Tex Thornton
{{short description|American businessman}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2007}}
{{Infobox person
| name =Tex Thornton
| image =
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| birth_name = Charles Bates Thornton
| birth_date = July 22, 1913
| birth_place = Goree, Texas, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1981|11|24|1913|7|22}}
| death_place = Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| burial_place = Arlington National Cemetery
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| nationality =
| other_names =
| known_for = CEO, Litton Industries
| education = Bachelor of Commercial Science, Columbus University, 1937
| employer =
| occupation = Business executive, philanthropist
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| spouse = Flora L. Thornton
| children = 2
| parents = {{unbulleted list|Ward Augustus Thornton|Sarah Alice Bates}}
| relatives =
}}
Charles Bates "Tex" Thornton (July 22, 1913 – November 24, 1981) was an American business executive who was the founder of Litton Industries.
Early life
Charles Bates Thornton was born on July 22, 1913, in Goree, Texas.Robert Sobel, The Rise and Fall of the Conglomerate Kings (Beard Books, 1999) p49
Career
He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, reaching the rank of Colonel and commanding a staff of officers in the office of statistical control. Following the war he offered the group of ten to several employers as an all-or-nothing proposition to provide the corporation with an analytical management team. Henry Ford II had recently taken over Ford Motor Company, which was in bad financial shape and had virtually non-existent financial control systems. He interviewed and hired the team, which became known as the "Whiz Kids". Seven of the ten went on to senior executive positions.
Thornton left Ford in 1948 to work for Hughes Aircraft. In 1953, he founded a company called Electro-Dynamics, then acquired the vacuum tube manufacturing business of Charles Litton, Sr. in 1953.{{Cite web |title= Alphonsus E. McCarthy, Jr., vs. Litton Industries, Inc. |work= Case 410 Mass. 15 |year= 1991 |url= http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/410/410mass15.html |access-date= October 1, 2011}} In 1954, Electro-Dynamics also bought the rights to use the well-known "Litton" name. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions orchestrated by Thornton, Litton became a huge conglomerate with a wide range of products.
In 1966, Thornton received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#business}}
He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan in October, 1981.
Philanthropy
The USC Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California is named in honor of Thornton's widow, Flora L. Thornton, due in part to a $25 million donation she made in 1999. Thornton was a trustee and donor to the university for many years. The Thornton Center for Engineering Management at Stanford University is also named in honor of Thornton.
The Charles B. Thornton Administrative Center on the Pepperdine University campus in Malibu, California, is a tribute to the Thornton family.
Death
He died in November 1981. He was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery.
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite news |last=Bird |first=David |date=26 November 1981 |title=Charles B. Thornton Dead at 68; Was a Litton Industries Founder |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/26/obituaries/charles-b-thornton-dead-at-68-was-a-litton-industries-founder.html |work=The New York Times |location=New York |page=D14}}
- {{cite book |last=Byrne |first=John A. |date=1993 |title=The Whiz Kids: The Founding Fathers of American Business and the Legacy They Left Us |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday }}
- {{cite book |last=Lay, Jr. |first=Beirne |date=1969 |title=Someone Has To Make It Happen: The Inside Story of Tex Thornton, the Man who Built Litton Industries |location=Englewood Cliffs, N.J. |publisher=Prentice-Hall |lccn=74-75683 |oclc=16719}}
- {{cite book |last=Sobel |first=Robert |date=1984 |title=The Rise and Fall of the Conglomerate Kings |location=New York |publisher=Stein and Day |isbn=0-8128-2961-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/risefallofconglo00sobe }}
- {{cite book |last=Rodengen |first=Jeffrey L. |date=2000 |title=The Legend of Litton Industries |location=Fort Lauderdale, Fla. |publisher=Write Stuff Enterprises |isbn=0-945903-51-0}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20061022030352/http://www.littoncorp.com/tex-thornton.asp Tex Thornton page on Littoncorp website]
- [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=44357 The Presidency Project]
- {{Find a Grave|6925721|Charles B. "Tex" Thornton}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Tex}}
Category:American manufacturing businesspeople
Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
Category:People from Knox County, Texas
Category:Texas Tech University alumni
Category:United States Army Air Forces officers
Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
Category:Recipients of the Medal of Freedom
Category:20th-century American businesspeople
Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Category:20th-century American philanthropists
Category:People from Holmby Hills, Los Angeles
Category:Military personnel from Texas
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