Engineer Memoirs: Major General William E. Potter, USA, Retired
| Author | William E. Potter, interviewed by Martin Reuss (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) |
|---|---|
| Published | July 1983 |
| Format | Book |
TL;DR — Oral-history memoir (EP 870-1-12) of Army engineer “Joe” Potter: Corps of Engineers, Panama Canal Zone governor, 1964 World’s Fair and the building of Walt Disney World.
Engineer Pamphlet 870-1-12 in the Corps of Engineers’ Engineer Memoirs series, published July 1983. It is the edited transcript of tape-recorded interviews that Martin Reuss of the Historical Division, Office of the Chief of Engineers, conducted with Potter in Orlando, Florida, in February 1981.
Potter (1905–1988) was an Army engineer officer and later governor of the Panama Canal Zone (1956–1960). After retiring he worked under Robert Moses on the 1964–65 New York World’s Fair and then for Walt Disney, managing the land and infrastructure work in central Florida that became Walt Disney World. The Corps foreword singles out those two construction projects as the reason for recording his career.
What it is: an official US Army oral history, a primary source on Disney World’s engineering origins. The Corps of Engineers publications site blocked the download check, so no official link is given yet.
Where this came from
- A copy saved in October 2026.
- Archived copy (Google Drive): Google Drive
227 pages. A PDF copy is held in Kyle’s private archive; it is not linked or shared here.