William Balderston became president of the Philco Corporation in June 1948. Philco manufactured radio receivers, and under Balderston the company moved into the manufacture of televisions and refrigerators.

During the 1940s Hilland G. Batcheller served on the War Production Board and the Committee of Nineteen that assisted U.S. secretary of commerce Averell Harriman in determining European needs under the Marshall Plan. Batcheller was the president of the Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation, one of the foremost manufacturers of stainless steel.

Dave Beck served as the president of the Western Conference of Teamsters, an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor's International Brotherhood of Teamsters. In that capacity he organized national union drives during the late 1940s.

Chester A. Bowles advised Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S Truman. During World War II he served as director of the Office of Price Administration, and...