Okla-homey
12/27/2007, 07:19 AM
December 27, 1944: FDR seizes control of Montgomery Ward
63 years ago today, in a move considered unthinkable today, President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders his secretary of war to seize properties belonging to the gigantic Montgomery Ward company because the company refused to comply with a labor agreement.
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/36996/2000245188848806913_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000245188848806913)
1932 FDR campaign ad. By the time he died during his fourth term, FDR had created one of history's most powerful presidencies.
In an effort to avert strikes in critical war-support industries, Roosevelt created the National War Labor Board in 1942. The board negotiated settlements between management and workers to avoid shut-downs in production that might cripple the war effort.
During the war, the well-known retailer and manufacturer Montgomery Ward had supplied the Allies with everything from tractors to auto parts to workmen’s clothing--items deemed as important to the war effort as bullets and ships.
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/37582/2000278957914557213_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000278957914557213)
Montgomery Ward's was an American retail collosus
However, Montgomery Ward Chairman Sewell Avery refused to comply with the terms of three different collective bargaining agreements with the United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union that had been hammered out between 1943 and 1944.
In April 1944, after Sewell refused a second board order, Roosevelt called out the Army National Guard to seize the company’s main plant in Chicago. Sewell himself had to be carried out of his office by National Guard troops.
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/39304/2000253617841019492_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000253617841019492)
Sewell being carried out of his headquarters.
By December of that year, Roosevelt was fed up with Sewell’s obstinacy and disrespect for the government’s authority. (The uber-capitalist Sewell’s favorite insult was to call someone a "New Dealer"--a direct reference to Roosevelt’s Depression-era policies.) On this day, December 27, Roosevelt ordered the secretary of war to seize Montgomery Ward’s plants and facilities in New York, Michigan, California, Illinois, Colorado and Oregon.
In his announcement that day, Roosevelt emphasized that the government would "not tolerate any interference with war production in this critical hour." He issued a stern warning to labor unions and industry management alike: "strikes in wartime cannot be condoned, whether they are strikes by workers against their employers or strikes by employers against their Government." Sewell took the fight to federal court, but lost.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/37070/2000297169216704740_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000297169216704740)
The company survived WWII, and continued to grow well into the 1960's. At one time, a store like this was a common sight in Oklahoma. They were ultimately killed by Wal-Mart.
Interestingly, FDR's successor Harry S. Truman tried something similar to FDR's action against Ward's versus a steel company in the midst of the Korean War. The steel company sued and the case got all the way to the Supreme Court. Truman was given the judicial smackdown. The Court held that such a move by the White House was the equivalent of executive branch lawmaking. As any 7th grader should know, under the Constitution, the Executive Branch can't make laws. Only Congress can do that. Thus, old Avery Sewell was ultimately vindicated, although FDR didn't live to see it. In cae you're interested, Google up Youngstown Sheet and Tube co. v. Palmer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952.)
In 1946, the Grolier Club, a society of bibliophiles in New York City, exhibited the Wards catalog alongside Webster's dictionary as one of 100 American books chosen for their influence on life and culture of the people. The brand name of the store became embedded in the popular American consciousness and was often called by the nickname "Monkey Wards," both affectionately and derisively.
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/37748/2000216429717592584_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000216429717592584)
This logo was used by Montgomery Ward from 1968-82
For much of the 20th century, Montgomery Ward, founded in 1872, reigned as one of the country’s largest department store and mail-order retail chains. Heavy competition from Wal-Mart, Target and similar discount stores forced the company to close all of its stores in 2000, though it retains a catalog and internet presence.
linky:
http://www.wards.com/wards/default.asp
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/37452/2000216774454913268_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000216774454913268)
The Montgomery Ward company, had purchased and distributed children's coloring books as Christmas gifts for their customers for several years. In 1939, Montgomery Ward used one of their own employees to create a book for them, thus saving money. Robert L. May, a 34-year old copywriter, wrote the story of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer in 1939, and 2.4 million copies were handed out that year. Despite the wartime, when paper was at a premium, over 6 million copies were distributed by 1946. In 1949, a cowboy singer and movie star named Gene Autry recorded a song about the May creation.
Odds are, if you were a kid in Oklahoma in the 60's or 70's, you wore clothes and/or played with toys from Ward's
http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/38856/2000268291399259936_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000268291399259936)
This handsome lad is your correspondent during Christmas of 1968. The Marx playset was from the Sears catalog. The Ardmore Tigers sweatshirt was from Monkey Wards.
