A Life of Service UO Alumnus Carl Jones Dedicates Himself to Serving the Public

It was 1939. The Great Depression still scarred America; the wartime boom had yet to boost the economy; and good jobs were scarce, even for the most promising. Young Carl N. Jones ’37 — after four years at the UO, a political science degree and a membership in Phi Beta Kappa — found himself unsatisfied in a bank job, uncertain of where to go next. He considered returning to school for his master’s degree; instead, he chose to take a test that would permanently alter the path of his life. The federal exam Jones took, aimed at those with social science degrees, landed him a job offer with the U.S. Civil Service Commission and, for the native Oregonian, a new start in Washington, D.C. It was the beginning of his life as a public servant, a life that would place him in the midst of some of the defining moments of the twentieth century. “In school, I was most interested in government and international relations,” Jones explains. After a short stint with the Civil Service, Jones moved on to the personnel sector of the State Department. World War II again altered Jones’s career path. “All the Japanese-American citizens were in relocation camps, and not many Americans spoke Japanese,” he says. “I joined the navy and was sent to study Japanese at the University of Colorado.” Jones was stationed in Tokyo immediately after the war but, a few years later, returned to his passion for international relations, working in the Treaty Affairs sector of the State Department. His next move was to the international office of the Atomic Energy Commission, working on the “Atoms for Peace” program. Created by President Eisenhower, “Atoms for Peace,” he says, was “designed to assist other countries in peaceful use of atomic energy.” Eventually, Jones moved again — this time, to the position of director of operations support in the international office of NASA. His primary job was obtaining the assistance of countries in support of the U.S. space program. This involved the negotiation of international agreements for the establishment of stations around the world to track the flight of manned and unmanned satellites. “Particularly in the early days,” he explains, “things weren’t as secure. There were tracking systems in lots of different countries.” When the space program began to pick up in the 1960s, so did Jones’ career. “It was a very exciting time to be at NASA,” he recalls. He participated in meetings with astronauts John Glenn, Wally Schirra, and Scott Carpenter and, later, had the honor of witnessing history’s first moon landing from the heart of the space program. “It was a tremendous feeling of accomplishment,” he says. “A tremendous feeling of achievement.” Jones cites his experience at the UO as laying the foundation for his success: “I was able to use my degree to get my first meaningful job. I took the federal exam because my political science courses had fostered an interest in international relations and diplomacy.” Though he is now retired, Jones maintains his ties with the space program by volunteering as a docent at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. “I believe that public service is meaningful,” he says. “It can provide a real sense of satisfaction that one is contributing, even in a small way, to his country’s welfare.” From the Great Depression to World War II to benign use of nuclear power and the first man on the moon, Jones witnessed — and took part in — some of the most important events in the twentieth century.

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