Leon Bullier (1895-1971) was one of the first to waterski on Oswego Lake, in the late 1930s. He was a lively and daring man who treated with insouciance the boating rules enacted and enforced by the Lake Oswego Corporation, owner of the private lake. One fine day he was towing his daughter, who was waterskiing, when he decided to run his boat under a low and narrow bridge, in violation of the corporation's safety rules. His aim was less than true and the boat bounced off first one and then the other side of the bridge. His daughter avoided hitting the bridge only by some fast and clever footwork.
It was not possible to hit a bridge twice in one passage and not have the corporation take notice. Rather than fine Mr. Bullier or suspend his boating privileges, someone on the corporation's board had a better idea. The board appointed Leon Bullier the boating safety officer, and put him in charge of seeing that everyone on the lake, himself included, would follow the rules. For much the same reason, Mrs. Laquedem reminded me, Franklin Roosevelt appointed Joseph P. Kennedy to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.