“Engine Charlie” Wilson left his job as head of General Motors to serve as President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s U.S. secretary of defense.
But he got into political hot water when he was quoted as saying, “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country – and vice versa.” How dare he put GM “first”? his political hecklers asked.
But many insisted what he really had said was, “What’s good for America is good for General Motors – and vice versa.”
Either way, it’s true, since GM is a large company.
Now it is happily reported that GM, recently in some financial trouble, made a $1.33 billion profit in the second quarter of this year!
That’s good news either way – for “the country” and “for GM.”