Robert John Fleming

Robert John Fleming Jr. (January 13, 1907 – July 14, 1984) was Governor of the Panama Canal Zone from 1962 to 1967.

Biography


Fleming was born at Fort Robinson in Nebraska on January 13, 1907 to Augusta and Robert John Fleming, an 1891 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. As a military dependent, he attended three different high schools and graduated with honors at the age of fifteen. Fleming then studied at the Phillips Exeter Academy for two years before entering the U.S. Military Academy in July 1924. He graduated in June 1928 and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers before earning a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in June 1931.

Fleming was assigned to the headquarters of the Hawaiian Department before and after the attack on Pearl Harbor, serving as staff engineer and special assistant to Lieutenant Generals Charles D. Herron, Walter C. Short and Delos C. Emmons. He remained in the United States Army as an engineering officer until 1954, his World War II service including duty in the Pacific Theater before a series of staff posts in Washington, D.C. and Virginia. Fleming graduated from the National War College in 1951. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1955 and major general in 1961.

After a period in public service that included a three-year sojourn in public service in France, Fleming was appointed by President John F. Kennedy as Governor of the Panama Canal Zone in 1962. His tenure in charge had also seen the most comprehensive survey of the canal with the intention of widening it, the inauguration of the Panama Canal Spillway newspaper and the opening of the Thatcher Ferry Bridge.

Fleming retired in February 1967 to take up a position as Executive Vice President for a company in Boston, Massachusetts.

Fleming died in Palo Alto, California on July 14, 1984. He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery beside his parents and wife.

Awards and decorations
His years of military and public service came with several awards. He was given the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Army Commendation Medal, the Order of the White Lion from Czechoslovakia, the Légion d'honneur from France and the Order of Grand Cross, Condecoration Vasco Nuñez de Balboa from Panama for his various and varied public services.