The Silent Leader The legacy of Dwight Ink shows the force
behind making policy work. It was Good Friday 1964, and Dwight
Ink was sitting on his couch at home watching televised images
of a massive earthquake that had hit Alaska. "It looked like
utter chaos," recalls Ink. "I remember feeling sorry for whoever
was going to have to put things back together." A few days
later, President Lyndon Johnson informed Ink that he was going
to be that guy. History tends to adore the person at the helm,
the president who calls the shots from the Oval Office.
Overlooked are the bureaucrats who actually carry out the
commands. Out of the limelight, Ink served seven consecutive
presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan. Now
retired, this unassuming bureaucrat was often the one doing the
heavy lifting. Ink went to Alaska. Every engineer he met agreed
that rebuilding could not be completed during the state's short
construction season. Alaskans would have to abandon the state if
Ink couldn't rebuild before a deep free