Bob Haldeman Interview (13)

Charles D. Michaelson 

Haldeman: It's now 1951, and Mr. Milliken hires a Mr. Charles D. 
Michaelson, who had experience in Bolivia with the Patino group 
and in Cuba with a nickel company. He sent Mr. Michaelson down 
to Chile to train to take over Mr. Turton's job. Mr. Turton 
also was about the age of Mr. Stannard, and Turton had never 
really prepared any number two man young enough. He grew up 
with his cronies and stuck with them. He was the old, old 
school: "That's the way we do it," and "the rock in the box" 
thing. Forming management groups ten years apart for succession 
was something he didn't bother with; that wasn't management at 
that time. 

Mr. Michaelson came down here, and I think his job was 
general superintendent of operations, or about at that level. 
He saw that there was nobody below him, so he started to look 
around the company. After he got oriented, he started inviting 
me to have a martini in the afternoon and asked me about the 
mine. The next thing you know, I was called in by the manager. 
I was told after wards that Mr. Turton had also put an eye on me. 
He said he liked me because 1 also came from the mine; he was a 
mine man, and that had a lot to do with it, then. 

I was taken out of the mine as number two to Mr. Casarotto 
and put in as assistant to the general manager, in training. 
Well, that was a title that was created, and I was working under 
Michaelson 's wing. In 1952, after four or five months of 
training, they named me as general superintendent of operations 
and Mr. Michaelson as assistant general manager. I had to go 
around and learn what the smelter was like, and the shops and 
the railroad and so on. 

Index to Haldeman Interview