by Bob Jacobsen '63

Frank Sackton, Professor Emeritus at ASU, turned 90 years old Aug. 11. His life and career are unique in the history of our country.

"I would like to be remembered as a man who remained in the work force until I was 90," said Sackton, who still teaches public affairs classes on campus. And I would hope people remember I have helped other people by giving them my experience of pitfalls and opportunities."

The pitfalls are few. The opportunities are many. In his lifetime Sackton has:

• participated in combat campaigns in World War II in the Marshall Islands, New Guinea, the East Indies, Leyte, the Philippines and was the recipient of a battlefield promotion to Colonel;
• served as secretary to the General Staff for the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in Japan (McArthur);
• served as the chief military planning officer for the joint task force that detonated the first thermonuclear weapon;
• served as deputy director for National Security Affairs, Office of the Secretary of Defense;
• served as Deputy Director of Planning for Joint Chiefs of Staff;
• served as Deputy Chief for Military Operations, U.S. Army;
• appointed a special assistant to Arizona Gov. Jack Williams;
• was the founding Dean of ASU's College of Public Programs;
• served as ASU's director of Athletics; and
• served as special adviser to then ASU President J. Russell Nelson for organization planning and development.

His career is a record of leadership, which he readily accepted and achieved superb results. His 30 years in the Army earned him a Silver Star for Gallantry in Combat, three Bronze Stars, five Legions of Merit and a Distinguished Service Medal -- plus many commendations.

Life began for Frank in Chicago in 1912. He had a very happy childhood. Sackton began his higher education at Northwestern University during the Depression, when he worked during the day and went to school at night.

In 1932, he listened to Game 3 of the Cubs-Yankees World Series on the radio. He heard Babe Ruth's "Shot Heard 'Round the World," where Ruth is said to have pointed to the bleachers at Wrigley Field and promptly hit the next pitch there.

"I wrote a piece about that in the Tribune last fall," said Sackton. "Nobody knows today whether he did or he didn't call his shot."

In 1938 Sackton earned his private pilot's license, got married two years later and in 1942, after joining the Army, studied in the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. That preceded his wartime duty in the Southwest Pacific, where he received his battlefield promotion. It was a very rewarding experience, he said.

"Was it my proudest accomplishment?" he said. "That answer really depends on the environment and the person who's asking. If it's a military man, he would understand how rewarding it is to become a battalion commander. I had a great unit and it knew how to fight.

"Now if I'm talking to a different audience, I would give a different answer," he laughed. "I'd tell them I was the staff secretary to Gen. McArthur or the chief military planning officer for the H-bomb. Now those deeds might impress some people."

His wartime duties were also the ones for which he was most prepared.

"I was always enthusiastic when I was with a troop unit," he said. "I enjoyed it much more than staff work. I served with the 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One) and the 3rd, 7th and 33rd Infantry Divisions. I always had a command position in either a battalion or a regiment. Those were great assignments."

One assignment which he did not get to carry out was in 1945. "We were preparing to invade the mainland of Japan," he said. "The plan was complete, the ships were combat-loaded and shortly before the invasion the Japanese surrendered. We couldn't believe it. It was very fortunate because as part of the planning, we figured we were going to lose around 50 percent of our men on the beach in the first four or five waves. It was going to be the same kind of landing as Normandy."

After a semester as a student at Yale in 1946, Sackton left for his position as McArthur's aide. He held the job for over two years. It was his job to coordinate the efforts of the staff that governed Japan during the U.S. and Allied Force's occupation. After that, he was a student at the Armed Forces Staff College for a semester, and then became a battalion and regimental commander for the 30th Infantry Regiment. Then it was on to Washington, D.C., to work with the Army's Career Development and Assignment branch. In August 1951, he became the chief military planning officer for the task force that detonated the first H-bomb.

He was responsible for the final report to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he admits it was the job he was least prepared for.

