was an American-born Japanese automobile engineer who emigrated to Japan. Gorham would make substantial contributions to the technology and capability of Japan's fledgling automobile industry, and worked with a number of companies that would eventually be merged into the

Nissan Motor Company , trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun bra ...

Yoshisuke Aikawa was a Japanese entrepreneur, businessman, and politician, noteworthy as the founder and first president of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' (1931–1945), one of Japan's most powerful business conglomerates around the time of the Second World War. Biog ...

, who would become a close friend and business partner to Gorham. In

David Halberstam David Halberstam (April 10, 1934 April 23, 2007) was an American writer, journalist, and historian, known for his work on the Vietnam War, politics, history, the Civil Rights Movement, business, media, American culture, Korean War, and late ...

's 1986 book '' The Reckoning,'' Halberstam states: "In terms of technology, Gorham was the founder of the Nissan Motor Company" and that "In 1983, sixty-five years after orham'sarrival... young Nissan engineers who had never met him spoke of him as a god and could describe in detail his years at the company and his many inventions."

Early life

Gorham was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, California in 1888 to William J. Gorham, an Asia area manager at tire manufacturer B.F. Goodrich. He accompanied his father on business trips to Japan in his youth, and after graduating from

Heald College Heald College (1863 –2015) was a private for-profit businesscareer college with its main campus in San Francisco, California. It offered courses in the fields of healthcare, business, legal, and technology. Beginning in 2012, it also offer ...

founded Gorham Engineering in San Francisco with his father in 1911. The company's products included

hot bulb engine Hot or the acronym HOT may refer to: Food and drink *Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality *Hot, a wine tasting descriptor Places *Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand ** Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot Distric ...

s, fire pumps, and

motorboat A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gea ...

Career in Japan

Gorham moved to Japan with his wife and children in 1918 during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was initially interested in the aviation industry, but after a year without success shifted his attentions to the automotive industry. Gonshiro Kubota, a successful businessman who founded and led his eponymously-named firm into becoming the largest manufacturer of agricultural machinery in Japan was eager to enter the automobile market. At the time, the only two mass-production Japanese automobile manufacturers were Isuzu, and Kaishinsha, founded by Matsujiro Hashimoto. Kubota hired Gorham as chief designer, with Gorham designing the vehicles and setting up the manufacturing plants for Gorham's three-wheeled automobile. Along with other Japanese investors, Kubota and Gorham would found Jitsuyo Jidōsha, who would manufacturer the three-wheeled automobile as the Gorham, and a four-wheeled automobile of Gorham's design as the Lila. Jitsuyo Jidōsha and Kaishinsha would later be merged into a predecessor of the

. He worked with a number of predecessors of the

, including Jitsuyo Jidōsha, Tobata Castings, and Nihon Sangyō, before departing in 1936 to found his own company, Kokusan Seiki, a precision manufacturing company, which would later be merged into Hitachi. In May 1941, Gorham and his wife renounced U.S. citizenship and naturalised as

Japanese citizens Japanese nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds nationality of Japan. The primary law governing nationality regulations is the 1950 Nationality Act. Children born to at least one Japanese parent are generally automaticall ...

. They apparently chose to do this so that they could remain in Japan, as wartime conditions meant increasing restrictions on foreigners. During World War II, Gorham continued his engineering work at Hitachi, focusing on multicut lathes and jet engines. After the end of the war, the United States government declined to charge him or his wife with treason since they had become Japanese citizens before the war began; in fact, he ended up working in a liaison position with the headquarters of Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers Douglas MacArthur regarding industrial problems. Throughout the 1940s, he also frequently acted as a consultant for

Canon Inc. is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optical, imaging, and industrial products, such as lenses, cameras, medical equipment, scanners, printers, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment.< ...

regarding their procurement and factory management practises, and developed a close relationship with company president Takeshi Mitarai. Gorham died in 1949 with Mitarai at his bedside.

Family

Gorham was married and had two sons, William Jr. and Don Cyril. William Jr. was born in 1915 in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

; after completing middle school in Japan, he attended high school in the United States and was attending

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

when Japan attacked the United States. After his deferment ended in 1943, he served with the Office of Naval Intelligence at Pearl Harbour as a specialist in interrogating Japanese POWs, and at the war's end he helped with surrender arrangements on the island of Saipan and analyzed the effects of US bombing raids on Tokyo. He later worked for the Otis Elevator Company, and died in 2003. Don was born in Oakland as well in 1918, but attended

Tokyo Imperial University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

after high school and graduated in 1941 with a degree in

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. On the urging of his father, he moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

before war with Japan began. Like his brother, he served in the

Office of Naval Intelligence The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the military intelligence agency of the United States Navy. Established in 1882 primarily to advance the Navy's modernization efforts, it is the oldest member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serve ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and continued there as a civilian employee after the war ended until beginning a second career as a translator in the 1970s. He died in 2011.

Early life

Career in Japan

Family

References

Further reading