L. A. Wilson

Leroy August Wilson (February 21, 1901 – June 28, 1951) was an American telecommunications executive who served as president of the American Telephone & Telegraph from 1948 until his death in 1951.

Early life and education

Wilson was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on February 21 1901.^[1][2] The only child of modest means, he financed his studies at Rose Polytechnic Institute (now Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) by delivering newspapers, shovelling ore, laying railroad track, and playing semi-professional baseball.^[1][2][3] He earned a civil engineering degree in 1922 and was one of the first two graduates of the institute's new Army ROTC program to receive a commission in the Engineer Reserve Corps.^[4]

Career

Wilson joined Indiana Bell as a clerk immediately after graduation, working night shifts that acquainted him with every department of the company.^[5] By 1929, he had moved to AT&T headquarters in New York, becoming general commercial engineer in 1942 and a vice president two years later.^[5]

Elected president of AT&T on February 17 1948, Wilson inherited a company whose wartime debt load threatened its bond rating.^[5] He launched rate-case campaigns and cost-control programs that began restoring the Bell System's finances and accelerated long-distance network modernisation. He is credited with securing more than $1 billion in new capital at a time when the market was tight, enabling AT&T's largest expansion to date.^[5]

In May 1949, President Harry S. Truman asked Wilson to have the Bell System assume management of Sandia Laboratory to support the nation's atomic programme. Wilson agreed on a "no-profit, no-fee" basis, formally accepting the contract on 1 July 1949. Truman's letter praising AT&T's "exceptional service in the national interest" later inspired Sandia’s enduring motto.^[6]