept a binder with various speeches from 1969 through 1987. Those items have been removed
from the binder and the speeches are listed under "Miscellaneous." Some of the speeches
removed may be found elsewhere in the collection. Also included are remarks at birthdays,
events, and memorials.
Note: The date supplied is for the year of
the lecture or speech, not the supplementary material included. In some cases, the speech or
lecture may not be present in the folders, only the supplementary material.
Series 5: Subseries 4 consists of research and reference material
from Wheelon's files. Most of the declassified documents are found in this subseries.
Electronic versions may be found online in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Electronic
Reading Room and NRO Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Declassified Records website. This
subseries primarily consists of material related to covert programs conducted by the CIA,
National Reconnaissance Office, and Air Force. A letter of interest may be one written by
Wheelon to former CIA director, Richard Helms, where he recollects early programs in
strategic reconnaissance. In this letter, he summarizes the following programs: U2
[AQUATONE]; A11, A12, SR-71 [OXCART]; Corona; Emergence of the NRO; and HEXAGON, RYOLITE,
GAMBIT, QUILL, and CRYSTAL, Box 98 (1). This subseries is organized by subject with
overlapping subject matter. For example, material related to artificial satellites, may be
found in the clippings folder, artificial satellites folders, and more specifically, the
Corona reconnaissance satellite program.
The fifth subseries consists of publications and writings by Wheelon. He commonly sent
copies of his writings to friends and colleagues, and those replies are included. In
addition to his technical publications, such as electromagnetic scintillation, Wheelon
flexes his creative side with two fictional short stories.
Series 6 is a small series with material related to Wheelon's
father, Orville Albert Wheelon (June 12, 1906 – February 9, 1966), an aeronautical engineer.
An item of interest is Wheelon's trip log from Maryland to California in 1933. The brief
entries include location, mileage, and the cost of goods. At one point during a lonesome
drive, he describes leaving "...immediately to cross the desert during the night for it was
very hot. It was surely was lonely on that straight stretch of pavement. Even a telephone
pole would have been great company" Box 105 (4).
Series 7 is the last series and primarily consists of VHS tapes
and oversize material.
Note: As required by law, 1.5 linear feet of security-classified
materials have been removed from the collection until they can be declassified by
government officials. Please see Processing Information and Access for more
information.
The Albert D. Wheelon papers are organized into seven series with subseries:
- Series 1: Personal files, 1928-2012
- Subseries 1: General, 1928-2012
- Subseries 2: Stanford University, 1945-1988
- Subseries 3: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1948-2002
- Series 2: TRW Space Technology Laboratories and University of California, Los Angeles, 1926-1972
- • Subseries 1: TRW Space Technology Laboratories, 1951-2002
- • Subseries 2: University of California, Los Angeles, 1926-1972
- Series 3: United States. Central Intelligence Agency, 1961-1966
- Series 4: Hughes Aircraft Company, 1944-1997
- • Subseries 1: General, 1966-1995
- • Subseries 2: Corporate Internal Investigations and Governmental Investigations, 1973-1997
- Series 5: Extracurricular and post career files, 1952-2013
- • Subseries 1: Awards, 1961-2001
- • Subseries 2: Activities, 1950-2012
- • Subseries 3: Lectures and speeches, 1963-2008
- • Subseries 4: Reference and research files, 1957-2008
- • Subseries 5: Publications and writings, 1955-2008
- Series 6: Orville A. Wheelon, 1933-1953
- Series 7: Audiovisual and oversize, 1917-2000
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Aerial reconnaissance
Artificial satellites, American
Astronautics and state
Cold War
Corporate internal investigations
Electronic intelligence
Governmental investigations
National security
Photographic reconnaissance systems
Radio wave propagation
Reconnaissance aircraft
Space surveillance
Los Angeles (Calif.)
Appointment books
Clippings (information artifacts)
Correspondence
Hearings (event)
Memorandums
Photographs
Wheelon, Albert D. (Albert Dewell),
1929-2013
California Institute of
Technology
Domestic Strategy Group
Hughes Aircraft Company
Hughes Aircraft Company. Space and Communications
Group
International Telecommunication Union
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Project Corona (U.S.)
Stanford University
TRW Space Technology Laboratories
United States. Advisory Committee on the Redesign
of the Space Station
United States. Central Intelligence
Agency
United States. National Reconnaissance
Office
United States. President's Foreign Intelligence
Advisory Board
United States. Presidential Commission on the
Space Shuttle Challenger Accident