Dudley Crawford Sharp (March 16, 1905 – May 17, 1987) was

Secretary of the Air Force The secretary of the Air Force, sometimes referred to as the secretary of the Department of the Air Force, (SecAF, or SAF/OS) is the head of the Department of the Air Force and the service secretary for the United States Air Force and United Sta ...

from December 11, 1959 until January 20, 1961, under president

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

Biography

Born in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Sharp was the son of

Walter Benona Sharp Walter Benona Sharp (12 December 1870 - 28 November 1912) was an American oilman and innovator in drilling techniques. Early life Sharp was born in Tipton County, Tennessee to James R. and Amanda Forrest Sharp. His mother died when he was eight an ...

. He graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1928 and joined the Mission Manufacturing Company of Houston, holding many positions within the firm. He served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

from 1942 to 1945. In 1955, he was appointed as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for

Materiel Materiel or matériel (; ) is supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commerce, commercial supply chain management, supply chain context. Military In a military context, ...

. Mr. Sharp was appointed Under Secretary of the Air Force in August 1959 and on December 11, 1959, he became

and served until 1961. Sharp was a friend from childhood of Howard Robard Hughes Jr. Dudley met Howard because both Howard and Dudley's fathers were business partners in the

Sharp-Hughes Tool Company Hughes Tool Company was an American manufacturer of drill bits. Founded in 1908, it was merged into Baker Hughes Incorporated in 1987. History The company was established in December 1908 as Sharp-Hughes Tool Company when Howard R. Hughes S ...

in Houston. Sharp was married to Tina Cleveland, daughter of Justina Latham and W. C. Cleveland of Houston. Sharp died on May 17, 1987. He was 82 years old and lived in Houston, Texas.

References

, - 1987 deaths Princeton University alumni United States Secretaries of the Air Force United States Navy officers 1905 births {{US-navy-bio-stub