Charles E. Wilson*
Class of 1947
- President General Motors
It was always my extreme honor to be the first recipient of a Horatio Alger Award.
Charles Wilson was born in Minerva, Ohio, in 1890. After earning an electrical engineering degree from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1909, he joined Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh.
In 1919, Wilson joined Remy Electric, a General Motors (GM) subsidiary, as chief engineer and sales manager. He became GM's president in 1941. During World War II, he directed the company's large defense production effort, which earned him a U.S. Medal of Merit.
In 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower named Wilson as secretary of defense, and the pair led the reorganization of the U.S. Department of Defense.