Robert E. Wood

Robert E. Wood
Robert Elkington Wood (June 13, 1879 – November 6, 1969) was an American military officer and business executive. After retiring from the U.S. Army as a brigadier general, Wood had a successful career as a corporate executive, most notably with Sears, Roebuck and Company. A Republican, Wood was a leader in the Old Right American Conservatism movement from the 1920s through the 1960s as well as a key financial backer of the America First Committee prior to the United States' entry into World War II.
Early life
Wood was born to parents Robert Whitney and Lillie (Collins) Wood in Kansas City, Missouri. Following graduation from Kansas City Central High School in 1895 he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1900 as a second lieutenant of cavalry.
Military career
As an officer in the United States Army, he was stationed in the Philippines participating in field service during the Philippine insurrection. From 1902 to 1903 he was assigned to Fort Assinniboine (Hill County, Montana) and then for three years as an instructor at West Point. In 1905 he became the Assistant Chief Quartermaster and later the Chief Quartermaster and Director of the Panama Railroad Company. He served in the Panama Canal Zone for ten years, during the construction of the canal.
Wood retired in July 1915, by special act of Congress as a major. Following this retirement he worked as assistant to the vice president of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours Company and headed operations in the United States, Venezuela, and Trinidad for the General Asphalt Company. He briefly served as Purchasing Agent of the Emergency Fleet Corporation in early 1917.
In 1917, on the eve of America's entry into the First World War, Wood returned to the Army as an Infantry Lieutenant Colonel. He served in Europe with the 42nd (Rainbow) Division and was promoted to colonel. Later in the war Wood would serve as transportation director for the entire American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France. Towards the end of the war, he was promoted to brigadier general and made acting Quartermaster General of the Army. In June 1916, prior to America's entry into the war, Wood's brother, Captain Stanley Wood, was killed in action while serving as a volunteer in the Canadian Army.
Post military career
After the leaving the army again in 1919, Wood became an executive at Montgomery Ward, eventually becoming a vice-president of the company. In 1924, he left Montgomery Ward to take a position of vice-president of Sears Roebuck. He became one of the most important leaders in that company's history, serving as president from 1928 until 1939 and as chairman from 1939 until 1954. Under his leadership, Sears shifted the focus of its operations from mail-order sales to retail sales at large urban department stores. Wood also created Allstate Insurance as a subsidiary of Sears.
In 1950, he was admitted as an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati.
Wood, once again, served as an honorary chairman for Sears from 1968 until shortly before his death in 1969.
Political life
Wood was also politically active and was noted as a conservative Republican. In 1940, he helped found the America First Committee to oppose U.S. involvement in the Second World War; he served as the committee's first president on an interim basis. In 1954, Wood funded the creation of the Manion Forum, a conservative radio program hosted by Clarence Manion.
Personal life
Robert Wood married Mary Butler Hardwick of Augusta, Georgia on April 30, 1908. They were the parents of five children: four daughters and a son.
A great grandson, Keene Addington, is a Chicago restaurateur who currently runs the Tortoise Supper Club.
Decorations and honors
Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army), United States
Knight of the Legion of Honor, France
Honorary CMG (UK)
Bronze busts honoring Wood and seven other industry magnates stand between the Chicago River and the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Formerly, General Wood had a Boys and Girls Club in Chicago named after him.
Wood was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1979.
References
Further reading
Chang, Myong-Hun, and Joseph E. Harrington Jr. "Organizational structure and firm innovation in a retail chain." Computational & Mathematical Organization Theory 3.4 (1998): 267-288. compares Wood with Montgomery Ward's Sewell Avery online
Doenecke, Justus D. "General Robert E. Wood: The Evolution of a Conservative." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984) 71.3 (1978): 162-175. in JSTOR
Emmet, Boris, and John E. Jeuck. Catalogues and Counters: A History of Sears, Roebuck and Company (U of Chicago Press, 1950)
Worthy, James C. Shaping an American institution: Robert E. Wood and Sears, Roebuck (1986).
External links
Robert E. Wood bio at SearsArchives.com
Robert E. Wood bio at Spartacus International
"Microsoft and Google Grapple for Supremacy" by Steve Lohr, New York Times; discussion of Wood's role at Sears
1879 births
1969 deaths
Military personnel from Missouri
20th-century American businesspeople
American anti–World War II activists
Burials at Lake Forest Cemetery
Businesspeople from Kansas City, Missouri
Illinois Republicans
Non-interventionism
Old Right (United States)
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)
Sears Holdings people
United States Army generals of World War I
United States Military Academy alumni