In the 1950s he held several positions at Henkels and McCoy, Inc. In the 1960s he rose up the ranks of National Gypsum Company, becoming their assistant chairman in 1969. From 1972 to 1974 he was president and Chief Executive Officer of Snelling and Snelling, Inc. In 1971, he was appointed as trustee in bankruptcy for the Reading Company, the railroad company headquartered in Philadelphia, and guided the company through its successful reorganization and discharge from bankruptcy in 1980. From 1974 to 1981 he headed Lewis and Associates, a business consulting firm. He became involved in politics through a friend, Richard S. Schweiker, for whom he managed successful campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. During the 1960s and 1970s, he served in several political capacities: county committee member, chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party's finance committee, Republican candidate for governor in 1974, chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation to the 1976 Republican National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, and the deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee. The Philadelphia Inquirer described him as "among the two or three most powerful Republicans in Pennsylvania and one of the most powerful in the Northeast." During the 1976 Republican presidential campaign, Lewis, as head of the powerful Pennsylvania delegation, had backed Gerald Ford, over challenger Ronald Reagan. At the Republican convention, Reagan announced that if nominated he would name Richard Schweiker, Lewis' friend, as his running mate. Lewis had already committed to Ford and so honored his word, and kept his delegation in line to help nominate Ford as the Republican candidate. Reagan remembered his loyalty in 1980, and appointed Lewis to head his Pennsylvania campaign organization. In 1980, Lewis served as Reagan's Pennsylvania campaign chairman. When Reagan was elected President, he named Lewis as his Secretary of Transportation, where he served from 1981 to 1983. During his tenure, the 1981 air traffic controllers strike occurred despite his efforts to avoid it. When the strikers defied Reagan's threat to fire them if they did not return to work, it was Lewis who announced their controversial en masse dismissal. Another milestone was the enactment of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982, which included a gasoline tax increase and user fees to pay for improvements. By the time he left Washington, The Washington Post reported that Lewis was "generally regarded here as the most able domestic Cabinet officer in the administration."
Later life
In 1983, Lewis was hired as chairman and CEO of Warner-Amex Cable Communications, the joint venture between the then Warner Communications and American Express, succeeding Gustave M. Hauser. In this role, he was also chairman of the WACCI subsidiary, Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Company, which eventually became known as MTV Networks after a public offering in 1984. In April 1986, about the time Warner Communications sold its interest in MTV Networks, and purchased American Express's share of Warner Amex Cable, Drew Lewis left WACCI to become Chairman and CEO of the Union Pacific Corporation and its subsidiary, the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1986, Lewis appeared at the commencement exercises of his alma mater, Haverford College, to be awarded an honorary doctorate degree. After learning that a significant portion of the faculty of the Quaker college had opposed awarding him the honor because of his actions during the still-controversial air traffic controllers strike, he declined to accept the degree. He said he did so out of respect for the Quaker tradition of making decisions by consensus. In October 1986, he became president and CEO of Union Pacific Corporation, parent of the railroad. One year later, on October 1, 1987, he became Chairman and CEO of Union Pacific Corporation, succeeding William S. Cook. He served in that post until 1997. In later years, Lewis sat on the boards of American Express, Ford Motor Company, Gannett Company, and SmithKline Beecham.
