Litton Industries, Inc.
 Charles B. "Tex" Thornton |
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Barney's
retirement did not last long. In January 1963 he became Corporate Director
of Special Missions and Projects for Litton Industries, Inc., based
in Beverly Hills. He worked for Litton for 27 years. |
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Charles
B. "Tex" Thornton, one of the Ford Motor Company's "wiz
kids", created a company called Electro-Dynamics in 1953. Almost
immediately Thornton aquired Litton Industries, a vacuum tube manufacturer,
as the first company on which he would build an empire. Through dozens
of mergers and acquisitions, Litton became one of the country's first
conglomerates. |
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In
1961 Litton had 48 plants in nine countries and annual sales of $245
million. By 1966 Litton manufactured more than 5,000 products, including
oil drill rigs, credit cards, trading stamps, submarines, space suits,
microwave ovens, office furniture, cash registers and the world's first
automated ships. Over the years Litton reduced its many holdings and
now concentrates on inertial guidance systems, navigational systems
and instruments, warfare countermeasure equipment and combat vessals. |