Harold Parfitt (Panama Canal)
Harold Robert Parfitt ( born August 6, 1921 in Coaldale, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, † 21 May, 2006 Dallas, Texas ) was an American engineer, Major General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and from 1975 to 1979 last Governor of the Panama Canal Zone.
Life
Parfitt joined after school in the U.S. Army and was promoted to lieutenant after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1943. He then graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and graduated in 1948 from. In the following years he served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ( USACE ) and was after completion of the Command and General Staff College ( CGSC ) at Fort Leavenworth first deputy and then from August 1962 to May 1965 the district engineer in the USACE District for the South Atlantic ( South Atlantic Division ).
In June 1965, he was Deputy Governor (Lieutenant Governor ) of the Panama Canal Zone, as well as vice president of the Panama Canal Company and assuming these roles until September 1968. During this time he completed in 1967 a course in management at Harvard University. Subsequently, he was during the Vietnam War between November 1968 and November 1969 Commanding Officer of the 20th Engineer Brigade in Vietnam, and then from December 1969 to August 1973 the district engineer in the USACE District for the Southwest (Southwestern Division ) in Dallas. While this use, he was promoted to Major General in 1971. The end of 1973 was Major General Parfitt Commanding General of the U.S. Army Engineer Center and commander of the U.S. Engineer School at Fort Belvoir and would retain this post until March 1975.
On April 1, 1975 Parfitt was the successor of David Stuart Parker Governor of the Panama Canal Zone, was holding office until the return of the Canal Zone to Panama on September 30, 1979 and was the last American governor. During his tenure, he illustrated the increasingly realities, but also the sensitivities from the ongoing operation of the on Panamanian territory channel. In addition, was his support of learning and training programs to revitalize the Panama Canal Company and government organizations as well as its recommendation to end the separate schools for U.S. and Latin American students. He also initiated a change in the occupancy of dwellings that were previously also awarded separately for U.S. and Latin American citizens. Finally, it was during his tenure in 1976 to a second increase in toll fees and on 7 September 1977 on the signing of the new Panama Canal treaty between Panama and the United States.
His daughter Karen Hughes was born in 1956, one of the closest advisers of U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United States.