Ruth A. M. Schmidt

Women USGS geologists working with maps during WWII; Ruth A. M. Schmidt is in the center

Schmidt began working for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Washington, D.C., in early 1943,[1][16] postponing the completion of her doctoral dissertation until 1948.[17] She worked in various positions for the USGS until 1963.[1][18] From 1946 through 1948, she conducted research on radiography, paleontology, and micro-paleontology for the Paleontology and Stratigraphy Branch of the USGS.[18] Beginning in 1948, and continuing through 1950, Schmidt worked for the top secret Military Geology Unit of the USGS,[4] preparing "engineering geology reports, (classified) for [the] Corps of Engineers on suitability of areas in European and Pacific Theaters for construction and alignment of roads, airfields, and location of construction materials."[18] She was one of the few women geologists to be hired to do this work,[4] which was classified and required a security clearance. In 1949, Schmidt received routine clearance under the new loyalty investigation program[19] that had been instituted by President Harry Truman through Executive Order 9835.

From 1950 to 1952, Schmidt worked for the Geological Division of the USGS, organizing the Lexicon Project (map names) in Washington, and the Paleotectonic Map Project in Denver, CO.[18][20] From 1952 until her departure for Alaska in 1956, she worked for the Mineral Classification Board, cataloging minerals for all US federal lands.[18] In 1956, Schmidt transferred to Alaska to establish a field office for the U.S. Geological Survey in Anchorage, where she was the division geologist until 1963.[18] She was "in charge of all technical and administrative matters pertaining to classification of federal lands [regarding] oil, gas, coal, and other locatable minerals."[18]

Letters in the Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers collection[21][22] indicate that by 1961, Schmidt had become unhappy doing office work for the USGS, and she asked for a transfer to the USGS Oceanography Division[22] or the Geological Division[21] so that she could conduct geological research. Her request to transfer to the Geological Division was declined by Don Eberlein, with the reason given that "the big push is for hearty new male PhD's with training and experience in regional geologic mapping and potential such that they may be expected to qualify as project chiefs in a reasonably short period of time."[21]^: 1 In this letter, Eberlein suggests that Schmidt "learn to live with the job emotionally" and to work on research in her "spare time."[21]^: 2

In 1963,[1] after twenty years of service,[23] Schmidt resigned from the USGS so she would not have to leave Alaska[18] where she had purchased a home in the city of Anchorage and a small plot of wetlands outside of town upon which she had built a cabin.[24] She had also become involved in the local and Alaska community, having co-founded the Alaska Geological Society in 1957–58[1] and serving as its first president.[4][25]

The UAA/APU Consortium Library on the campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage now houses the Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers collection.

Schmidt began teaching classes as a part time lecturer and adjunct in 1959[18] at the Anchorage Community College, which was incorporated into the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) in 1962.[4] She was the first geology professor at the university, and for a time, she was the only geologist.[4] Women geologists were very rare at the time of Schmidt's appointment to the position, and Schmidt is credited for being a pioneer for women scientists.[9] She founded the Department of Geology[1][18][14] served as its first chair, and in 1970, designed and oversaw the construction of the geology laboratory.[1][18][20] She was recognized as a distinguished lecturer, and then was promoted to associate professor in 1970.[18] In this position, she taught geology, environmental education, landscapes and resources of Alaska, geomorphology, and paleontology, in addition to doing other work expected of a professor including student advising and curriculum development.[18][20] She worked for UAA for 25 years until her retirement from teaching in 1984.[1]

In 1964, she and four others were in the middle of the frozen-over Portage Lake boring holes in the ice to gather sampling data when the Great Alaska earthquake struck.[26] After a harrowing experience finding a way off the ice, which had buckled while the water underneath was churning, she was chosen to lead the Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group, a group of 50 scientists, to assess the areas of damage in Anchorage prior to the start of rebuilding.[9]

Fourth Avenue, a street in Anchorage, showing the damage caused by the Great Alaska Earthquake, 1964. Photo by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The Great Alaska Earthquake was the most powerful earthquake recorded in North America, and the second most powerful to be recorded in history.[27][28] Hitting Alaska about 5:30 pm[28] on March 27, 1964, the earthquake registered 9.2.[9][29] The damage was immense. The tsunami that followed devastated coastal communities from Alaska to northern California.[27] Landslides demolished entire neighborhoods, railroads and highways were destroyed, and major utilities such as gas mains, electrical grids, and phone systems were obliterated.[29] The USGS estimates that 143 people were killed, and thousands were more displaced. Property damages amounted to $2.3B in 2013 dollars.[29]

