Harold Sines Vance

Harold Sines Vance (1890–1959) was an American automobile company executive and government official, notable for being chairman and president of the Studebaker Corporation and for his four year term on the Atomic Energy Commission, where he encouraged the industrial use of nuclear energy.

Biography

Vance was born in the city of Port Huron, Michigan in 1890. He achieved moderate grades in school and, having failed the entrance examination for West Point, he went to work for his father's law partner his death, and then followed by working for Everitt-Metzger-Flanders Company, which was succeeded by the Studebaker corporation. By the time of the Great Depression, Vance was production vice president in the company, working with Paul Hoffman who would later take charge of the Ford Motor Company. He was living in South Bend, Indiana, having moved there in 1911, and where the Studebaker National Museum would later be located.

After a series of mistakes by the owner of Studebaker, and his later death, Vance inherited the company and began to rebuild it from its $21 million debt. By 1935, Vance (together with Hoffman) built a $6,500,000 new stock and bond issue and took Studebaker out of receivership, an event which would be the only time in history that a U.S. automaker has done so. Securing contracts during the Second World War brought in $1.2 billion, and led to the production of 198,000 trucks, 64,000 engines for Flying Fortresses, and 16,000 amphibious vehicles (the Studebaker US6 truck and the unique M29 Weasel cargo and personnel carrier, in particular). With Hoffman’s departure, Vance became chairman and director of Studebaker. On February 2, 1953 Vance was featured on the front cover of Time Magazine.

In 1952, Vance was called to Washington, D.C. to chair a committee on mobilization relating to the Korean War. To Defence Secretary Robert Lovett, Vance reportedly commented "Bob, I understand that the Army has 60,000 trucks in Texas just sitting around." however this discovery led to the cancellation of a $100 million order for such trucks which had been placed with Studebaker. The reports attracted the attention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who requested that Vance direct the mobilization process, however Vance declined.

In 1954, Studebaker was merged with Packard Motors Company and Vance left the corporation. A year later, in on October 31, 1955, Vance joined the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and worked there until August 31, 1959.

Notes

External links

• The Studebaker Museum
• The Studebaker Drivers Club
• Studebaker History and Photos