Eugene L. Vidal papers, 1897-1972 (bulk 1930-1969)

Eugene Luther Vidal (1895-1969), an engineer, graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1916 and from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1918. He served in the Aviation Division of the U.S. Army Signal Corps before entering the commercial aviation business in 1926. At this time he became assistant general manager of Transcontinental Air Transport (later TWA). Vidal was an executive of New York, Philadelphia & Washington Airway Corporation and was executive vice-president of Ludington Airlines, Inc., where one of his associates was Amelia Earhart. Vidal was director of air commerce with the U.S. Department of Commerce from 1933-1937 and a member of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. In 1937, he established the Vidal Research Corporation which developed the Vidal process for molding veneers of plywood and plastic into a variety of products. He served as aviation advisor to the Army chief of staff from 1955-1965. He also served as a member of the Army Scientific Advisory Panel and the Transportation Corps Advisory Committee. Vidal participated as an athlete and coach in the pentathlon of the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games. He was the father of novelist Gore Vidal.