Charles Edward Wilson (November 18, 1886 in New York City - January 3, 1972 in Bronxville, New York) was a CEO of General Electric. He left school at age 12 to work as a stock boy at Sprague Electrical Works, which was acquired by General Electric, taking night classes and working up to president in 1939.
During World War II he served on the War Production Board as executive vice-chairman in September 1942, supervising the huge U.S. military production effort before resigning in August, 1944 after a bitter jurisdictional dispute with the military. After returning to General Electric and instituting an anti-union campaign, he served President Truman as the chairman of the blue-ribbon President's Committee on Civil Rights in 1946-1947, which recommended new civil rights legislation to protect "all parts of our population".
After returning to General Electric again, he left to become head of the new Office of Defense Mobilization in December, 1950, which took control of the U.S. economy, rationing raw materials to the civilian economy, a position so powerful that the press began calling him the "co-president". After being accused of backing big business, he resigned in March, 1952 after a bitter dispute with his own Wage Stabilization Board after it recommended wage increases for union steel workers without his knowledge, and he intervened to back the steel companies' demand for price increases to offset them, only to see Truman back the board. He then returned to General Electric briefly before becoming chairman of the board of W.R. Grace & Co. until his retirement in 1956, when he became president of the People-to-People Foundation, a non-partisan program promoting international friendship and understanding.
He was nicknamed "Electric Charlie" so as not to be confused with Charles E. Wilson, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of General Motors, who was nicknamed "Engine Charlie". (This nicknaming meme included at least one other contemporary American industrialist, Charles E. Sorensen, who was "Cast-Iron Charlie".)
John G. Forrest, writing in the New York Times, said "Charles Wilson is a big man by any standard, physical, moral, or mental."
Electric Charlie and his wife adopted Margaret from an orphanage when she was 18 years old. Margaret married Hugh Pierce and had a son: Charles Edward Wilson Pierce.
| Preceded by Gerard Swope |
President of General Electric 1940 – 1942 |
Succeeded by Gerard Swope |
| Preceded by Gerard Swope |
President of General Electric 1945 – 1950 |
Succeeded by Ralph Cordiner |
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Claire Lee Chennault |
Cover of Time Magazine 13 December 1943 |
Succeeded by Greer Garson |