During World War II, Ed Littlefield served in the Petroleum Administration office in Washington, D.C., placing him in proximity to Marriner Eccles, left, governor of the Federal Reserve System, and shown here with President Roosevelt and his son, James Roosevelt. Not until Littlefield's senior year at Stanford University did the term "academic challenge" carry any meaning. "During the first three years the class work seemed too easy for me," he wrote. "I was also involved in all sorts of campus activities and still managed to get straight A's." He worked summers at fruit packing plants and, following graduation, enrolled in Stanford's Graduate School of Business. During the summer of 1937, Ed traveled to Europe with friends and then returned to complete his master's degree, graduating at the top of his class. Not surprisingly, he was immediately offered a position at Standard of California [later Chevron] on April 1, 1938. Not only did he earn a top salary of $150 per month, but Ralph K. Davies, a vice president, became his valuable mentor. When the United States entered World War 11 in December 1941, Littlefield already belonged to the Naval Reserve. He went on active duty in Naval Intelligence in San Francisco, monitoring telephone calls. "We heard the ranking admiral at Pearl Harbor, and the governor of Honolulu, report to Roosevelt about what had really happened in Pearl Harbor," he related. "What actually happened was not told to the American public until five or six months later. The actual damage was tremendous." After 18 months Davies recommended that Littlefield join him in the Petroleum Administration office in Washington, D.C. The transfer not only brought Littlefield to the nation's capital for the remainder of the war, but it also placed him in proximity to Marriner Eccles, who by then was becoming known as the "father of the modern Federal Reserve."