Bechtel, Stephen Davison

Bechtel, Stephen Davison

(1900–89) engineering/construction executive; born in Aurora, Ind. He joined his father's western construction company, W. A. Bechtel Corporation, in 1919, eventually becoming president (1936–60). He built Hoover Dam (1931). His other engineering design and construction companies, consolidated as Bechtel Corporation (1946), became the largest such corporation in the world, building numerous power plants, pipelines, oil refineries, and factories worldwide. His son, Stephen Davison Bechtel, Jr. (born in 1925) spent his career at Bechtel Corporation, overseeing projects including the trans-Alaska pipeline and the Washington, D.C., subway system.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.