Interview Process

This interview was done with my grandfather Robert Hoard. The interview took place over the phone and was recorded on a downloaded app called “TapeACall Lite” which was easy to use and allowed me to email the file to myself already as a MP3 file, which allowed for no further editing. The only problem that occurred in the interview is that the actual audio for the interview starts 41 seconds into the recording. The interview went well and was done in a quiet room with no distractions.

Biography

Robert Hoard was born on June 9, 1939 and began working for his father in 1946 at his grocery store. After various jobs he went to the apprentice school which is a trade school offered by the Newport News Shipyard to train people to become skilled workers for the shipyard. After he completed school at the shipyard he was drafted into the Navy for two years in active duty and six years in the reserves. Once Mr. Hoard returned to the shipyard he worked his way through many positions until he became the Vice President of Operations where he oversaw all trade workers.

Research

The Cold War started in 1947 and ended in 1991. During this time the Newport New shipyard stopped making commercial ships and started making ships for the Navy. Due to the impending threat for the Soviet Union the shipyard hired nearly thirty thousand employees to keep up with the demands of the Navy.

Interview Transcription

Me:  All right Mr. Hoard can you start with when you were born.

Robert: June 9th 1939.

Me: : All right. And what did you do, what was your first job or what….

Robert: First job was working for my dad in his grocery store. I started when I was seven years old.

Me: Oh really?

Robert: I worked there until i was 17.

Me: Alright and what did you do then?

Robert: I went to work at a service station across the street,and in dairy delivering milk until I graduated high school. And then I went to work in the shipyard.

Me: Oh yeah? Alright and when the Cold War started. What was your perspective on how much the shipyard. What did the shipyard do to help to contribute to the Cold War?

Robert: Well the shipyard got into submarine program and been out since World War 1. Back in a submarine program and really started building a variety of ships both aircraft carriers and submarines and cruisers nuclear cruisers and support ships.

Me: Alright and what was your title at the shipyard?

Robert: : When I went in there in 1957 I was a helper and then I started in the apprentice school and later on in 57 and became an apprentice sheet metal worker.

Me: Alright. Where did you go from there?

Robert: I graduated from the apprentice school in 1961. Worked as a sheet metal mechanic until 1963 and then I had to go on service for two years, and I served active duty on the Navy on the USS Orion.

Me: : And then you go back to the shipyard after your service?

Robert: When I got finished with the service, my active duty, I went back to the shipyard as a sheet metal mechanic and worked there until I retired.

Me: Wow. Alright and did the cold war directly affect your position that work? Or was there any reason that you went to the military?

Robert: I went to the military because we had a draft back in that day. In those days I got a deferment until I finished my apprenticeship, but after that I didn’t have a deferment so I joined the Navy and for two years active and six years in reserves.

Me: So was the draft due to the cold war or anything?

Robert: The draft had always been there since probably World War One I guess, and it did not end until the 70s sometime in early 70s I think.

Me: And were you ever worried about the nuclear war with the Soviet Union?

Robert: There was always that fear but it wasn’t overriding to me. It was always a shall we say in the back of everybody’s mind because along those in those days people it was not uncommon to people to build bomb shelters in the backyard.

Me: Yeah. So what were your thoughts in the Cold War. What did you personally think about it?

Robert: Well it was the Cuban crisis was a real concern. When that happened, because I was already in the Reserves and I was afraid I would get called up and have to stay in the Navy for many years. But that was a flash point back in the early mid 60s I guess between Khrushchev and Stalin and all those guys it was a rough time up until the late 90s.

Me: Alright and working at the Newport News shipyard did you feel like working there helped in any way for the Cold War?

Robert: Well I guess it’s a show of force as a deterrent war then yes we build ships for the Navy.

Me: This was under the Reagan administration correct?

Robert: : That was before Reagan and when I went in there it was well when I first went in there see let me see I guess it was Kennedy was in there, maybe even Eisenhower might have been in there first and then Kennedy, and then Johnson, and after Johnson I guess it was Nixon, and then Gerald Ford and Carter and after Carter became Reagan. Reagan didn’t come in till about 1980 somewhere around there.

