Commerce Cabinet Crisis VI: Roy D. Chapin
By August of 1932, I imagine that Herbert Hoover already knew that he was doomed to the dustbin of history. But still, he found himself facing the very situation that today faces Barack Obama—an economic crisis, and a vacancy at the Commerce Department. In his hour of need he reached outside the government, to an executive from the auto industry named Roy D. Chapin.
Chapin had a pretty interesting life in business. He worked for automotive pioneer Ransom E. Olds (namesake of the Oldsmobile) and then left to be one of the founders of Hudson Motor Company in 1909. Hudson was named after its primary financial backer, a Detroit department store mogul named James L. Hudson, but Chapin was their top car guy. Under his leadership Hudson, and its subsidiary Essex Motors, were responsible for a number of innovations including the first affordable mass-produced enclosed automobile. In one of the pioneering moves of the alliance between automakers and the highway lobby, Chapin joined forces with Henry B. Joy of Packard Motors to spearhead the drive for the construction of the Lincoln Highway. In 1932, Hudson left the private sector to go work in the Hoover administration, where he tried and failed in an effort to convince Henry Ford to bail out the Guardian Trust Company of Detroit. Guardian’s collapse led to the Michigan Bank Holiday which prefigured FDR’s nationwide bank holiday in 1933. Chapin’s tenure at Commerce was brief, since Hoover lost the election just a few months later, and after FDR’s inauguration he went back to work for Hudson. He died in 1936.
Hudson merged with Nash Kelvinator in 1954 to become American Motors which, in turn, was acquired by Chrysler in the 1980s. And now it seems that Chrysler will soon either be liquidated or else acquired by Fiat.
26 Responses to “Commerce Cabinet Crisis VI: Roy D. Chapin”
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February 18th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
I like this series.
February 18th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Yeah, me too. Interesting stuff.
February 18th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
If it’s acquired, I think it will be via a regular agreement with another company, not by fiat.
February 18th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
…that he was doomed to the dustbin of history.
You’re the professional. Keep up the sly allusions. I think the precipating moment, Kornilov or Bonus Army will eventually come.
February 18th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
The violent dispersal of the Bonus Army marchers in Washington by the police and then the US Army had occurred the previous month, July 1932, resulting in the deaths of several World War I veterans.
February 18th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Honestly Matt, not one cares (realize that is kinda your point), but how the hell did none of the liberal blogs I read pick up on that NYPost cartoon of the chimp/Obama?
February 18th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Nash Kelvinator would be an awesome comic book superhero/porn star name.
February 18th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
“Michigan Bank Holiday” would be an appropriate name for a somewhat twee hoodie-wearing indie-rock band from Brooklyn with a girl singer. (I guess that was two years ago, actually—now they’d all have full beards and call themselves “Lincoln Highway.” And the girl would play banjo.)
Also, Andruw—DailyKos did have a front-page post on the chimp-Obama cartoon.
February 18th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
MR. OBAMA (to the tune of Harry Chapin’s Vacancy)
“Richardson and Mr. Gregg have run away in fright
Otto Wolf doesn’t look like he’ll last another fortnight
It’s a vacancy I offered them, what’ve they offered me?
Headaches and scandals, but no Secretary!”
There’s a vacancy!
Who’ll come to me? And fill my empty spaces?
There’s a crisis at hand
And I’ve no Commerce Man
So who will work with me?
I’ve got a vacancy.
Left here for expansion by anyone more lyrically inclined.
February 18th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Hey Andrew (#6), you might check this out:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/18/nypost-chimp/
February 18th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
mcmanus, well I must say I feel awfully predictable. Astute call.
February 18th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Just FTR, American Motors was also owned by Renault for a few unfortunate years before they sold it to Chrysler.
February 19th, 2009 at 12:23 am
I realize that the dept. of HHS has more obvious reason to exist than Commerce, but on the grounds that the people running it tend to make no news and to be forgotten, that we’re enjoying the Gods Of Commerce series, and that there’s a vacancy there, how about adding a series about the people who bestrode the world like colossuses (collosi?) as Secretary of HHS?
February 19th, 2009 at 4:12 am
Roy G. Biv was a more colorful fellow.
February 19th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Prepare to be Kelvinated!
February 19th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Besides Oldsmobile R. E. Olds also had the R.E.O. Speedwagon named after him. It was the fastest delivery truck available at the time.
February 19th, 2009 at 11:45 am
And in the fullness of time, the Hudson Hornet, the ‘bathtub’ Nash, and the Rambler American have become the cutting edge design parameters of 2011…
February 19th, 2009 at 11:59 am
I was intrigued by this post because two of the appliances I remember from my early childhood were a Kelvinator refrigerator in the kitchen and an AMC Spirit in the driveway. They were of roughly equivalent size, power, and reliability, and I was briefly excited to think that they may have in fact been produced by the same corporation. Sadly, Wikipedia tells me that Kelvinator != Nash Kelvinator
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