CORPORATIONS: Another for General Dynamics

As president and chairman of General Dynamics Corp., 61-year-old John Jay Hopkins wears many hats, and a feather in almost every one. When he took over eight years ago, the company—then known as Electric Boat—was coasting along with an annual sales volume of $26.9 million, mostly in submarines. Since then, he has picked up aircraftmakers Canadair Ltd. in Canada and giant Consolidated Vultee, changed the company name, expanded into guided missiles, atomic research and atomic submarines (the U.S.S. Nautilus), and boosted volume 25-fold (to $649 million last year). Last week Jay Hopkins put another feather in another hat. He...