Charles Sparks Thomas (September 28, 1897 – October 17, 1983) was an American politician who served as

Secretary of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirm ...

from 1954 to 1957. Thomas was born in

Independence, Missouri Independence is a city in and one of two county seats of Jackson County, Missouri, United States. It is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020 Unite ...

, and he attended the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

and

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he served as a naval aviator. He joined the Eisenhower Administration in 1953 as Undersecretary of the Navy; later that year, he designated an Assistant Secretary of Defense. During the 1930s, Thomas worked for Foreman and Clark. Thomas became president of

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1930 until it was acquired by American Airlines in 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles ...

on 2 July 1958, and served until 28 July 1960. He subsequently was the president of the Irvine Company, which developed sprawling

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

suburbs, through 1966. Thomas was director of several large corporations, including Lockheed.

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National Defense University 1897 births 1983 deaths United States secretaries of the navy Trans World Airlines people United States Under Secretaries of the Navy {{Missouri-politician-stub