Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-07-23
Knudsen Does
Job Simply,
Effectively
Defense Chief Unlike
Typical Official
BY PAUL MALLON

big front man OF defense,
Mr.. knudsen, is doing well al his
job. but he has one fault. He is
not an executive and does not
like desk work, He works in
mysterious ways.
Aa-ane- really knows what he
is doing half the time because he
does not have the Washington
habit of calling great meetings
and having interminable discus
SionS about everything. An ex-
ample:
The OPM tank expert was
walking down the hall one day,
thinking about nothing in par
tlcular. LIE moi b nudSen.
knudsen said; o
"How are the tanks coming? ."
the tank man said; Not 80
we'll" KnudSen said: "Cut all
the aluminium Out Of the tanks"
The tank man was nonplused
but Cou1dn- 7 thinK OF anything
10 say except: Eyes. sir" Knud-
sen went on and that was all
the tank man ever heard. He
rushed back 10 his office and
called a meeting and gave the
necessary orders.
As you know. the ordinary
Washington official would have
had to call innumerable meet
lngs and have endless discus
sions and then would issue
written orders. etc. etc. APP
parently knudsen had thought
the matter through alone. made
his decision. and when he saw
the tank expert. merely Told
him. knudSen runs the OPM
Just as he used 10 run his shop
when he was shop foreman.
MR.. KNUDSEN has n great
'A appeal because of his Dan
ish accent and his simplicity of
language. When he reads a
speech il is not so good, but
when he talks eXtemporaneously
he is very effective. In a speech
in Boston recently he was talk
ing about machine tools. He said
that New England was the
cradle Of the machine tool in
duStry because the man who
invented the steel gauge was
New Highlander. knudsen de-
scribed the gauge by saying. "A
gauge is something you put on
. a piece of stuff 10 see if il is
Just like another piece of stuff. .
A columnist couldn't have put IT
more accurately.
The example of the tank may
he typical of how Knudsen
works, but no one knows be-
cause knudsen does everything
in the most simple and direct
way and only the people di-
rectly concerned find out about
II. He is apt to pick up phone,
call the president of big COM
pany long distance. and tell him
10 farm out some Of his defense
contracts 10 Subcontractors. II
never occurs 10 him that these
things are OF major Importance.
LIE HAS wonderful stamina.
IL may get up at , a m. get
on plane, 60 10 Texas, make
speech, get on another plane,
come back and 60 10 work. He
has many night conferences and
4 meetings with his associates
/ BiggerS. Patterson. ForreStal,
Henderson. et AL He also gets
around TO parties He stayed up
all night until s A. m. dancing
with Deanna Durbin. among
other things. tho night Of the
! Presidents birthday. then went
TO work al Q a. m.
Lacking any real authority.
he nevertheless gets things done
by doing them the simple. direct
way There is some resent
ment among his friends because
they think one Of his associates
is moving in on him and taking
advantage Of his simple methods.
That subject is probably contro-
= versial No doubt it interests
him less than any one else in
his organization
KnudSen will never resign. He
Is not tho reSignlnC kind. No
matter what the difficulties. or
annoyances, he considers that
he has signed with tho President
for the duration" and any re-
lease from that signature will
not be at his request.
IN TIE subject or warding
~ or post defense crash Is
whoever sells cooling systems 10
the churches will certainly avoid
the depression that is supposed
10 come after this defense effort.
Many more steps can he taken
by the government 10 thaw The
frozen peSsimiSm Of business.
TWO more suggested by Meyer
JacobStein Of the BrOokings In
Stitute are
1.-The army should immedi-
L ately start canIaSsing the
qualifications OF every draftee as
10 particular commercial SkillS.
working experience. etc. After
his term of service the war de-
partment should use this infor-
nation 10 set up an employment
agency 10 which business can GO
for skilled helm