"I was a little lost when I arrived for duty at Los Alamos," he said. "I talked to the scientists because my responsibilities involved coordinating the military logistic support for the operation. I had to have them translate everything for me because the job was way out of my field. As you can imagine, it was not an assignment for which I had volunteered.

"Not being a scientist, and not understanding nuclear energy, it was pretty rough. But the chief of the scientific group, Dr. Alvin Graves, would sit me down in front of a blackboard and explain things in simple terms. He was superb. He had that knack."

Sackton was also acquainted with J. Robert Oppenheimer, chief scientist of the Manhattan Project. Sackton said Oppenheimer was against the development of the H-bomb, and by the time Sackton's task force had become involved in the operation, Oppenheimer was organized against it.

"He organized a large part of the scientific community," said Sackton. "They said it opened the door on thermonuclear weapons. They said other countries would get them and the world would be destroyed. He was wrong, of course, because we detonated the bomb on Nov. 1, 1952, and six months later the Russians detonated theirs. So they already had the formula. It seemed we were constantly underestimating our enemies."

He then became chief of the Europe and Middle East Operations Division of the Army Staff; the deputy director for National Security Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense; commander of the 18th Infantry Regiment; served in Ankara, Turkey and then became commander of the XIV U.S. Army Corps.

In 1963, by his own admission, came his most difficult task -- deputy director of Planning for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It began at the onset of the Vietnam War, and lasted two years.

"Those of us on staff knew how to fight a war," said Sackton. "Robert McNamara (Secretary of Defense) didn't seem to understand that. We could sell our ideas to the Joint Chiefs (which included Gens. Curtis LeMay and Maxwell Taylor), but they could never sell it to McNamara. He had direct access to the President (Johnson), and the Joint Chiefs did not."

For example, Sackton said the joint chiefs would give approval for a major air strike, aerial photos were obtained and a re-strike was ordered with better intelligence. But McNamara would not approve it.

"He was concerned we were going to expand the war," said Sackton, "and he didn't want to do that. The joint chiefs would ask, 'How about winning this war? Do we want to or not?' He always got nervous. I think he was looking for a way to withdraw, but didn't know how to get out.

"After we got in, there was no exit plan because we never should have been there in the first place. During the last few years of LBJ's life, he in effect admitted the whole war was a mistake."

In July 1965 Sackton became deputy chief for Military Operations, and a year later secretary of the General Staff. In July 1967 he was named comptroller of the Army, a job that lasted three years until his retirement. It was a position that directly led to his involvement with the State of Arizona and Arizona State University.

Sackton became familiar with the banking industry as comptroller. He did the auditing of businesses that had contact with the Army. After 30 years in the military, he retired and chose Scottsdale to live because he had friends there and he and his wife June loved the climate.

"Some of my banking friends said I should get into banking here," he said. "I said no, but they were persistent I should do something. I was still young (58) and I felt energetic enough. So one day I attended a luncheon downtown hosted by First National Bank President Sherman Hazeltine. There I met Gov. Jack Williams and one of his Senate leaders whom Hazeltine had just appointed to his board of directors -- Sandra Day O'Connor. I certainly didn't know at the time what great company I was in."

Williams asked a lot of questions about budgets, and how federal grant money was distributed to the states. He said he was having some trouble in that area because he didn't seem to be in the loop. Sackton supplied the answers.

"Two weeks after that luncheon Gov. Williams called and asked if I would meet him and talk more about those grants," said Sackton. "I told him other governors handle this by creating an office that would monitor those gifts. He asked me if I would do a study, and he would pay me as a consultant.

"I did (offering to do it for nothing), since this was going to be my home. It took me about four months.

"Then he asked if I would work for him. So I did, becoming his special assistant."

That position lasted three years, until Sackton went to graduate school at ASU studying public affairs. He had earned his B.S. at the University of Maryland in 1970 while working as the Army comptroller. After earning his M.P.A. in 1976, he met then ASU President John Schwada, who offered him a visiting assistant professorship and resident lecturer position.
His work at ASU had begun.

