McCone, John A.

McCone, John A. (Alex) (1909–91) businessman, government official; born in San Francisco. An engineer, later president of Consolidated Steel (1929–37), he formed Bechtel-McCone, an international engineering firm, in 1938. He was chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (1958–60), and as President Kennedy's Central Intelligence Agency director (1961–65), he discovered the Cuban-bound missile shipments that led to the October 1962 crisis. He left to head International Telephone and Telegraph (1965–73).