biography
| name: |
Chapin, Roy Dikeman
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1880–1936)
|
| biography:
| US statesman and automobile executive, born in Lansing, Michigan, USA. He left the University of Michigan (1901) to join Olds Motor Works, and later that year attracted wide publicity by making the first automobile trip from Detroit to New York. In 1906, in partnership with designer Howard Coffin, he became general manager of E R Thomas Detroit Co, later Chalmers-Detroit Motor Co. He soon sold the firm and organized Hudson Motor Car Co. As president (1910–23, 1933–6) and chairman (1923–33), he introduced the successful popular-priced ‘Essex’ (1919) and his new, cheaper saloon cars (introduced 1922) hastened the demise of the open touring car. In his second term as president he restored the ailing company's financial fortunes. As chairman of the highway transport committee of the Council of National Defense during World War 1, he promoted the use of cars to ease railroad congestion. Briefly US secretary of commerce (1932–3), he spearheaded Herbert Hoover's re-employment strategy for stimulating recovery from the depression. |
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