Stephen Ray "Steve" Hettinger (born August 25, 1945) is an American politician who served as mayor of Huntsville, Alabama, from 1988 to 1996.
[2] During this period, Hettinger became particularly involved in leading the recovery of the city in the aftermath of the Huntsville Tornado of 1989.
He graduated from Mississippi State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in engineering in 1967, and moved to Huntsville, Alabama, shortly after.
Hettinger worked in the space program while studying towards a Master of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, which he received in 1974.
[3] While serving as Mayor in June 1990, Hettinger appealed to President George H. W. Bush to restore the United States citizenship of Arthur Rudolph, a former Nazi and NASA scientist who had been brought to the United States under Operation Paperclip and denaturalized when his Nazi past resurfaced.