The Body Snatcher

Sidney J. Weinberg is a little man (5 ft. 4 in.) with a New York accent who is almost unknown to the public. But in Wall Street and in Washington, he is widely and favorably known as "the body snatcher." He earned his nickname as Chief Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson's right-hand man. He can get along with anyone, first-name big businessmen all over the U.S., and, more importantly, persuade them to take top posts in the defense program, just as he did in World War II.

Weinberg volunteered to help Wilson out for only 90 days, but he stayed on an extra 2 1/2 months at Wilson's request. During that time, he helped staff the mobilization program with such top men as Clay Bedford, boss of the Kaiser shipyards during the war; Harvard Professor William Yandell Elliott, a raw materials expert; and George Harrison, president of A.F.L.'s Brotherhood of Railway Clerks. Last week the body snatcher finally decided his job was done. He stopped in to see his boss and old friend, regretfully said goodbye, and headed back to his senior partnership in Wall Street's Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Porter's Apprentice. Weinberg started his climb to the top when he was ten years old. One of eleven children of a Brooklyn furrier, he went to work selling papers, soon became a "flower & feather horse," i.e., a delivery boy for women's hats. He went to Wall Street during the 1907 Panic, earned $5 a day for saving places in lines outside banks that depositors thought would fail. Then he got a job ("assistant to the porter") with Goldman, Sachs & Co.

After a World War I stint in the Navy (he enlisted as a 2nd class cook, ended up a special agent for the War Trade Board), Weinberg became a securities trader. In seven years he had enough money ($104,000) to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, in 1927 became a partner in Goldman, Sachs. As Weinberg's fame as a shrewd judge of stocks and men spread through the Street, so did his influence. He became director of more than a dozen corporations, including such giants as Sears, Roebuck, B. F. Goodrich, Cluett, Peabody, Continental Can, and General Foods. When World War II began, he was drafted as a dollar-a-year man, served with 0PM, and later with WPB, exercised his talent as body snatcher and also as a mediator between Donald Nelson and Charlie Wilson.

"Make It Simple." When Wilson went to Washington again last year, he took Weinberg along. Proud of the fact that he had little formal education, Weinberg liked to twit other mobilizers in topflight conference with: "Make it simple. Remember, I'm just a boy from P.S. 13." Weinberg's favorite remark to colleagues who couldn't keep up with his lightning-like mind: "You're not so bright today." Dozens of times a day, he would pop across the hall to Wilson's office with a brisk, "You busy, Charlie?" then clear up some mobilization problem.

With Weinberg gone, Wilson will have to rely on new and less experienced aides. But he can be sure that in a pinch, he can always call on his friend; Weinberg will be no farther away than the telephone.

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