Clay, Lucius D. (Lucius DuBignon), 1897-1978

found: The New Georgia Encyclopedia, via WWW, July 30, 2013(Lucius D. Clay (1897-1978); born Lucius DuBignon Clay on April 23, 1897 in Marietta, Georgia; son of U.S. Senator Alexander Stephens Clay; he attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, from 1915 to 1918; for twenty-two years, as he rose through officer ranks, Clay's military tours were with the Corps of Engineers or in a teaching capacity at a range of army schools; in 1940, as the United States prepared to enter World War II (1941-1945), Clay was appointed to the Airport Approval Board; under his direction almost 500 airports in North America and worldwide were constructed or improved; during World War II Clay served as director of materiel under Eisenhower; after World War II Clay was appointed deputy military governor and then military governor of the American section of occupied Germany; he organized the most remarkable logistical and transportation accomplishment in history, the eleven-month-long Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949; Clay retired as a four-star general on May 26, 1949; he later served as the principal architect of the national interstate highway system and became a successful business executive and a political advisor to U.S. presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy; he died in Chatham, Massachusetts on April 16, 1978 and is buried in West Point Cemetery)