The corporation controlled the Auburn Automobile Company, which built the Auburn and Cord automobiles; Lycoming Engines; Duesenberg Inc.; New York Shipbuilding; Checker Motors; Stinson Aircraft Company; and American Airways (later American Airlines), amongst other holdings.

He moved back to the United States in 1936, but then came under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for his dealings in Checker Cab stock.

During the 1940s he filled in for a Nevada state legislator who died in the middle of his term and again rose to fame as a politician in his later life.

[3] Other grants in the field of education include the E.L. Cord Student Success Center and The E.L. Cord Foundation Center for Learning and Literacy at the University of Nevada,[4] scholarships at Truckee Meadows Community College,[5] and a fellowship at Wichita State University.

Gram Parsons wrote a song about Cord called "The New Soft Shoe" that appeared on his first solo release, titled GP.