Tough Babies

Donald Nelson's War Production Board, rapidly growing biceps, triceps and stout pectoral muscles, got two important new additions to the staff last week. Both were brought in by Vice Chairman Charles Edward Wilson, to help him exercise his new powers over production scheduling. Both were top-flight production men, expert, headstrong and tough.

William Francis Gibbs, 56, a cadaverous, acidulous man who looks like an undertaker but is really the No. 1 U.S. naval architect, will be WPB Controller of Shipping. He will coordinate the programs of Army, Navy and Maritime Commission, will have the duty of making sure that all U.S. shipbuilding methods are brought up to date in speed and efficiency. Mr. Gibbs likes nothing better than speed and efficiency. His radical, straight-from-the-lip methods lie behind the technological revolution which made four-day Liberty Ships possible (TIME, Sept. 28); his firm of Gibbs & Cox is responsible for 70% of all Liberty Ships abuilding, turns out 26 acres of blueprints a month, buys $1,000,000 worth of materials a day. As an administrator, he fears no man. Said Gibbs last week: "I'll be one of the most hated men around here in about three weeks.. . . But there'll be some action."

Ralph Jarron Gardiner, 42, a small, high-domed spark plug who used to work with Charlie Wilson in General Electric, will be Wilson's executive assistant as "Director General" for War Production Scheduling. His first job: to crack the bottlenecks in manufacture of parts. For this task Ralph Cordiner has had double-barreled experience: he was an expert on precision instruments at General Electric; as president of Schick, Inc. for the last three years, he has supervised conversion of a peacetime plant to their manufacture. With Cordiner and Gibbs, WPB had added two rough-&-tumble realists.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.