Notes

Introduction

1. One exception is Lisa Fine’s The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004), which focuses on workers in Lansing, Michigan. A good place to start when researching Detroit autoworkers is Steve Babson, with Ron Alpern, Dave Elsila, and John Revitte, Working Detroit: The Making of a Union Town (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1986). There were also a number of sociological studies conducted in the 1940s and 1950s, most of which tried to determine whether or not autoworkers were becoming middle-class citizens. See, for example, Charles R. Walker and Robert H. Guest, The Man on the Assembly Line (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1952); Ely Chinoy, Automobile Workers and the American Dream (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1955); and Bennett M. Berger, Working Class Suburb: A Study of Autoworkers in Suburbia (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960).

2. See especially Nelson Lichtenstein’s The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor (New York: Basic Books, 1995), which takes a largely critical view of these developments; and John Barnard’s American Vanguard: The United Auto Workers during the Reuther Years, 1935–1970 (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2004), which takes a more positive view of the same evidence.

3. See Lichtenstein, Most Dangerous Man, 300; Barnard, American Vanguard, 264; and Frank Marquart, An Auto Worker’s Journal: The UAW from Crusade to One-Party Union (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1975).

4. The propensity for wildcat strikes is particularly apparent in Steve Jefferys, Management and Managed: Fifty Years of Crisis at Chrysler (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986). See also Lichtenstein, Most Dangerous Man, 291. Chad Berry challenges the generalization that Southern whites were more antiunion than others in Southern Migrants, Northern Exiles (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000), 107–9.

5. The most significant example of this is the 1949 Ford speedup strike, covered most thoroughly in Robert Asher’s “The 1949 Ford Speedup Strike and the Post War Social Compact, 1946–1961,” in Autowork, ed. Robert Asher and Ronald Edsworth (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995), 127–54.

6. Nelson Lichtenstein’s critiques of bureaucratic grievance systems and of the 1950 UAW contracts that won higher wages and benefits, for example, seem to assume that there would have been rank-and-file assent if led in alternative directions. Jonathan Cutler, in Labor’s Time: Shorter Hours, the UAW, and the Struggle for American Unionism (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004), seems to assume widespread rank-and-file support for the thirty-hour week for forty hours of pay and criticizes Walter Reuther for failing to prioritize it in negotiations during the 1950s.

7. See, for example, Lisa Fine, “Rights of Men, Rites of Passage: Hunting and Masculinity at Reo Motors of Lansing, Michigan, 1945–1975,” Journal of Social History (Summer 2000): 805–23; Stephen Meyer, “Work, Play, and Power: Masculine Culture on the Automotive Shop Floor, 1930–1960,” Men and Masculinities 2, no. 2 (1999): 115–34; Stephen Meyer, Manhood on the Line: Working-Class Masculinities in the American Heartland (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2016); and Ryan Pettengill, “Fair Play in Bowling: Sport, Civil Rights, and the UAW Culture of Inclusion, 1936–1950,” forthcoming, Journal of Social History 52, no. 4 (2018).

8. See Thomas Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996); and Kevin Boyle, “The Kiss: Racial and Gender Conflict in a 1950s Automobile Factory,” Journal of American History 84, no. 2 (1997): 496–523.

9. See Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis, particularly chapter 4, “‘The Meanest and Dirtiest Jobs’: The Structures of Employment Discrimination,” and chapter 5, “‘The Damning Mark of False Prosperities’: The Deindustrialization of Detroit.”

10. See Kevin Boyle, The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945–1968 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995), 107–31; and David M. Lewis-Colman, Race against Liberalism: Black Workers and the UAW in Detroit (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008).

11. See Nancy Gabin, Feminism in the Labor Movement: Women and the United Auto Workers, 1935–1975 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990); and Dorothy Sue Cobble, The Other Women’s Movement: Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004).

12. I kept in mind something Robert Zieger wrote in response to critics in a symposium on his landmark book The CIO, 1935–1955 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995): “When it came time to assessing workers’ views, I found little help in the existing literature. … Much of the writing on the CIO era seemed to posit, without ever quite documenting, the existence of an inherently militant rank and file, in contradistinction to an inherently bureaucratic labor leadership. … The problem of most oral history and autobiographical material is that it reflects the views and interests of activists and adds little first-hand evidence about truly ordinary workers.” See “Robert Zieger’s History of the CIO: A Symposium,” Labor History (Spring 1996): 186.

13. Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (New York: Vintage Books, 2003).

14. See Stephen Meyer, The Five Dollar Day: Labor Management and Social Control in the Ford Motor Company, 1908–1921 (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981); and Barnard, American Vanguard, 1–164.

15. The many important early works in oral history methodology include Ronald Grele, Envelopes of Sound: Six Practitioners Discuss the Method, Theory, and Practice of Oral History and Oral Testimony (Chicago: Precedent Publishing, 1975); Paul Thompson, The Voice of the Past: Oral History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978); Michael Frisch, A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990); Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990); and Daphne Patai and Sherna Berger Gluck, eds., Women’s Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History (New York: Routledge, 1991).

16. For an example of contested interpretation involving oral history, see Katherine Borland, “‘That’s Not What I Said’: Interpretive Conflict in Oral Narrative Research,” in Patai and Gluck, Women’s Words, 63–75.

17. See, for example, Alessandro Portelli, “The Death of Luigi Trastulli: Memory and the Event,” in Portelli, Death of Luigi Trastulli, 1–28; Alessandro Portelli, “What Makes Oral History Different,” in Portelli, Death of Luigi Trastulli, 45–58 (quotes on pp. 50–51); and Mark Roseman, “Surviving Memory: Truth and Inaccuracy in Holocaust Testimony,” Journal of Holocaust Education 8, no. 1 (1999): 1–20.

18. See, for example, Donald Ritchie, Doing Oral History, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015); and Valerie Yow, Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 3rd ed. (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014).

19. Recordings and transcripts of interviews for this project are available in the Metropolitan Detroit Autoworkers Oral History Collection, Walter Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University.

20. See Barnard, American Vanguard, 264.

21. Gerald Weales, “Small-Town Detroit: Motor City on the Move,” Commentary, September 1, 1956. The third daily paper was the Detroit Times, which was purchased by William Randolph Hearst in the 1920s and which ceased publication in 1960.

22. For analysis of developments in journalism at the national level, see Michael Schudson, Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers (New York: Basic Books, 1978), especially 3–11 and 160–94; and David T. Z. Mindich, Just the Facts: How “Objectivity” Came to Define American Journalism (New York: New York University Press, 1998). The quotes are from Mindich, 1.

23. James Fallows, Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy (New York: Pantheon Books, 1996), 7.

24. See Boyle, “The Kiss”; Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis; and Lewis-Colman, Race against Liberalism.

25. Although this idea is common wisdom among historians, this usage is a paraphrase of a point made by Christopher R. Browning in “Remembering Survival: Inside a Nazi Slave-Labor Camp,” excerpted in The Oral History Reader, 3rd ed., ed. Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson (New York: Routledge, 2016), 318.

26. Weales, “Small-Town Detroit.”

27. See, for example, “Still Behind,” Fortune (March 1948); “Materials Handling: The New Word in Industry,” Fortune (June 1948); “The ‘Used’ Car Deal,” Fortune (September 1948); “Chrysler’s Hundred Days,” Fortune (June 1950); “The Treaty of Detroit,” Fortune (July 1950); “Confusion at the Rouge,” Fortune (September 1950); “Detroit: Danger Ahead?” Fortune (May 1953); “Business Roundup: Cars, Cars, Cars,” Fortune (August 1953); “Labor: Jitters in Detroit,” Fortune (October 1953); “Labor: The Bumpy Road,” Fortune (March 1954);“Chrysler Takes the Bumps,” Fortune (April 1954); “Labor: No Basic Runaway,” Fortune (July 1954); “Business Roundup: Cutbacks in Cars,” Fortune (March 1955);“Labor: Stumbling Blocks to the G.A.W.,” Fortune (August 1955); William B. Harris, “The Trouble in Detroit,” Fortune (March 1958); “Labor: No Strike in Autos,” Fortune (May 1958); William B. Harris, “Chrysler’s Private Depression,” Fortune (June 1958); and Daniel Bell, “The ‘Invisible’ Unemployed,” Fortune (July 1958).

