Changes of the Week

P: Clem D. Johnston, 58, self-styled "typical small businessman," was elected president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to succeed Richard L. Bowditch. Owner of six wholesale groceries, a public warehouse and a 450-acre cattle farm near Roanoke, Va., Johnston has been an active member of the Chamber for 22 years and a business consultant to the RFC, the Navy, the OPA and the OEM. Johnston feels that there may be a slight increase in the number of small business failures, but he hopes that "we won't turn into a nation of economic hypochondriacs and go running to the Government for emergency injections all the time."

P: Meyer Kestnbaum, 57, scholarly president of Hart Schaffner & Marx, was named by President Eisenhower to succeed Clarence E. Manion as chairman of the Committee on Intergovernmental Relations. A quiet, shy man, with an astonishing literary appetite,, "Kesty" spends most of his spare time reading, a practice he feels too many businessmen avoid. An early member of Citizens for Eisenhower, he is chairman of the Committee for Economic Development and a director of the Chicago Community Fund. Kesty figures that he can do the job without quitting Hart Schaffner & Marx or moving to Washington.

P: John Kenneth Cannon, 62, retired Air Force general, took over as chairman of the board of Fletcher Aviation Corp., one of the largest makers of detachable wing tanks for the Air Force. One of the world's great air tacticians, "Uncle Joe" Cannon put in more time in uniform than any other Air officer (37 years), commanded the Twelfth Air Force during World War II and the U.S. Air Force in Germany during most of the Berlin airlift. He replaces Wendell S. Fletcher, who will continue to serve as corporation president.

P: John D. Leland, 50, was named president of the Long-Bell Lumber Co., third biggest U.S. producer of lumber. A suave, silver-haired financial expert, Leland graduated from Harvard Business School in 1927, was a member of the Boston Stock Exchange until 1941, when he became assistant treasurer of the Brookline Trust Co. He joined Long-Bell in 1946 as assistant to the vice president. He replaces retiring President Julian M. White, who will remain active on the board.

P: William S. Richardson, 60, took over the presidency of the B. F. Goodrich Co., of Akron, the country's fourth largest rubber company. A brisk, incisive executive who never seems to slow down, Richardson emigrated from England to the U.S. when he was twelve. He joined the Goodrich organization in 1926, moved up to become general sales manager and then president of the B. F. Goodrich Chemical Co. in Cleveland. As president, he succeeds John L. Collyer, a pioneer in synthetic rubber and spokesman for the industry on the War Production Board. Collyer will remain as chairman of the board and chief executive officer.

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