CFA Service:
1917–1921
Clarence S. Ridley, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was director of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds (OPBG) from 1917 to 1921. He was a senior military aide to President Woodrow Wilson and, as head of the OPBG, oversaw the construction of the Lincoln Memorial. Ridley left Washington in 1921 to serve in the Panama Canal Zone as an engineer; he became governor of the Canal Zone in 1936, a position he held until 1940. He retired from the military in 1947.