Me: : So towards the end,did any presidential administration ask anything of the Newport News shipyard or you specifically?

Robert: : we were just awarded contracts to build ships and to match, or outperform the Soviet Navy build.

Me: So what was it like working at the shipyard during the Cold War?

Robert:  I had a variety of jobs. I went in engineering and worked for two or three years, four years I guess and I went back to sheet metal and worked in a variety of jobs. I don’t know the Navy was our sole, became our sole customer. We quit building commercial ships the late 70s and built nothing but Navy ships up until the mid 70s. We always built and overhaul commercial ships but we, almost went out well we went out of that business in the middle 70s and did nothing. [I interrupted]

Me: : I had a variety of jobs. I went in engineering and worked for two or three years, four years I guess and I went back to sheet metal and worked in a variety of jobs. I don’t know the Navy was our sole, became our sole customer. We quit building commercial ships the late 70s and built nothing but Navy ships up until the mid 70s. We always built and overhaul commercial ships but we, almost went out well we went out of that business in the middle 70s and did nothing. [I interrupted]

Me:  I never realized that the shipyard did other than, did contracts other than for the Navy.

Robert: Oh yeah. We built S.O. tankers, Texaco tankers we built some LNG liquid natural gas carriers. We built a lot of commercial ships. Of course we built the United States, the liner United States, built the liner America. So yeah we were we were well known for commercial ships as well as Navy ships. Up until the middle of the 70s we became,I’ll tell you what drove us into primarily being getting out of the Navy the commercial business. Once you become a nuclear shipyard your whole mentality throughout permeates throughout the ranks. Rather than trying to take shortcuts or hurried to make price deadlines for the commercial world, you take your time and make sure you do it right to make sure you can maintain your license to build. It’s not really a license but you’re approval to build nuclear ships with the Navy. Your work becomes much more difficult and more inspection and more oversight by both the Navy and your own inspections overseas. So that drove the cost of everything up and it drove us out of the commercial business and drove all the commercial work overseas basically. All the other commercial yards in the country they got out of the business.

Me: So would you say that the Cold War kind of pushed you into, create, or building nuclear submarines?

Robert: I think so because we didn’t build any until the late 50s we started building them again probably 58 or 59.

Me: So more of a call for them during this time?

Robert: We were building an attack submarine and also ballistic submarines.

Me: How did you adjust once the Cold War ended?

Robert: Terrible. We realized in the shipyard that there was going to be less demand for Navy ships. So we tried to get back in the commercial world. So we design a tanker double bottom tanker, in case we had a collision or oil spill collision anyway. The oil will still remain in the inner tank, and so we got into those for the Greeks and we lost our shirt on those. Our competition was Electric Boat, Groton Connecticut, which your dad knows about. Groton was smart. When the Cold War ended they said okay we’ll just rightsize our operation just to support the Navy. And that’s what they did. We decided well we wanted to keep 30000 thousand people whatever we had at that time.

Me: There were thirty thousand people working at the time right?

Robert: Close to it probably. In the middle 70s we had over 30000. Yeah. But where Electric Boat decided to right size their operation to just handle Navy work. We decide to maintain our position and do Navy work and commercial work and we lost our shirts.

Me: Was there a considerable amount of downsizing after the Cold War?

Robert: Oh yeah. I mean in the 90s I laid off several thousand people. I went from, well we went from, we went from about twenty seven thousand to twenty thousand.

Me: Oh wow, a lot of a lot of people laid off.

Robert: Yeah, one year there I think I laid off 3000 myself.

Me: That’s horrible. So I think that’s everything I need, seeing your response to the Cold War and everything. And what you did at work and everything and your service in the military after the ship, the apprentice school, I appreciate it very much. Thank you.

Robert: All right if you need anything else let me know.

Me: Alright I will, thank you.

Robert: Take care of yourself.

Me: I will.

Robert: Goodbye.

Me: Bye.