J.T. McNaughton, Former Professor Dies in Air Crash

John T. McNaughton, former professor of Law and Secretary-Designate of the Navy, died with his wife, his 11-year old son, and 79 other passengers Wednesday when a jetliner collided in air with a small airplane.

It was a blow to friends in Cambridge, where he was known as a reserved, brilliant lecturer at the Law School, and to his colleagues in Washington, where he had risen to prominence.

While at Harvard, McNaughton brought modern philosophy into his third-year course on Evidence.

When the first came to the Pentagon from the Law School, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Arms Control. He continued his interest in disarmament while he was the Defense Department's General Counsel and in his last post as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs. McNaughton was the chief Pentagon staff man on the team that negotiated the nuclear test-ban treaty in Moscow.

McNaughton, 45, was to become Navy Secretary August 6, but it was common knowledge that he would move into higher position before long. He was a close personal friend of Secretary McNamara, and it was reportedly he who urged McNamara to back the 37-day pause in the bombing of North Vietnam.