The Company That Made Millions From The Weapons Of War
CONTRIBUTOR-forex trading
As our September 2017 centennial approaches, we're opening our archives to unearth our favorite stories. Below, stories from the July 1, 1958 issue.
Cover Story
Rocket Men
"EVEN IN THE toy stores you see nothing but space helmets, rockets, satellites, space ships and guided missiles," remarked George M. Bunker, CEO of Martin Co. Government officials had a similar fixation on missiles and rockets. Those often nuclear-tipped projectiles made up more than 50% of Martin's backlogged orders, up from virtually nothing five years earlier. Martin had struggled to find its way once military-aircraft spending dried up after World War II--it didn't have a strong consumer aviation business to fall back on--and Bunker had ambitiously pushed it into missiles.
The company's trajectory hadn't been flawless, however. One early Martin missile, a 10-ton, seven-story device, rose from its Cape Canaveral launching pad with America's first earth satellite--and exploded shortly after ignition. Still, Bunker looked ahead to lucrative government contracts, such as the $900 million Titan project (nearly $8 billion today), and vowed to stay the course: "The companies that went into consumer goods--as a lot of people said we should do--now are coming into defense work."
The Editor's Desk
Cold War Commentary
"The American people have spent and will continue to spend countless billions to insure our nation and the free world against military enslavement by Soviet-led Communists."--Malcolm S. Forbes
Fast-Forward
Finance's Iron Ceiling
1956: Wall Street is almost entirely a boys' club, and it's a breakthrough when Merchants Exchange in St. Louis begins to consider allowing women on its trading floor.
2016: Although finance has become far more diverse overall, women still occupy less than a third of the industry's top jobs despite making up about half of its lower ranks.
