Whiz Kids (Ford) - Members

Members

They were led by their commanding officer, Charles B. "Tex" Thornton. The others were:

• Wilbur Andreson — left after two years to return to California and became an executive with Bekins Van Lines
• Charles Bosworth, retired as director of purchasing.
• J. Edward Lundy, retired as chief financial officer — he remained at Ford through the 1970s and was known as one of the most powerful people in the company and as a confidant of Henry Ford II.
• Robert S. McNamara, who eventually became the president of Ford. He then became the Secretary of Defense and the President of the World Bank.
• Arjay Miller, rose through finance and became Ford president in the mid 1960s. After being dismissed in favor of Bunkie Knudsen, an executive recruited from General Motors, he became the dean of the Stanford Business School.
• Ben Mills, became general manager of Lincoln-Mercury Division.
• George Moore, left after two years to become an automobile dealer.
• Francis "Jack" Reith, became head of Ford of France and was a rising star. Subsequently he was the executive responsible for the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser and heavily involved in the Edsel, both sales failures. Reith left the company to run the Crosley Division of Avco, and committed suicide a few years later.
• James Wright, eventually head of Ford division and the car and truck group. Retired in the early 1960s after a power struggle with executive John Dykstra.