Chapin, Roy Dikeman (1880-1936)

US motor executive and cabinet officer. As president and chairman of Hudson Motor Car Company 1910-36, his new, cheaper closed cars (introduced in 1922) hastened the demise of the open touring car. Briefly US secretary of commerce 1932-33, he spearheaded Herbert Hoover's reemployment strategy for stimulating recovery from the depression.

He was born in Lansing, Michigan. He left the University of Michigan in 1901 to join Olds Motor Works. He attracted wide publicity by making the first motor car trip from Detroit to New York. In 1906, in partnership with designer Howard Coffin, he became general manager of E R Thomas Detroit Company, later Chalmers-Detroit Motor Company. He soon sold the firm. During World War I, he promoted the use of cars to ease rail congestion.