When one’s memory has been collecting material for nigh on 80 percent of a century one sometimes frets a bit that senility is sneaking in when he can’t remember where he laid the car keys 20 seconds ago. But then he is relieved when a current event brings up a memory from more than half a century ago.

In this case the memory was given its jog by the recent news involving General Motors. I haven’t seen or heard the following information brought up in the media concerning GM‘s bankruptcy filing and the federal government actually becoming part of General Motors, at least for the time being. That well may be because the others writing and telling or commenting on the news today weren’t around 50 years ago.

In 1953, 56 years ago, Dwight David Eisenhower moved into the White House, being the first Republican to occupy our Presidential Mansion in 24 years. One of the first chores for a new president is to form an administration, a cabinet. Ike picked Charles Erwin Wilson as the Secretary of Defense. In many ways it was a good choice. After receiving a degree in electrical engineering from the prestigious Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1909, his outstanding ability was crucial in the modernizing the American armed forces from basically a militia into the military might of the two World Wars and Korea.

Despite his close alliance and knowledge of our Armed Forces Wilson’s nomination sparked a major controversy during his confirmation hearings in the Senate Armed Services Committee, even though at that time Eisenhower had a rare Republican majority in Congress. He was the CEO of General Motors at the time and GM was one of the most successful corporations not only in the U.S. but worldwide. Specifically, the concern of the Senators was that he was reluctant to sell his GM stock, then valued at more than $2.5 million. Under pressure he agreed to sell and was confirmed by a sizeable majority.

During the hearings he was asked that if as the defense secretary he could make a decision which would be adverse to General Motors. He said that he could, but then added he could not conceive of such a situation “because for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa.” That statement was soon misquoted as “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country,” and got him the tag of General Motors Wilson.

As President of General Motors during World War II he directed the company’s huge defense production effort. That success earned him the U.S. Medal of Merit awarded in 1946. In 1944 when U.S. and Allied efforts made eventual victory a virtual certainty there was some concern about another big depression crippling the nation. After all, war production provided far more jobs, much greater corporate profit and higher individual income than a return to a peacetime economy would provide.

In 1944, as director of the War Production Board, he told the Army Ordnance Board that in order to prevent such a depression the nation needed a “permanent war economy.” The celebration over final victory in WWII had hardly quieted down when the longest conflict of the 20th Century made Wilson’s “Permanent War Economy” an actuality. Fortunately, the 45-year conflict between the U.S. and the USSR was mostly “cold” but it nevertheless demanded a continued wartime environment with its wartime economy.

Just as we feel an obligation to help war veterans with their personal problems maybe we owe a little something to a once great corporation that has done so much for our nation. President Obama has come up with a plan, a plan that might be compared to the use of the most hazardous and dangerous drugs of a surgeon treating a seriously ailing patient. If this extreme treatment cures the patient in a reasonable period of time he may get elected to a second term. If it doesn’t, he probably will find himself alongside former President Herbert Hoover in the history books.

Trivia Time
What President said, “The Business of America is business?” Answer to last question. The song written by famous Broadway composer Jack  Norworth that is still sung fairly regularly today is “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Actually, only the chorus is sung today though the original work had two verses in addition to the chorus.

Contact
George Frasher at 337-238-3433, E-mail frasher@cebridge.net