William Signius Knudsen (born Signius Wilhelm Poul Knudsen; March 25, 1879 – April 27, 1948) was a Danish-American leader in the automotive industry and served as a general in the United States Army during World War II.
His work as a top manager at Ford Motor Company and later at General Motors made him a valuable leader. President Franklin Roosevelt asked him to join the U.S. Army as a lieutenant general to help increase the production of war supplies during World War II.
Knudsen was the only civilian in U.S. history to join the Army at such a high rank. Under his leadership, American factories greatly increased their production of military goods. For example, airplane production rose from fewer than 3,000 planes in 1939 to more than 300,000 planes by the end of the war.
Background
Knudsen was born in Copenhagen to Knud Peter Knudsen, a customs officer who lived from 1837 to 1908, and his second wife, Augusta Pouline Regine Zøllner, who lived from 1853 to 1934. He lived in his childhood home on Voldmestergade 26 in the Kartoffelrækkerne neighborhood with five brothers and sisters and six half-siblings. He attended Øster Farimagsgade School, and with the help of his half-brother, who was a teenager at the time, Knudsen received an apprenticeship at a bicycle shop. There, he reportedly built the first tandem bicycle in Denmark.
Knudsen moved to the United States and arrived in New York in February 1900. While working at a shipyard on the Harlem River, the foreman wrote his name as "William S. Knudsen," or "Bill" for short, because he did not want to write all the initials.
Career
Knudsen worked for the John R. Keim Company in Buffalo, New York, which made bicycle and car parts. In 1911, the Ford Motor Company bought the company because it had experience with steel stamping and tooling.
Knudsen worked for Ford from 1911 to 1921, a time when the modern assembly line and mass production were being developed. He first worked at Ford and later joined General Motors in 1921. He became an expert in mass production and a skilled manager. At Ford, he was the production manager for the Highland Park Plant in Michigan.
Knudsen was president of the Chevrolet Division of General Motors from 1924 to 1937. He later became president of General Motors from 1937 to 1940. During his time at Chevrolet, the division made the most revenue of any GM division.
In 1940, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, with advice from Bernard Baruch, asked Knudsen to help with war production. He was named Chairman of the Office of Production Management and a member of the National Defense Advisory Commission. He received a salary of $1 per year for these roles.
In January 1942, Knudsen was commissioned as a lieutenant general in the U.S. Army, the only civilian to join the army at that high rank. He was appointed Director of Production for the Office of the Under Secretary of War. In this role, he worked as a consultant and problem-solver for the War Department.
In both positions, Knudsen used his experience in manufacturing and his respect in the industry to help with the largest production effort in history. Because of the need for war materials, machine tool production tripled. In 1939, the U.S. military produced fewer than 3,000 planes. By the end of the war, the United States made over 300,000 planes, including the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, which benefited from Knudsen’s work. Production of cargo and Navy ships also increased greatly. Knudsen’s efforts helped companies that had never made military equipment to enter the market. America produced more than its enemies. As Knudsen said, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible."
Knudsen was appointed Director of the Air Technical Service Command when it was created in July 1944 at Patterson Field, Ohio. He served in the Army until he resigned on June 1, 1945.
Personal life
On November 1, 1911, Knudsen married Clara Elisabeth Euler in Buffalo. Together, they had three daughters named Clara, Martha, and Elna, and one son named Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen, who later became a well-known leader in the automobile industry.
Knudsen appeared on the cover of Time magazine's issue dated October 7, 1940. He was a member of Epiphany Lutheran Church (Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod) in Detroit. He helped support many projects for the synod in the Detroit area, including the construction of buildings for Epiphany Lutheran Church, Outer Drive Faith Lutheran Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Institute for the Deaf.
Honors and awards
Knudsen received the Vermilye Medal from the Franklin Institute in 1941.
In 1930, he was given the title of Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog by the Kingdom of Denmark. In 1946, he was given the rank of Grand Cross of the same order.
Knudsen was entered into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1968.
His daughter created a scholarship in honor of her parents.
Knudsen was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal twice, in 1944 and 1945, for his work in the US Army during World War II. He also received the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal for his service during the war.