The President today announced his intention to nominate W. Paul Thayer to be Deputy Secretary of Defense. He would succeed Frank C. Carlucci, resigned.
Mr. Thayer has been chairman of the board and chief executive officer of LTV Corp. since 1970. He also serves as chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. He is on the board of the Business Roundtable and is a senior member of the Conference Board.
After serving in the United States Naval Air Corps in World War II in the Pacific Theater, Mr. Thayer became a TWA pilot briefly and then a commercial test-pilot for then Chance-Vought Aircraft and Northrop. In 1955 he joined the corporate structure of Chance-Vought by becoming vice president for sales and service and a member of the board of directors. Mr. Thayer was promoted to president of the reorganized corporation (now called Ling-Tempco-Vought Aerospace) in 1965, later becoming chairman of the board.
Mr. Thayer attended the University of Kansas, majoring in petroleum engineering. He is married to the former Margery Schwartz, and they have one daughter, Brynn. They reside in Dallas, Tex.
Mr. Thayer was born November 23, 1919, in Henryetta, Okla.
Ronald Reagan, Nomination of W. Paul Thayer To Be Deputy Secretary of Defense Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/245977