28. See, for example, memo from Local 600 Executive Board to Harry Truman, June 29, 1951, Ford Facts Special Layoff Edition, ca. July 1951; Vincent Mitchell, “Call Committeeman if You’re Laid Off,” Ford Facts, October 27, 1951; “The State of the Union,” Ford Facts, September 27, 1952; John Orr, “Layoffs Continue,” Ford Facts, February 11, 1956; Bill Collett, “The Mad Race, Then Layoffs,” Ford Facts, February 18, 1956; Harold Becker, “What’s Wrong with the Auto Industry?” Ford Facts, February 23, 1957; E. Plawecki, T. O’Neil, B. Hughes, “Outlook Bleak for Auto Workers,” Ford Facts, January 4, 1958; Bill Collett, “The Jobless Our Major Concern,” Ford Facts, May 10, 1958; and “Local 600 Supports UAW’s Program to Put America Back to Work,” Ford Facts, February 21, 1959. Issues of Ford Facts can be found at the Walter Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.

29. See, for example, Charles Edwards, Dynamics of the United States Automobile Industry (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1965), 16–44, 106–10; Lawrence White, The Automobile Industry since 1945 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 13–16; John Rae, The American Automobile Industry (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1984), 96–100, 110; and James Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automotive Industry (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 214–18, 271.

30. Lichtenstein, Most Dangerous Man, 288; Barnard, American Vanguard, 260, 294. Barnard also discusses the collapse of Hudson and Packard production in Detroit, as well as the loss of crucial supplier firms like the Motor Products Corporation and Murray Corporation, but these are treated as relatively minor exceptions in a generally prosperous decade (296–98). Lizabeth Cohen relied on Lichtenstein’s arguments for a qualifying paragraph about working-class prosperity in Consumer’s Republic, 160. In a wide-ranging essay, Tami Friedman has pieced together examples like these from a number of industries and regions, including the auto industry in Detroit, to suggest that the so-called post–World War II boom did not bring stability or prosperity for large numbers of American workers. See “‘Acute Depression … in … the Age of Plenty’: Capital Migration, Economic Dislocation, and the Missing ‘Social Contract’ of the 1950s,” Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas 8, no. 4 (2011): 89–113.

31. Robert J. Gordon, The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016), 379. Gordon cited no sources for this claim.

32. Marc Levinson, An Extraordinary Time: The End of the Postwar Boom and the Return of the Ordinary Economy (New York: Basic Books, 2016), 5, 7, 21–22.

33. Jefferson Cowie, The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016), 153, 158. For additional recent examples of historical literature extolling the postwar boom for autoworkers, see Louis Hyman, Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011), 132–37; David Maraniss, Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015), 212; and H. W. Brands, America since 1945 (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2012), 62–63.

34. Tony Stellato, “Layoffs Continue: Ford Eng. Plant,” Ford Facts, February 18, 1956.

35. Kenneth McCormick, “Paying the Unemployed of Michigan Is a Big Business,” Detroit Free Press (hereafter cited as DFP), February 5, 1950; “No ‘Normal’ Seen for Unemployment,” DFP, February 22, 1952; Geoffrey Howes, “How Jobless Are Checked,” DFP, January 30, 1954.

36. Alessandro Portelli, They Say in Harlan County: An Oral History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 3–12.

Chapter 1. Shortages and Strikes

1. Marvin Arrowsmith, “Auto Output for ’45 Put at 500,000,” DFP, August 13, 1945; Radford E. Mobley, “No Limit on Auto Output,” DFP, August 16, 1945; and John B. Rae, The American Automobile Industry (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1984), 96, 100.

2. Daniel Wells, “Huge Layoffs Head Host of Union Peace Problems,” DFP, August 19, 1945; “Mass Layoffs Due Soon at War Plants,” DFP, August 19, 1945; and Elwin Stouffer, “Housing Crisis Intensified as Few Workers Leave, Many Move to Detroit,” DFP, September 23, 1945.

3. Katherine Lynch, “Working Future Not So Rosy for ‘Rosie the Riveter,’” DFP, August 26, 1945; “Jobs Lag for Women in Detroit,” DFP, August 18, 1950; and Nancy Gabin, Feminism in the Labor Movement: Women and the United Auto Workers, 1935–1975 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990), 111–42.

4. “Women Ford Plant Pickets Demand Seniority Rights,” DFP, November 9, 1945.

5. Margaret Beaudry interview by Daniel Clark, June 24, 2002; Katie Neumann interview by Daniel Clark, March 18, 2002; and Dorothy Sackle interview by Daniel Clark, June 14, 2002.

