General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization preferred court. Normally for such cases, the company would have filed in the courts located in the state(s) where the company is incorporated, or where it conducts operations, which for Detroit-headquartered General Motors would have been the courts in Michigan or Delaware, where it is incorporated. General Motors' attorneys, however, preferred to file in the federal courts in New York, because those courts have a reputation for expertise in bankruptcy. In a press conference later that day, the GM Chief Executive Officer, Fritz Henderson, stressed that he intended for the bankruptcy process to move quickly. In addition to Mr Henderson's
History of General Motors not conceive of such a situation "because for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa". Later this statement was often misquoted, suggesting that Wilson had said simply, "What's good for General Motors is good for the country." At the time, GM was one of the largest employers in the world – only Soviet state industries employed more people. In 1955, General Motors became the first American corporation to pay taxes of over $1 billion. By 1958, the divisional distinctions within GM began to blur with the availability of high-performance engines