On the day of the earthquake, Schmidt was leading a research team[4] of three University of Alaska Anchorage students and a U.S. Forest Service scientist on Portage Lake, a glacial lake bounded by the Portage Glacier near Anchorage, Alaska. The crew had driven an Arctic Cat snowmobile onto the frozen lake and were drilling holes in the three feet of ice to measure the depth of the water and to study sedimentation processes.[9] They had just finished drilling a borehole near the center of the lake when the earthquake struck. Heather Saucier, a journalist who studied Schmidt's scientific career and who interviewed Mike Mitchell, one of the students on the Portage Lake, reports that Schmidt and the others fought to keep their balance as the water under the ice sloshed back and forth, rocking the ice.[9] The movement of the ice was later measured at five feet.[4] Booming sounds immediately followed the earthquake, which lasted for nearly five minutes,[29] and the team witnesses avalanches on the mountains surrounding the lake. The flying snow reduced visibility to 10 feet. Led by Schmidt, the group attempted to head for the nearest shore on their snowmachine, but fissures in the ice, open water, and the continued rocking prevented them from reaching shore.[4] Eventually, they abandoned the snowmachine and began to walk in a different direction to get off the ice, tied together by a rope in case one of them slipped into a fissure in the ice.[9] Once they made their way to shore, they discovered a cabin occupied by an Alaska Railroad worker's family[4] and were able to contact authorities by radio. The next day, a helicopter rescued them from the cabin and Schmidt and others began the work to assess the impact of the earthquake.

Saucier[9] and Denison[1] state that Schmidt was appointed to serve as the federal coordinator for the Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group, and led a team of 50 scientists to assess the damage and to make recommendations for the future rebuilding of the city of Anchorage.[9] However, a letter from then Governor William A. Egan thanking Schmidt for her "dedication and foresightedness"[30] indicates that the federal government was not initially involved. On a job application dated 1974, Schmidt indicates that she was the coordinator and the geologist in charge of the project, and that the position ended because the "federal government took over."[18] Additionally, the "Guide to the Anchorage Engineering Geology Evaluation Group papers", written by Megan K. Friedel, states that the group of scientists was sponsored by the Alaska State Housing Authority and the City of Anchorage,[31] not the federal government. Friedel also notes that the scientists included geologists, soil scientists, federal and state engineers, and scientists from private companies.

There was significant conflict between Schmidt and the Anchorage Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group that she led and downtown business leaders and real estate developers.[4][32] Business leaders and developers published angry letters in the Anchorage Times,[9] a local pro-business newspaper. While Schmidt and the other scientists wanted to carefully study the damage and to identify future risks, developers and other business leaders wanted to charge ahead with the rebuilding process.[9] The scientific group led by Schmidt was able to complete its study and published its final report on May 8, 1964,[31] roughly a month after the earthquake occurred.[9]

Schmidt donated the documents related to the report in 1981 to the UAA/APU Archives and Special Collections at the University of Alaska Anchorage.[31]

On January 1, 1964, Schmidt launched a geological consulting service from her home located at 1040 C Street in Anchorage, AK.[18] Her business license lists the name as R A M Schmidt, PhD.[33] On a job application dated 1974, she notes that she worked as a "consulting geologist [to] prepare reports on wells from [the] North Slope, Gulf of Alaska, other areas; engineering geology reports, building sites, [and] road construction for clients."[18] It was in this capacity that she led the Anchorage Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group to study the effects of the Great Alaska Earthquake. In May 1964, Governor William A. Egan wrote Schmidt a letter to thank her for her "dedication and foresightedness" on this project.[30]

In 1974–1975, she was an environmental consultant to the Governor of Alaska on the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS).[4] For this work, she traveled up and down the TAPS to inspect environmental impacts, restoration work, and the condition of the work camps. Governor Jay Hammond awarded her a State of Alaska Commendation "for serving the interest of the people of the State of Alaska as a member of the Pipeline Coordinators Office during construction of the Trans Alaska Oil Pipeline," on June 13, 1977.[34]

During the McCarthy era, Schmidt was investigated twice for possible disloyalty to the US government.[14] At issue was her involvement with the Washington Cooperative Bookshop, a retail store in Washington, DC, that sold books, records, magazines, and art. Persons who joined the cooperative as members received a discount on purchases. The Bookshop advocated for racial equality between African Americans (then called Negroes) and whites during a time when Washington was largely racially segregated, and sold books on African American topics, records featuring black musicians, and sponsored lectures, social activities, and concerts for interracial audiences.[11][35]

First page of Executive Order 9835, signed by President Harry S. Truman on March 21, 1947

