C & O Switchover

Cyrus Eaton is one of the most contradictory figures in U.S. business: an archetypal capitalist worth more than $150 million, he regularly visits Communist capitals from Havana to Hanoi in an attempt to promote East-West detente. He has made the Cleveland-based Chesapeake& Ohio one of the few profitable railroads in the country; last year it doubled its earnings, to $60 million. Eaton, at 89, talks and acts as though he plans to stay active in business forever--and lately that ambition has become all too painfully believable for his impatient corporate colonels. Last week, while Eaton was in Washing on on business, the other C & O directors at a hastily called meeting voted him out as chairman, replacing him with Hays T. Watkins Jr., 47, who had been president.

Watkins had been openly pressing for the top spot for some time, but Eaton had refused to budge. The spare, white-haired tycoon's position was further weakened because of the carload of enemies he has made at the White House. He was a vigorous critic of the Viet Nam War and called President Nixon a "dictator"; for imposing wage-price controls. Eaton is a veteran of boardroom battles during a career of more than half a century, in which he has controlled such major corporations as Republic Steel and Goodyear. He may not be through yet. He still owns the biggest block of C & O stock, and no one would be surprised if he launched a counterattack to unseat Watkins at this week's regular board meeting.

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