When Ernest Allen Connally came on board, did he and Lee see eye to eye?
Bob: They got along very well. In fact, if it had not been for Ronnie Lee, Ernest Connally would not have been brought in. There was the famous Lee-Brew-Connally Committee, which Ronnie Lee set up at the behest of George Hartzog in 1965 to advise him on how to gear up to handle this new law, the 1966 Act that Hartzog saw coming down the pike. Ronnie and Joe Brew brought in Ernest Connally, who was unknown to Hartzog and most everybody else in the Park Service except through some early HABS projects. So we got the law and the committee remained in place. It was apparent to everyone that, given the emphasis on architecture in the new law, and in anonymous kinds of resources, Connally was the man to run the program. And Lee said so. After Ronnie retired as Regional Director, Hartzog appointed him a special assistant to the Director based in Philadelphia, and so Ronnie continued to have great influence with Hartzog right up to the day of his death great influence incidentally, that often c