A year later, at the age the state mandates retirement, ASU wanted him to teach in the School of Public Affairs. So he did, even after his second retirement (the first being from the Army).

The school was a prelude to the founding of the College of Public Programs.

"When the provost asked me about starting the college, I was rather new to teaching and had been at ASU only three years," said Sackton. He told me nobody wanted the job because it was a high-risk project, and if I blew it, I wouldn't have anything to lose. He was right about that.

"He also told me I would be acting dean, but I would be remembered as the founding dean.

"The purpose of the college fundamentally was to do outreach to the community in public matters. The College of Business was doing a wonderful job in the business sphere, but we were doing nothing along the lines of public affairs. Our job was to work with government agencies and the community at large.

"The provost began pulling units from the rest of the colleges -- the Department of Communications in Fine Arts; the School of Public Affairs from Liberal Arts; a recreation unit within HPE; and the Department of Criminal Justice."

"It was rough going because we had an unusual collection, and it was my job to unite them," said Sackton. "Normally you have college faculty assemblies once every semester, but I had one every three weeks. It gave them a chance to vent. They had a lot of bitching to do so this gave them an outlet.

We tried to consider their concerns and overcome them when we could.
"Then we got together to develop a mission statement for the college. This helped to create a spirit of community."

The COPP got through its first year in reasonably good fashion, said Sackton, "without any casualties." After almost 14 months, Sackton turned the job over to the first permanent dean, Nick Henry. Then came another request from then-President Nelson in November 1981.

"He wanted me to become Vice President for Business Affairs," said Sackton. "I told him it was a great honor, but I had retired twice already, and I would have to retire again right in the middle of this job. He said 'a person can get an exception.' He asked me to take the job for two years, to get off the ground. So I did."

That job ended June 30, 1983, but the next spring Nelson called again. The Intercollegiate Athletic Department was in trouble, and Nelson needed Sackton's help. There were NCAA violations, and Nelson wanted Sackton to clean up the department.

"I told him I would be glad to help even though I wasn't an athletic person and didn't have much credibility in that field," said Sackton. "He said 'you do it' and he gave me the position of director of Athletics, without the interim title. He wanted to give me maximum authority because he knew I would want to fire some people."

All in all, he let four head coaches go and their staffs. He did not fill any of the vacant positions. "I knew I wouldn't be the permanent director," said Sackton, "and I wanted to clean the slate for the new person to make their own hires."

Sackton retired for the third time after his A.D. position had terminated. But Nelson came calling once again, this time to ask Frank to become special adviser to the president for organization planning and development. "He wasn't going to fill the vacant job of executive vice president, but instead needed someone to assume operational control of the units and to figure out where they should be placed within the university," said Sackton. "So I stayed on, again."

Frank's fourth retirement came at his request. He said a federal law prevents retiring faculty for age, and he didn't want to give up teaching. Instead, he wanted to give up his title and make someone else happy by getting promoted.

"I am now a professor emeritus, and technically I'm on 25 percent duty, but it gives me the opportunity to continue teaching," he said.

He loves his job, especially the interacting with students. "There is a generation gap, of course, but we exchange values," he said. "I'm interested in theirs and they're somewhat interested in mine. This is a really great young generation."

Sackton's wife, June, passed away in February. They had been married 62 years. "My work with the university has been very helpful and during the day I have no problem," he said. "Sometimes my evenings are a little empty, but I think I'm managing OK. We had a local memorial for her and we'll have more formal ones this summer at the Arlington National Cemetery.

"We never had children, but I have scads of nephews, nieces, grand nephews and grand nieces. They live all over the country, with many of them around Chicago. I try and go back every two years to touch bases with my family. One thing about old people -- you like to reminisce."

Spoken by a man who has much to reminisce about.

Professor Frank Sackton