Lee Iacocca Speech

Good morning. Today I'm going to be talking about Lee Iacocca, a man who has had a lot of influence on the automotive industry in America. The son of Italian immigrants, he was born Lido Iacocca on October 15, 1924. Being born just before the Great Depression, his family was remarkably close though the times were tough. As a kid growing up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which was mostly Dutch, he was picked on for being different. In 1939 he came down with rheumatic fever, which would later keep him from serving in WWII. He ended up spending six months in bed, but eventually he made a full recovery. Being denied to serve in the army, Lee decided to get a good college education. Having developed an interest in engineering, he applied to Purdue for a scholarship, but when he was turned down, he opted for Lehigh, which was only a short drive from his home and family. He completed his studies at Lehigh in 8 straight semesters, taking no summer vacations. Even before he had graduated, he had wanted to work for Ford Motor Company. Wanting to work at Ford as much as he did, he made an appointment to see the company recruiter, Leander McCormick-Goodheart. When the recruiter drove up in a shnazzy Lincoln Mark I, just one glimpse of the car and one whiff of the leather interior made him want to work at Ford for the rest of his life.

Then he got a fellowship grant to attend Princeton and was forced to choose between furthering his education there or going directly to Ford. He approached the recruiter and told him of his problem. He told Lee to go to Princeton, saying, "We'll hold a spot for you until you graduate."

But after finishing a year at Princeton, Lee discovered that McCormick-Goodheart had been drafted into the war. He learned that no one at Ford had even heard of him. He realized he never got McCormick-Goodheart's promise in writing. So he gave McCormick-Goodheart's boss, Bob Dunham, a call, and explained the situation. Fortunately, Dunham was able to get Lee into the training group.

In August, 1946, he began as a student engineer at Ford, in a program called the 'loop training course.' this course had the students work for a week at every department of the company.

After spending nine of the 18 months in this program, Lee decided that engineering wasn't the job for him. So he got himself out and got a small office job at a Ford sales office in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Throughout the 1950s Lee climbed up the ranks in Ford. In 1960 he was made general manager of the Ford Division, and he first met Henry Ford II. At his new position, he did a lot to improve the management at Ford.

Knowing the market for new cars had gotten younger, Lee started to envision the Mustang. He assembled the best possible group to design the car, and the Mustang became a great success. Because of this success, he was moved to the ailing Lincoln Mercury division to see if he could work his magic there as well. He came up with several car ideas, which turned the division around, making it profitable for Ford Motors. Finally, on October 10, 1970, Lee Iacocca became president of Ford.

With Lee working miracles at his new post, Henry Ford started to fear that he was trying to take over the company. Based on this, Henry fired Iacocca on October 15, 1978.

Soon after he was fired, he took up an offer to become CEO at Chrysler Motors. He knew Chrysler was in bad shape, so he applied for a federal loan. After a grueling debate, Congress approved the loan of 1.2 billion dollars. After a while, Chrysler turned a profit and payed back the loan 7 years before it was due.

Lee Iacocca continued as CEO of Chrysler for several years, and gained fame from his appearances in commercials for the company.

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