All this was a revelation to me in more ways than one. Like most naval officers I had absorbed something of the point of view of the professional man who tends to look down his nose at the tradesman. Overimpressed by the sins of a few profiteers, we considered businessmen mere money grubbers inclined to wink at sharp practices, if not downright dishonesty. To the professional man, especially one in public service, whose compensation does not clearly reflect the results of his own efforts, the real reward lies in his knowledge of a job well done. To some, this provides all the incentive required, but to most it furnishes an excuse to sit on the beach and watch the ebb and flow of the tides. The military man is prone to forget that some hard worker must create the wealth necessary to support him in the honorable estate to which he has become accustomed and that if comparable salaries make his appear modest, Uncle Sam is lavish with the perquisites. When I sought to probe these matters with J. F. McCarthy, I found a kindred spirit. From the inception of the company, Fred Rentschler had brought Mac into every business discussion and decision; it had been his idea that finance should walk hand in hand with operations rather than bring up the rear with a truck load of old ledgers. He had, therefore, given Mac a high degree of autonomy in financial matters especially in the subsidiaries and Mac had used this so skillfully that everyone in the organization respected his business judgment and admired his integrity. As time passed, and my responsibilities in United widened, Mac and I expanded our viewpoints together. Shortly after completing the physical consolidation at Pittsburgh, I was made president of the Sikorsky company at Bridgeport. A year later, after Chance Vought had died suddenly, I became head of his company in East Hartford. In less than a year, I, the least experienced businessman in United had fallen heir to its three problem children. As the depression deepened, and vast social changes began to take place, I sensed the far-reaching responsibilities that attach to the head of a manufacturing organization. Aside from the normal headaches incident to managing a competitive enterprise during a period of world-wide depression, there were heavy responsibilities imposed by strange forces unleashed by politicians prying open Pandora’s Box. This was an era when American business was placed on trial for its very life.