| 词条 | William S. Knudsen | ||||||||
| 释义 |
|name = William Knudsen |image = William S Knudsen.jpg{{!}}border | birth_date = {{birth date|1879|3|25}} |birth_place = Copenhagen, Denmark |death_date = {{Death date and age|1948|04|27|1879|3|25}} |death_place = Detroit, Michigan, United States |allegiance = {{flag|United States}} |branch = {{army|United States}} |serviceyears = 1942–1945 |rank = Lieutenant General |commands = Director of War Production Air Technical Service Command |battles = World War II |awards = Army Distinguished Service Medal (2), American Campaign Medal World War Two Victory Medal }} William Signius Knudsen (March 25, 1879 – April 27, 1948) was a leading automotive industry executive and an American general during World War II. His experience and success as a key senior manager in the operations sides of Ford Motor Company and later General Motors led the Franklin Roosevelt Administration to directly commission him as a lieutenant general in the United States Army to help lead the United States' war materiel production efforts for World War II. BackgroundKnudsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. His name was originally Signius Wilhelm Poul Knudsen. He immigrated to the United States arriving in New York in February 1900. CareerKnudsen was working for the John R. Keim Company of Buffalo, New York, a bicycle and auto parts maker,[1] when the Ford Motor Company bought it in 1911 for its steel-stamping experience and tooling.[2] Knudsen worked for Ford from 1911[3] to 1921,[4] a decade that saw the formative development of the modern assembly line and true mass production.[5] Working first for the Ford Motor Company and later for General Motors from 1921,[6] Knudsen became an expert on mass production and a skilled manager. Knudsen was president of the Chevrolet Division of General Motors from 1924[7] to 1937, and was president of General Motors from 1937[7] to 1940. In 1940, President Roosevelt, at the recommendation of Bernard Baruch, asked Knudsen to come to Washington to help with war production. Knudsen was appointed as Chairman of the Office of Production Management and member of the National Defense Advisory Commission, for which he received a salary of $1 per year.[8] In January 1942, Knudsen received a commission as a lieutenant general in the U.S. Army, the only civilian ever to join the Army at such a high initial rank,[9] and appointed as Director of Production, Office of the Under Secretary of War. In this capacity, he worked as a consultant and a troubleshooter for the War Department. In both of these positions, Knudsen used his extensive experience in manufacturing and industry respect to facilitate the largest production job in history. In response to the demand for war materiel, production of machine tools tripled. Total aircraft produced for the US military in 1939 was less than 3,000 planes. By the end of the war, America produced over 300,000 planes, of which the Boeing B-29 Superfortress benefitted greatly from Knudsen's direction.[10] Production of both cargo and Navy ships also increased astronomically. Knudsen's influence not only smoothed government procurement procedures, but also led companies that had never produced military hardware to enter the market. America outproduced its enemies. As Knudsen said, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible."[11][12][13] He was appointed Director of the Air Technical Service Command when it was founded in July 1944 at Patterson Field, Ohio. He served in the Army until his resignation on June 1, 1945. Personal lifeKnudsen was featured on the cover of Time magazine's October 7, 1940 issue.[14] He was a member of Epiphany Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Detroit, and contributed greatly to LCMS projects around the Detroit area, including buildings for Epiphany Lutheran Church, Outer Drive Faith Lutheran Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Institute for the Deaf.[15][16] Knudsen's son Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen was also a prominent automobile industry executive. Honors and awardsKnudsen was awarded the Vermilye Medal by the Franklin Institute in 1941. He was also appointed a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog by the Kingdom of Denmark in 1930 and was promoted Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1946.[17] Knudsen was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1968.[18] His daughter started a scholarship in the name of her parents.[19] Knudsen Elementary School in Waterford, Michigan[20] is named for him. Military awardsKnudsen was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1944 and again in 1945 for his service in the Army during World War II. He also received the American Campaign Medal, and World War Two Victory Medal for his wartime service.
Dates of Rank
References1. ^{{Cite news|url=http://global.britannica.com/biography/William-S-Knudsen|title=William S. Knudsen {{!}} American industrialist|last=|first=|date=|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=|language=en}} 2. ^{{Harvnb|Hounshell|1984|pp=224–225}}. 3. ^{{Harvnb|Hounshell|1984|p=225}}. 4. ^{{Harvnb|Hounshell|1984|p=264}}. 5. ^{{Harvnb|Hounshell|1984|pp=217–261}}. 6. ^'Big Bill' Knudsen turned Chevrolet into a powerhouse Automotive News, October 31, 2011 7. ^1 {{Harvnb|Hounshell|1984|p=265}}. 8. ^{{cite book|last1=Baime|first1=Albert |title=The Arsenal of Democracy|date=2014|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|location=New York, New York|isbn=978-0-547-71928-3 |pages=72–73}} 9. ^{{citation| title = Knudsen the Only Civilian To Enter Army at His Rank| newspaper = The New York Times| date = January 17, 1942| page = 9| url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0D14F73D5D157B93C5A8178AD85F468485F9}}. 10. ^Herman 2012, pp. 284-346. 11. ^Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, pp. 3-13, 149, 335-337, Random House, New York, NY, 2012. [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/business/in-freedoms-forge-us-industry-as-war-hero-review.html?_r=0 NY Times review] 12. ^Parker, Dana. Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II, pp. 5, 7-10, 13, 59, 131-2., Cypress, CA, 2013. 13. ^Borth, Christy. Masters of Mass Production, pp. 35-37, 62-93, Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, IN, 1945. 14. ^{{Cite web|url=http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19401007,00.html|title=TIME Magazine Cover: William S. Knudsen|last=|first=|date=1940-10-07|website=TIME.com|language=en-us|access-date=}} 15. ^The Detroit News, Saturday, June 19, 1937 16. ^The Detroit News, Tuesday, April 27, 1948 17. ^North American Medal Recipient Index (by William P. Jones. The Order of Dannebrog and other Royal Scandinavian medals. 2009) {{cite web |url=http://www.danishmuseum.org/fhgc/resources/Danish-American_medal_index.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2009-08-28 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725215719/http://www.danishmuseum.org/fhgc/resources/Danish-American_medal_index.pdf |archivedate=2011-07-25 |df= }} 18. ^William S. Knudsen {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914204211/http://www.automotivehalloffame.org/inductee/william-knudsen/83/ |date=2015-09-14 }} Automotive Hall of Fame 19. ^3. The William S. Knudsen and Clara Elisabeth Knudsen Rebild Fund 20. ^{{Cite web|url=http://michiganhistory.leadr.msu.edu/waterford-schools-and-their-michigan-history-connection/|title=Waterford Schools and their Michigan history connection » Michigan History|last=|first=|date=|website=michiganhistory.leadr.msu.edu|language=en-US|access-date=}} Other sources
External links
12 : 1879 births|1948 deaths|Businesspeople from Copenhagen|American businesspeople|People in the automobile industry|American people of Danish descent|Ford executives|General Motors former executives|United States Army generals|Danish emigrants to the United States|Grand Crosses of the Order of the Dannebrog|Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (United States) |
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