Swope, Gerard

Swope, Gerard

(born Dec. 1, 1872, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.—died Nov. 20, 1957, New York, N.Y.) U.S. business leader. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he joined Western Electric in 1895 and became a director in 1913. He was made president of General Electric Co.'s international subsidiary in 1919 and greatly increased the company's foreign business. As president of General Electric (1922–39, 1942–44), he expanded its line of consumer products and pioneered profit sharing and other employee benefit programs. He also served on the Department of Commerce's Business Advisory Council, and his ideas and support underlay such important New Deal programs as the National Recovery Administration and Social Security.

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Swope, Gerard (1872–1957) engineer, businessman, public official; born in St. Louis, Mo. He joined Western Electric Company in 1895 and by 1913 had become vice-president in charge of domestic sales and international operations, reorganizing Western Electric's foreign interests. A parallel concern of Swope's was social justice. From 1897 to 1899 he lived and worked at Hull House in Chicago, marrying a social worker who also worked there. In 1919 he joined General Electric as the first president of its subsidiary International General Electric, where he promoted international corporate support for European reconstruction following World War I. As president of General Electric in 1922, with Owen D. Young chairing the board, he recognized a corporation's responsibility to its employees, customers, and the industry. His "new capitalism" vision, called the Swope Plan (1931), became the basis for the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 and he helped implement the New Deal. He headed community chest campaigns, founded the National Health and Welfare Retirement Association, and retiring in 1939, chaired the New York City Housing Authority. His causes included cooperative housing, health insurance, and Zionism. In 1951 he chaired the Institute of Pacific Relations.