Switches at Goodyear

The biggest U.S. rubber company and the world's biggest tiremaker last week had one of the biggest management shifts in its 60-year history. Into the post of chairman of Akron's Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (1957 sales: $1.4 billion) stepped Edwin Joel Thomas, 59, president (since 1940), chief executive (since 1956 and longtime protege of Paul Weeks Litchfield, 83, who became honorary chairman of the board after 58 years with Goodyear. Up to president from executive vice president moved Russel De-Young, 49, the third president in a row to be tapped from the production ranks. Litchfield, one of the rubber industry's most indestructible leaders, picked Eddie Thomas out of an Akron high school in 1916, made him his personal assistant and trained the young mail carrier's son so thoroughly that in a few years he was delegating responsibilities to him. As Litchfield moved up to the presidency in 1926, Eddie Thomas also rose, became general superintendent of Goodyear in California and worked for Goodyear in England before becoming president at 41, the youngest ever chosen by a major rubber company. Together they groomed Russ DeYoung, son of a Rutherford, N.J. carpenter, for the presidency. Both Thomas and DeYoung brush off talk of any basic changes in Goodyear's policies. As devoted admirers of Litchfield, they say that the policies "P.W." used to make Goodyear great are good enough for them.

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