Charles Edmund Beard

Charles Edmund Beard (November 23, 1900 − July 18, 1982) was the former President of Braniff Airways, Inc. d/b/a Braniff International Airways, from 1954 until 1965. He was the third president since its inception in 1928, the first person outside the Braniff family to be CEO of the airline. Beard, along with Braniff Board Chairman Fred Jones (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Ford dealer magnate), managed the airline conservatively, but recorded record growth and traffic statistics between 1954 and early 1965.

Beard was born September 5, 1906, in Toledo, Ohio. His parents were Hiram Edmund Beard and Mamie Reiser Beard. He attended Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest, Illinois, where he completed grades nine through twelve. .

Beard entered the United States Navy at the age of 16 as a Carpenter's Mate, after convincing them that he was 18 and therefore allowed to enlist. He signed up for aerial gunnery school and graduated third in a class of 400. He was assigned to the Great Lakes Training Station as a Chief Gunner's Mate instructor.

Beard was honorably discharged from the military and continued his education at the university level. He returned to Lake Forest, Illinois, and attended nearby Lake Forest College to take basic courses. He then transferred to the University of Toledo to prepare for a career in the newspaper business. At Toledo he took courses including history, journalism, and English. He could not graduate from the university, as he left the school in 1922, to begin working to support his family. Charles Beard was offered a job as a reporter with the Chicago Daily News. He accepted and moved to Chicago at the age of 21.

Beard's career in journalism was short-lived, and he became interested in acting. In 1922, he moved to New York City, and began his stage career on what was called the Subway Circuit, a group of legitimate New York theaters not on Broadway that featured shows that had left Broadway and were to be "going on tour" or shows being tried out in the Subway Circuit first to see if they would get a positive review on Broadway.

In 1922, he met Rose Esther Wheaton of Kokomo, Indiana, and married her on February 23, 1923, in Toledo, Ohio, after moving from New York to Toledo where he accepted a position working in a warehouse. The pay was eighteen dollars per week and Beard remained with the warehouse job until 1928, eventually being promoted to sales manager. In 1929, Beard was offered a job in Chicago with the Chicago Air Traffic Association as a ticket manager. He did well there, and was asked to go to New York to open a consolidated ticket office for the Association in 1932.

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