Charles W. Duncan Jr., who directed U.S. energy policy under the Jimmy Carter administration amid oil-supply shocks from Iran’s Islamic revolution and OPEC threats as the White House struggled to avoid another panic of long lines at gas pumps, died Oct. 18 at his home in Houston. He was 96.
Mr. Duncan was brought to Washington by President Jimmy Carter — first as deputy defense secretary and then in 1979 heading the newly formed Department of Energy — carrying an impressive business résumé that included executive roles at Coca-Cola, but no experience spearheading government policies. Mr. Duncan liked to joke that his only previous experience in the oil industry was working a few weeks in Texas rigs as a low-rung laborer known as roustabout.
He soon established himself in Washington as an administration stalwart for Carter’s initiatives, led by efforts to wean the U.S. energy markets off oil imports from OPEC and its powerhouse producer Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Duncan took over the energy portfolio just as another fuel crisis was brewing. The toppling of Iran’s Western-allied regime in early 1979 sharply cut oil exports — and Carter would fully cut off Iranian oil after 52 Americans were taken hostage in November 1979 in the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. (The captives would not be freed until Carter was out of office in 1981.) Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, threatened to trim its output, and OPEC partners would follow suit, but ultimately did not take any steps.
Still, oil prices spiked in 1979, bringing a brief replay of the gas lines and fuel hoarding common during the 1973 Arab oil embargo. The scenes left Carter with a political dilemma. Mr. Duncan became the point man for damage control and attempts to portray aggressive new energy strategies such as emphasizing domestic crude production, calls for more nuclear power and research on so-called synthetic fuels such as “gasohol,” mixing corn- and alcohol-based additives with gasoline.
“The gasoline lines have been real. … There is always the possibility they will return,” Mr. Duncan told The Washington Post in July 1979 after replacing the 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 was called “an amiable Carter loyalist” by The Post — gained admirers as well as detractors. After a visit to Saudi Arabia in February 1980, he took heat from some columnists and industry analysts for failing to publicly rebuke Saudi officials for toying with oil markets and the kingdom’s hesitation to ship extra crude to boost the U.S. strategic reserves.
“It’s a complete debacle,” said energy consultant Joseph Lerner at the time. “Like the Vichy government, we are learning to live cozily under occupation.”
Mr. Duncan rarely replied directly to the criticism. Instead he was a tireless spokesman for Carter’s energy priorities. Mr. Duncan urged in vain for fuel price controls to stabilize the market and limit what Carter called “war profiting” by oil companies. Mr. Duncan rallied behind the call for energy conservation by Carter, who once wore a sweater in a national address in 1977 to encourage turning down the heat at home.
In late 1980, Mr. Duncan trumpeted a 37 percent decline in oil imports from a year earlier. He said it reflected trends toward more fuel-efficient vehicles and energy-efficient homes and appliances.
Yet Mr. Duncan faced pushback over his advocacy for synthetic fuels after studies suggested risks of cancer-causing benzo(a)pyrene, or BP, in wastewater from extracting shale oil. His drive for domestic production stirred outcry from environmentalists in Alaska and elsewhere.
His promotion of nuclear energy seemed tone deaf to many in the wake of the March 1979 partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, where the cleanup did not finish until 1993.
Mr. Duncan served in an era before the full impact and urgency of man-made climate change was clear. He called attention to some of the eco-concerns of the day, such as urban smog, even as he continued support for coal in the drive for energy self-sufficiency.
“We simply must reduce our dependence on petroleum,” Mr. Duncan wrote in a 1981 issue of the Energy Consumer, a newsletter by the Department of Energy. “This means making greater use of coal, solar and renewable energy sources.”
Business background
Charles William Duncan Jr. was born in Houston on Sept. 9, 1926, into a family with expanding 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) and then became a company engineer.
He joined the family’s coffee company in 1948, rising to become president as it rebranded itself Duncan Foods with coffee and other items shipped to markets from the Midwest to the East Coast. The company also set its sights on trying to eclipse rival Maxwell House.
Duncan Foods was acquired in 1964 by Coca-Cola. Mr. Duncan then headed Coke’s London-based operations and, in 1970, moved to the Atlanta headquarters as president from 1971 to 1974. He bought the TE Ranch near Cody, Wyo., which was founded in 1895 by William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody.
As a top executive at Atlanta’s most-famous company, Mr. Duncan soon developed ties with Carter, who was then Georgia’s governor. After Carter’s presidential election win in 1976, Mr. Duncan received a call in Houston, where he was then chairman of Rotan Moise Finance Corp. Carter wanted Mr. Duncan as deputy defense secretary despite no past military ties or experience.
“A complete business manager,” said Carter in describing his choice of Mr. Duncan, “strong-willed enough to prevail in the internecine struggles among different military services.”
Mr. Duncan pushed for arms-limitation talks with the Soviet Union and broke with convention at the time to urge Congress to allow women in military combat roles — which did not become a reality until 2013.
In addition to his son, Mr. Duncan is survived by his wife of 65 years, the former Anne Smith; daughter Mary Anne Dingus; and five grandchildren.
After his Washington years, he served on many corporate and civic boards and was a trustee of Rice University, where he and his wife donated $30 million to establish Duncan College.
In the swearing-in as energy secretary, Mr. Duncan thanked Carter and said the future depends on domestic energy production and “the genius of American technology to make use of the sun and other renewable resources.”
Carter then got a laugh: “And now since we’ve had the thermostat turned so low for this ceremony, we can turn it back up.”
