Harlow Curtice - President

President

Curtice kept GM's tradition of letting division heads be effectively autonomous. However, with GM's Allison Division (aircraft motors) lagging in 1953, he stepped in personally to help run the division and find money for a massive investment for a new line of engines that again made the division competitive with Pratt & Whitney. In 1955, Eastern Airlines' Eddie Rickenbacker placed a large order for the new engines. In his first two years as president, Curtice traveled abroad twice, spending millions each time with on-the-spot decisions.

The early months of Curtice's rule at GM saw fears of a recession. In February 1954, with the economy still lagging, Curtice announced that GM would spend $1 billion (approximately $12 billion today) in expanding its plants and facilities in anticipation of the boom to come. This set off a spree of capital spending by other corporations, which helped ensure the recovery of the economy. Ford matched the billion with a billion of its own, while Chrysler announced plans to spend $500 million. Meanwhile Curtice, a poker player, upped the ante by announcing plans to spend a second billion. Curtice saw that the economy would recover, and was prepared for it. In 1955, GM sold five million vehicles and became the first corporation to earn a billion dollars in a year. Curtice was given Time magazine's "Man of the Year" recognition for 1955 because "in a job that required it, he has assumed the responsibility of leadership for American business. In his words 'General Motors must always lead.'" During his presidency, he was only at his home in Flint, Michigan at the weekends; he remained at GM headquarters during the week.

In 1956, he announced plans to devote another billion to capital investment, the largest such sum ever invested by a single firm in a single year. At the peak of his earning ability, he made $800,000 per year (over $9 million today).