Mr Duncan was brought to Washington by President Jimmy Carter – first as Undersecretary of Defense and then in 1979 as head of the new Department of Energy – carrying an impressive resume that included roles leadership at Coca-Cola, but no experience leading government policy. Mr. Duncan liked to joke that his only previous experience in the oil industry was working a few weeks on Texas rigs as a menial laborer known as a roustabout.
He quickly established himself in Washington as an administration pillar for Carter’s initiatives, led by efforts to wean U.S. energy markets from oil imports from OPEC and its powerful producer, Saudi Arabia.
Mr Duncan took over the energy portfolio as another fuel crisis brewed. The overthrow of Iran’s Western ally regime in early 1979 sharply reduced oil exports – and Carter would completely cut off Iranian oil after 52 Americans were taken hostage in the November 1979 storming of Iran. American Embassy in Tehran. (The captives would not be released until Carter was removed from office in 1981.) Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, threatened to cut production, and OPEC partners would follow suit, but did not ultimately took no action.
Yet oil prices soared in 1979, bringing a brief repeat of the gas lines and fuel hoarding common during the 1973 Arab oil embargo. The scenes left Carter with a political dilemma. Mr. Duncan has become the go-to man for damage control and is trying to introduce aggressive new energy strategies such as a focus on domestic crude production, calls for more nuclear power and research on so-called synthetic fuels such as “gasohol”, a mixture of corn and alcohol. gasoline-based additives.
“The gas lines have been real. … There is always the possibility that they will come back,” Mr. Duncan told The Washington Post in July 1979 after replacing first Energy Secretary James R. Schlesinger, whose confrontational style became a political liability with Congress and other agencies.
Mr Duncan’s soft-spoken approach – he has been called a ‘lovable Carter loyalist’ by The Post – has won admirers as well as detractors. After a visit to Saudi Arabia in February 1980, he was criticized by some columnists and industry analysts for not publicly chastising Saudi officials for playing with oil markets and the kingdom’s reluctance to ship additional crude. to increase US strategic reserves.
“It’s a complete debacle,” energy consultant Joseph Lerner said at the time. “Like the Vichy government, we are learning to live comfortably under occupation.”
Mr. Duncan rarely responded directly to criticism. Instead, he was a tireless spokesperson for Carter’s energy priorities. Mr Duncan unsuccessfully called for fuel price controls to stabilize the market and limit what Carter called the oil companies’ “war profits”. Mr Duncan joined the call for energy conservation made by Carter, who once wore a sweater to a national address in 1977 to encourage turning down the heating at home.
At the end of 1980, Mr. Duncan trumpeted a 37% drop in oil imports from the previous year. He said it reflected trends toward more fuel-efficient vehicles and energy-efficient homes and appliances.
Yet Mr Duncan has been pushed back by his plea for synthetic fuels after studies suggested risks of carcinogenic benzo(a)pyrene, or BP, in wastewater from shale oil extraction . Its desire for domestic production has sparked outcry from environmentalists in Alaska and elsewhere.
His promotion of nuclear power seemed deaf to many following the March 1979 partial collapse at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, where cleanup was not completed until 1993.
Mr Duncan served at a time when the impact and urgency of human-induced climate change was unclear. He drew attention to some of the environmental concerns of the time, such as urban smog, even as he continued to support coal in its quest for energy self-sufficiency.
“We simply need to reduce our dependence on oil,” Mr. Duncan wrote in a 1981 issue of Energy Consumer, a Department of Energy newsletter. “That means using more coal, solar and renewable energy sources.”
Charles William Duncan Jr. was born in Houston on September 9, 1926, into a family of growing wealth and social stature from Duncan Coffee Co., founded in 1918 by his uncle, and Mr. Duncan’s father was vice president.
Mr. Duncan attended boarding school in Tennessee and, in 1947, earned a degree in chemical engineering from the Rice Institute (now Rice University). He worked briefly after graduation as a roustabout, digging ditches for the Humble Oil and Refining Co. (later acquired by Standard Oil), then became a company engineer.
He joined the family coffee business in 1948, becoming president as it renamed itself Duncan Foods with coffee and other items shipped to markets from the Midwest to the East Coast. The company also aims to eclipse rival Maxwell House.
Duncan Foods was acquired in 1964 by Coca-Cola. Mr. Duncan then ran Coke’s London-based operations and in 1970 moved to the Atlanta headquarters as chairman from 1971 to 1974. He purchased the TE Ranch near Cody, Wyo., which was founded in 1895 by William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody.
As a senior executive of Atlanta’s most famous corporation, Mr. Duncan quickly developed a bond with Carter, who was then Governor of Georgia. After Carter won the presidential election in 1976, Mr. Duncan received a call in Houston, where he was then president of Rotan Moise Finance Corp. Carter wanted Mr. Duncan to be assistant secretary of defense despite having no past military ties or experience.
“A complete business leader,” Carter said in describing his choice of Mr. Duncan, “willful enough to prevail in the infighting between the various military services.”
Mr Duncan pushed for arms control talks with the Soviet Union and broke with convention at the time to urge Congress to allow women into military combat roles – which only became a reality only in 2013.
In addition to his son, Mr. Duncan is survived by his wife of 65 years, the former Anne Smith; his daughter Mary Anne Dingus; and five grandchildren.
After his years in Washington, he served on many state and city boards and was a trustee of Rice University, where he and his wife donated $30 million to establish Duncan College.
During the swearing-in as energy secretary, Mr Duncan thanked Carter and said the future depended on home energy production and “on the genius of American technology to use the sun and d ‘other renewable resources’.
Carter then laughed, “And now, since the thermostat has been so low for this ceremony, we can turn it up.”