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/37374/2000210036356620230_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000210036356620230)
63 years ago today, in a move considered unthinkable today, President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders his secretary of war to seize properties belonging to the gigantic Montgomery Ward company because the company refused to comply with a labor agreement.
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/36996/2000245188848806913_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000245188848806913)
1932 FDR campaign ad. By the time he died during his fourth term, FDR had created one of history's most powerful presidencies.
In an effort to avert strikes in critical war-support industries, Roosevelt created the National War Labor Board in 1942. The board negotiated settlements between management and workers to avoid shut-downs in production that might cripple the war effort.
During the war, the well-known retailer and manufacturer Montgomery Ward had supplied the Allies with everything from tractors to auto parts to workmen’s clothing--items deemed as important to the war effort as bullets and ships.
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/37582/2000278957914557213_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000278957914557213)
Montgomery Ward's was an American retail collosus
However, Montgomery Ward Chairman Sewell Avery refused to comply with the terms of three different collective bargaining agreements with the United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union that had been hammered out between 1943 and 1944.
In April 1944, after Sewell refused a second board order, Roosevelt called out the Army National Guard to seize the company’s main plant in Chicago. Sewell himself had to be carried out of his office by National Guard troops.
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/39304/2000253617841019492_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000253617841019492)
Sewell being carried out of his headquarters.
By December of that year, Roosevelt was fed up with Sewell’s obstinacy and disrespect for the government’s authority. (The uber-capitalist Sewell’s favorite insult was to call someone a "New Dealer"--a direct reference to Roosevelt’s Depression-era policies.) On this day, December 27, Roosevelt ordered the secretary of war to seize Montgomery Ward’s plants and facilities in New York, Michigan, California, Illinois, Colorado and Oregon.
In his announcement that day, Roosevelt emphasized that the government would "not tolerate any interference with war production in this critical hour." He issued a stern warning to labor unions and industry management alike: "strikes in wartime cannot be condoned, whether they are strikes by workers against their employers or strikes by employers against their Government." Sewell took the fight to federal court, but lost.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/37070/2000297169216704740_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000297169216704740)
The company survived WWII, and continued to grow well into the 1960's. At one time, a store like this was a common sight in Oklahoma. They were ultimately killed by Wal-Mart.
Interestingly, FDR's successor Harry S. Truman tried something similar to FDR's action against Ward's versus a steel company in the midst of the Korean War. The steel company sued and the case got all the way to the Supreme Court. Truman was given the judicial smackdown. The Court held that such a move by the White House was the equivalent of executive branch lawmaking. As any 7th grader should know, under the Constitution, the Executive Branch can't make laws. Only Congress can do that. Thus, old Avery Sewell was ultimately vindicated, although FDR didn't live to see it. In cae you're interested, Google up Youngstown Sheet and Tube co. v. Palmer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952.)
In 1946, the Grolier Club, a society of bibliophiles in New York City, exhibited the Wards catalog alongside Webster's dictionary as one of 100 American books chosen for their influence on life and culture of the people. The brand name of the store became embedded in the popular American consciousness and was often called by the nickname "Monkey Wards," both affectionately and derisively.
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/37748/2000216429717592584_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000216429717592584)
This logo was used by Montgomery Ward from 1968-82
For much of the 20th century, Montgomery Ward, founded in 1872, reigned as one of the country’s largest department store and mail-order retail chains. Heavy competition from Wal-Mart, Target and similar discount stores forced the company to close all of its stores in 2000, though it retains a catalog and internet presence.
linky:
http://www.wards.com/wards/default.asp
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/37452/2000216774454913268_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000216774454913268)
The Montgomery Ward company, had purchased and distributed children's coloring books as Christmas gifts for their customers for several years. In 1939, Montgomery Ward used one of their own employees to create a book for them, thus saving money. Robert L. May, a 34-year old copywriter, wrote the story of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer in 1939, and 2.4 million copies were handed out that year. Despite the wartime, when paper was at a premium, over 6 million copies were distributed by 1946. In 1949, a cowboy singer and movie star named Gene Autry recorded a song about the May creation.
Odds are, if you were a kid in Oklahoma in the 60's or 70's, you wore clothes and/or played with toys from Ward's
http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/38856/2000268291399259936_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000268291399259936)
This handsome lad is your correspondent during Christmas of 1968. The Marx playset was from the Sears catalog. The Ardmore Tigers sweatshirt was from Monkey Wards.
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/37374/2000210036356620230_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000210036356620230)