States to appoint delegates to a meeting to consider the subject."^ ^ A group of 85 

 delegates, representing 16 states, met at Asbury Park on October 14 and 15, 1926. From this 

 meeting and two others which followed shortly thereafter— one in Norfolk, Virginia, and the 

 latter in Washington, D.C.,— emerged an organization known as the American Shore and 

 Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA). This Association was thus a direct outgrowth of 

 the efforts of the Committee on Shoreline Studies (by then known as the Committee on 

 Shoreline Investigations of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts) of the National Research Council. 

 A going concern as of December 8, 1926, the new organization expressed its purpose in these 

 terms: 



"This Association is formed in recognition of the fact that our coasts and the 

 shores of our lakes and rivers constitute important assets for promoting the health 

 and physical well-being of the people of this nation; that their contiguity to our 

 great centers of population affords an opportunity for wholesome and necessary 

 rest and recreation not equally available in any other form. 



"The purpose of the Association is to bring together for cooperation and mutual 

 helpfulness the many agencies, interests and individuals concerned with the 

 welfare of these lands, and in all legitimate ways to foster that sound, far-sighted 

 and economical development and preservation of the lands which will aid in 

 placing their benefits within the reach of the largest possible number of our 

 people, in accordance with the ideals of a democratic nation." 



Officers for the first year were: 

 President 



J. Spencer Smith, President, New Jersey State Board of Commerce and Navigation. 

 (Smith continued as president of the ASBPA until his death in 1953.) 



Vice President 



Marcel Garsaud, General Manager, Board of Commissioners of the Port of New 

 Orleans. 



Secretary 



Comdr. Raymond S. Patton, then Chief, Division of Charts, U.S. Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey. 

 One of the early objectives of the ASBPA, as stated by Comdr. Patton, was to "induce 

 the states to accept the principle of public interest in these beaches,"^* and to become 

 actively involved in their preservation. This objective reflects the Commander's thinking on 

 the issue of responsibUity for shore protection.* In an address before the ASBPA at its first 

 official meeting on December 8, 1926, Patton expressed the view that the State was "the 

 logical poUtical unit through which our (the Association's) purposes can best be 



*Patton was aware of the need for basic data concerning coastal processes, and often, during his addresses to the 

 ASBPA, stressed the importance of research. 



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