General Bernard Schriever, who died Monday at 94, led the development of America’s intercontinental ballistic missiles in the 1950s.

The Thor, Atlas, Titan, and Minuteman missile systems were initially designed to be able to throw nuclear warheads at the Soviet Union and to serve as agents of deterrence. Then, as Schriever took over management of the Air Force’s space programs, they became the platforms for blasting most of the nation’s first satellites into orbit, as well as all of the later Mercury and Gemini manned spacecraft.

Born in Germany, Schriever came to live in America in 1917 when his mother emigrated to join his father, an engineer for the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamship line who was interned in America at the outbreak of World War I. The family moved to a German community in New Braunfels, Tex., and Schriever was naturalized in 1923.

An outstanding mathematics student, Schriever began his military career in field artillery and soon moved into aviation, earning his wings in 1933. He was stationed first in Texas and then in the Canal Zone. Except for a brief stint as a pilot for Northwest Airlines in 1937, he would remain in the Army for the rest of his career.

In 1941, the Army sent Schriever to Stanford University for an advanced course in aeronautical engineering. Promoted to major in 1942, he began piloting bombers stationed in Australia and New Guinea. He flew 63 combat missions during World War II as a B-17 pilot, was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal among other decorations, and finished the war as a colonel.

Serving in the Pentagon after the war, Schriever was one of a group of young officers who advocated increased research and development. After completing a course at the National War College, he was put in a position to oversee development of Air Force projects. According to a 1957 Time magazine profile, “He was one of the very few – and very unpopular – airmen who did not like the Air Force’s cherished B-52. … Everywhere he debated and discoursed upon the values and virtues of missiles, missiles, missiles with such fervor that, according to one friendly scientist, ‘they thought Ben was insane.’ “

In part because of his support for miniaturizing the newly developed hydrogen bomb for use on an ICBM, Schriever was put in charge of the Air Force Ballistic Missile program in 1954.

It was a period when America spent well more than 10% of its GNP on defense, and missiles were the highest priority. “It was about deterrence,” Schriever said in a 1999 interview. “President Eisenhower gave national priority to the ICBM program.”

Schriever was in charge of a workforce of 70,000. Little expense was spared as he introduced the management concept of “concurrency,” investigating different design concepts simultaneously for maximum speed. His calm demeanor impressed reporters, who sometimes attributed his stamina to catnaps. “He is a model of informality and gives the suggestion he has seen a lot of Jimmy Stewart’s films,” one wrote.

Schriever surrounded himself with handpicked officers of unprecedented educational attainment. In 1959, he wrote in Space Age magazine: “In my view it is a national disgrace that the term ‘egghead’ as a synonym for intellectual excellence has become a derogatory expression. Let me tell you that it is the ‘eggheads’ who are saving us – just as it was the ‘eggheads’ who wrote the Constitution of the United States. It is the ‘eggheads’ in the realm of science and technology, in industry, in statecraft, as well as in other fields who form the first line of freedom’s defense.”

Critics later complained that the rocket systems were overly complex and ill-suited for repeated use as satellite launchers. This overlooked the fact that their initial mission was for a single shot. Most of Schriever’s missile systems came in well ahead of schedule, which, given the exigencies of the Cold War, was what mattered at the time.

When the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957, Schriever was already on record warning that space was the battleground of the future. Placed in charge of Air Force space projects, he oversaw the launches of many early satellites, including the Discoverer, Midas, and Samos series.

After being placed in charge of all Air Force weapons development in 1961, Schriever retired soon after he was passed over when the Air Force chief of staff, General Curtis Lemay, retired, in 1965.

Schriever was active in an advisory role in military circles and also briefly turned his organizational expertise to fighting urban poverty. He remained, as a newspaper once dubbed him, “The General From Outer Space.” In a 1993 interview, he predicted that the moon and Mars would become sources of cheap energy, that Americans would reach Mars within a decade, and that America would have a command station on the moon in the 21st century.

In 1998, the Air Force renamed Falcon Air Force Base, located south of Denver, for Schriever.

Bernard Adolph Schriever

Born September 14, 1910, in Bremen, Germany; died June 20 at his home in Washington, D.C., of natural causes; survived by his wife, Joni, and three children.