Owen D. Young

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Owen D. Young (1924)

Owen D. Young (born October 27, 1874 in Stark , Herkimer County , New York , † July 11, 1962 ) was an American industrialist , businessman , lawyer and diplomat of the Second Hague Conference (SRC, Second Reparations Conference) as a member of the International German Compensation Committee.

He became known as the founder of Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and for his contribution to the SRC. He founded the RCA in 1919 as a subsidiary of General Electric and was its president until 1929.

biography

Owen Young completed the three-year law course at St. Lawrence University in 1894 in just two years. At Boston University he graduated cum laude in 1896 . After completing his studies, he was a partner in a Boston law firm, where he was involved in lawsuits against various larger companies.

In 1913, despite a successful lawsuit against his company, Charles A. Coffin, the first General Electric President, made him his principal lawyer. In 1919, at the request of the government, he formed the RCA to combat foreign control over America's radio industry. He served as its chairman until 1929, building America's leadership role in the burgeoning radio industry.

In 1922 he became general manager of General Electric. In the same year he was appointed chairman, which he remained until 1939. In the mid-1920s, he helped found the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). He also served on the Rockefeller Foundation's Supervisory Committee from 1928 to 1939 during the institution's major reorganization.

Under his advice and collaboration with General Manager Gerard Swope , General Electrics shifted to the household electronic appliance sector and achieved the status of market leader in this area, also involved in the electrification of farms and factories in the USA.

Young's participation in President Woodrow Wilson's Second Industry Conference after World War I marked his entry into advising five presidents of the United States. In 1924, he was co-author of the Dawes Plan , which provided for a reduction in annual German reparations payments . At the end of the 1920s, Germany was unable to meet its payments. In 1929 a new international body met, in which Owen D. Young acted as chairman, in order to discuss a new program for the final debt relief of Germany. The German reparations payments as a whole were reduced and divided into 59 annual payments.

According to the reasoning of the Young Plan Owen D. Young was from Time Magazine to the Person of the Year named 1929th However, the Young Plan failed with the onset of the Great Depression . Young also worked on plans for a state university system. In 1932 he was nominated as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, which went to Franklin D. Roosevelt .

In 1929 he was elected to the American Philosophical Society and in 1939 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Education services

In 1930 Young left the Van Hornesville Central School in his hometown , which was to unite all of the rural schools in his area. In 1963 the school was renamed the Owen D. Young Central School in his memory. , The Young well in education worked was also 1912-1934 administrator of the St. Lawrence University.

In 1939 he retired as a dairy farmer on his family's farm . He received honorary degrees from over 20 universities . Young was also a member of the New York School Board of Directors until 1946, which was the governing body of New York's educational system. He was then appointed by New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey as head of a state committee that laid the foundations for the State University of New York . Despite the many different opinions and views on this commission, Young managed to achieve surprising unanimity. This resulted in a report, the recommendations of which were incorporated into the legislation.

family

In 1898 Owen D. Young married Josephine Sheldon Edmonds (* April 21, 1870 - June 25, 1935), with whom he had five children:

  • Charles Jacob Young (December 17, 1899 - 1987)
  • John Young (born August 13, 1902, † 1926)
  • Josephine Young (February 16, 1907; † 1990)
  • Philip Young (born May 9, 1910, † 1987)
    • Chairman in the public service from 1953 to 1957
  • Richard Young (June 23, 1919 - November 18, 2011)

After the death of his first wife, he married the widow and mother of three children Louse Powis Clark (* 1887) in 1937 .

literature

  • Ida M. Tarbell: Owen D. Young: A new type of industrial leader . Macmillan Company, 1932, ISBN 0-518-19069-2 .
  • Josephine Young Case: Owen D. Young and American enterprise: A biography . DR Godine, 1982, ISBN 0-87923-360-5 .
  • Lola L. Szladits: Owen D. Young . Readex Books, 1974, ISBN 0-87104-253-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Member History: Owen D. Young. American Philosophical Society, accessed January 2, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Young, Owen D.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American businessman and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Stark , New York
DATE OF DEATH July 11, 1962