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N0KFQ > TODAY 13.07.10 17:24l 57 Lines 2698 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Jul 13
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From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@WW
Jul 13, 1978:
Henry Ford II fires Lee Iacocca
On this day in 1978, Ford Motor Company chairman Henry Ford II
fires Lee Iacocca as Ford's president, ending years of tension
between the two men.
Born to an immigrant family in Pennsylvania in 1924, Iacocca was
hired by Ford as an engineer in 1946 but soon switched to sales,
at which he clearly excelled. By 1960, Iaccoca had become a vice
president and general manager of the Ford division, the
company's largest marketing arm. He successfully championed the
design and development of the sporty, affordable Ford Mustang,
an achievement that landed him on the covers of Time and
Newsweek magazines in the same week in 1964.
In December 1970, Henry Ford II named Iacocca president of Ford,
but his brash, unorthodox style soon brought him into conflict
with his boss. According to Douglas Brinkley's history of Ford
"Wheels for the World," Henry authorized $1.5 million in company
funds for an investigation of Iacocca's business and private
life in 1975. Suffering from a heart condition and aware that
the time for his retirement was approaching, Ford made it clear
that he eventually wanted to turn the company over to his son
Edsel, then just 28. In early 1978, Iacocca was told he would
report to another Ford executive, Philip Caldwell, who was named
deputy chief executive officer. In his increasingly public
struggle with Ford, Iacocca made an attempt to find support
among the company's board of directors, giving Ford the excuse
he needed to fire him. As Iacocca later wrote in his bestselling
autobiography, Ford called Iacocca into his office shortly
before 3 pm on July 13, 1978 and let him go, telling him
"Sometimes you just don't like somebody."
News of the firing shocked the industry, but it turned into a
boon for Iacocca. The following year, he was hired as president
of the Chrysler Corporation, which at the time was facing
bankruptcy. Iacocca went to the federal government for aid,
banking on his belief that the government would not let Chrysler
fail for fear of weakening an already slumping economy. The
gamble paid off, with Congress agreeing to bail out Chrysler to
the tune of $1.5 billion. Iacocca streamlined the company's
operations, focused on producing more fuel-efficient cars and
pursued an aggressive marketing strategy based on his own
powerful personality. After showing a small profit in 1981,
Chrysler posted record profits of more than $2.4 billion in
1984. By then a national celebrity, Iacocca retired as chief
executive of Chrysler in 1992.
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