On December 5, 1947, the Washington Post published a list of organizations that Attorney General Tom C. Clark had branded as subversive and/or communistic.[12] The list came to be known as the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations, or AGLOSO.[36] This was the first time the list was made public, although parts of the original list, compiled in 1943, had previously been leaked.[36] The list was based on secret information, and the organizations listed were not given opportunities to see the evidence that led to their listing, nor were they able to refute the allegations.[12][36] The list was created after President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9835 that established a loyalty review process to ensure that no one who was disloyal to the US government would be federally employed.[36] The Washington Cooperative Bookshop was included on the 1947 list that was published in the Washington Post; the Bookshop was categorized as Communistic.[11][12] The reasons given for the listing included sale of communist literature and the fact that the Bookshop hosted speakers thought to be communist or subversive. Of particular concern in Schmidt's case was the sale of the magazines The New Masses; literature associated with the American Youth Congress; pamphlets and other material published by the American Peace Mobilization, and Schmidt's attendance and participation in lectures such as that by Edwin C. Randall about the political implications of atomic energy.[11]

Schmidt said this about why she became a member:

I became a member of the Washington Cooperative Bookshop in August 1945 ... Since my arrival in Washington during the war (I came in early 1943) I had been disturbed by the segregation of negroes, and the unequal treatment they received in the capital of our country. I felt that such a situation was bad for this country, particularly when we were waging a war for equal rights, and against discrimination. In 1945, towards the end of this war, I happened to read Richard Wright's BLACK BOY—and this incensed me to the point of wanting to do something besides talk about it. I had heard of the Bookshop, probably from a folder I may have picked up in the store, as I frequently browsed in the bookstores along 17th street on the way to the Virginia buses on K Street. As I have always approved of cooperatives ... I decided to join this cooperative bookshop that claimed to be interracial.[11]^: 4

In 1947, while she was working for the USGS, Schmidt completed a routine loyalty review under Executive Order 9835, and received notification that she was cleared in 1949.[11]^: 17–19 In 1950, the issue of her membership in the Washington Cooperative Bookshop again came to the attention of the Department of Interior Loyalty Board, triggered, Schmidt thought, because she had applied to work for the Atomic Energy Commission.[11] She was officially charged with disloyalty to the US government in a letter dated August 15, 1950.[11][13] By that time, the Bookshop had closed due to financial pressures caused by the continual harassment by the federal government,[37][38] but as Schmidt wrote to a friend, "those who were members still have to answer individually the charges against the organization."[39] Schmidt hired an attorney, David Cobb, to represent her. Upon Cobb's suggestion, Schmidt wrote to former professors, graduate school colleagues, friends, and co-workers to request that they submit a notarized affidavit testifying to her integrity, her loyalty to the US government, and her views about communism. There are carbon copies of 17 such letters of request among Schmidt's papers in the UAA/APU Archives and Special Collections.[40] The letter from her dissertation adviser and professor of geology at Columbia University states: "She has always been devoted to her science, geology, and as far as I have been aware not been interested in anything else."[41] Her request for a hearing was accepted, and a three hour hearing occurred on October 25, 1950, chaired by Mastin G. White, a solicitor for the Department of Interior. There were four members of the Loyalty Board present; five witnesses spoke on Schmidt's behalf. At the hearing, Schmidt acknowledged that she had "been a member of and sympathetically associated with the Washington Bookshop Association."[11]^: 7 Asked what other organizations she belonged to, Schmidt responded:

I have a list—the Washington Association of Scientists, Geological Society of Washington, Paleontological Society of Washington, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists (SEPM), American Registry of X-Ray Technicians, Red Cross, Community Chest, Blue Cross, and Sigma Xi.[11]^: 31

On January 15, 1951, E. L. Compton, Secretary of Interior Department, sent Schmidt a letter that cleared her, stating that "no reasonable ground exists for believing that you are disloyal to the Government of the United States."[42]

Cover page of the 1954 transcript of the US Department of the Interior Security Hearing Board against Ruth A. M. Schmidt

In 1954, Schmidt received another letter from the Department of Interior advising her that she was again being investigated,[1][4][9][14] this time under the authority of Executive Order 10450.[43] The letter, dated April 7, 1954, and signed by the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, Douglas McKay, directed her to respond to charges of membership in a "totalitarian organization"[43]^: 2 that she knew had been listed as Communistic, and being sympathetically associated with a list of 21 persons, nine of them suspected of being Communists.[43] Schmidt again hired David Cobb to be her attorney. In her written response to the charges, dated April 30, 1954, she re-submitted much of the same testimony about the Washington Bookshop that she had submitted in 1950. She explained her relationships to the 21 people, saying that she knew some of them as passing acquaintances, while some were social friends. Some of the people she said she did not recall or had only partial recollection of them.[44]

The Department of Interior Secretary Douglas McKay answered her letter on June 28, 1954: "A review of your answers to charges and supporting documents discloses that your denials and explanations do not constitute sufficient grounds to reinstate you. As a consequence, your request for a hearing on the charges will be granted."[44] The hearing was scheduled for July 14, 1954.[44]

Schmidt was again cleared of the charges.[1][4][9][14]