Charles Erwin Wilson (1890-1961), engineer, businessman, and secretary of defense during the Eisenhower administration, is popularly remembered for his remark comparing the welfare of the United States with that of General Motors Corporation.

Charles E. Wilson was born in Minerva, Ohio, on July 18, 1890. At the age of four Wilson moved with his family to Mineral City, Ohio. There he struck up a boyhood friendship with two railroad engineers who frequently took Wilson on the local railroad and showed him how the new Westinghouse air-braking system worked. Fascinated with mechanics, he enrolled at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and completed the four-year program in three years, graduating near the top of his class.

After graduation, Wilson employed his engineering skills first at Westinghouse Electric and then at Remy Electric, a subsidiary of General Motors. At Remy he rose from chief engineer to president and oversaw the company's merger in...