New Man Aboard

As the new Secretary of the Navy, President Eisenhower last week appointed Charles Sparks Thomas, 56, who has been serving as Assistant Secretary of Defense for supply and logistics. A onetime director of Lockheed Aircraft and president of a retail clothing chain (Foreman & Clark), Thomas is also an old Navy hand. During World War I he was a Navy flyer; in World War II he served as an air supply specialist in the Navy Department.

California Republican Thomas had confidently expected to become Secretary of the Navy in 1953 when Dwight Eisenhower took office. But Ike gave the job to Lawyer Robert Anderson, a Texas Democrat-for-Eisenhower. Thomas became Under Secretary of the Navy, later accepted an assistant's berth in defense.

Last week, after promoting Anderson to Deputy Secretary of Defense to succeed Roger Kyes, resigned, the President needed a new Secretary of the Navy, tapped Thomas. But Thomas was so immersed in his supply job (among his projects: a plan to compile 4,500,000 items of equipment for the three armed services in a single catalogue, saving the Government endless red tape, duplications and expense) that he was reluctant to take the job that he had wanted in the first place. It took all of Defense Secretary Charles Wilson's persuasive powers to get him to accept.

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