6. Rae, American Automobile Industry, 96, 100; “Hayes Strike Perils Ford Production,” DFP, August 30, 1945; “Strikers Stop New Cars in Two Plants,” DFP, September 2, 1945; Arthur O’Shea, “Order Kelsey Strike Ended,” DFP, September 13, 1945; Arthur O’Shea, “UAW Raps Kelsey Strikers as Ford Co. Lays Off 50,000,” DFP, September 15, 1945; Fran Martin, “Strikers Refuse to Budge: Only 350 Hear Board’s Aide,” DFP, September 17, 1945; Fran Martin, “End of Kelsey Strike to Open Ford Plants,” DFP, October 6, 1945; Arthur O’Shea, “Ford to Resume Full Production,” DFP, October 13, 1945; and “Auto Output Lags at 26 Pct. of Goal,” DFP, November 8, 1945. Nelson Lichtenstein emphasizes the militancy of the Kelsey-Hayes strike in The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor (New York: Basic Books, 1995), 217–18.

7. Leo Donovan, “Industry Now Gears for Peak Production,” DFP, November 11, 1945; Leo Donovan, “GM Buys Plant in Kansas to Speed Auto Production,” DFP, November 8, 1945; Leo Donovan, “Labor Strife Snags Production at GM,” DFP, November 15, 1945; Leo Donovan, “Influence to Count in Getting New Cars,” DFP, November 22, 1945; and “Glass Strike Slows Auto Production,” DFP, December 14, 1945.

8. Leo Donovan, “GM Walkout Held Peril to Car Industry,” DFP, November 20, 1945; “40,000 Made Idle by Shutdown at Ford,” DFP, November 27, 1945; and “Ford Output Cut 50,000 by Parts Shortage,” DFP, December 17, 1945. On GM as a major parts supplier, see James M. Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automotive Industry (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 210.

9. Arthur O’Shea, “GM Turns Down New Talks,” DFP, November 27, 1945; “Complete List of Struck GM Plants in State,” DFP, November 22, 1945; and “Glass Strike Deadlock Slows Auto Production,” DFP, December 14, 1945.

10. Charles E. Edwards, Dynamics of the Auto Industry (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1965), 26, 106–107; Arthur O’Shea, “GM Turns Down New Talks,” DFP, November 27, 1945; Edwin A. Lahey, “Strikebound Flint Unlike City of ’37,” DFP, November 28, 1945; “City Will Ask State to Carry Full Relief Cost for 4 Months,” DFP, January 23, 1946; and Lisa Fine, “Rights of Men, Rites of Passage: Hunting and Masculinity at Reo Motors of Lansing, Michigan, 1945–1975,” Journal of Social History (Summer 2000): 805–23.

11. Warren Stromberg, “Zest Fades for Weary GM Strikers,” DFP, January 17, 1946.

12. Letter to the editor from Ex-Sgt. F. L. Wolff, “Vet Blasts Labor Turmoil,” DFP, March 3, 1946.

13. Bud Weber interview by Daniel Clark, May 15, 2003.

14. Gene Johnson interview by Daniel Clark, July 17, 2002.

15. “Glass Cuts Off Chrysler Jobs,” DFP, January 19, 1946; and “Steel Crisis Hits Auto Jobs,” DFP, January 25, 1946.

16. “Steel Mills Closing Up,” DFP, January 20, 1946; Fran Marti, “Walkout Starts Early in Detroit,” DFP, January 20, 1946; “57 Detroit Area Plants Closing in Steel Strike,” DFP, January 21, 1946; and “Steel Crisis Hits Auto Jobs,” DFP, January 25, 1946.

17. Arthur O’Shea, “GM Peace May Hinge on Steel Pact,” DFP, January 27, 1946; Lichtenstein, Most Dangerous Man, 220–47; and John Barnard, American Vanguard: The United Auto Workers during the Reuther Years, 1935–1970 (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2004), 212–19.

18. “9,000 Ordered Back Monday by Chrysler,” DFP, February 1, 1946; Leo Donovan, “Auto Output Slowed by Parts Shortage,” DFP, February 5, 1946; “Steel Strike Ends,” DFP, February 16, 1946; and “Ford Calls 38,000 to Work,” DFP, February 28, 1946.

19. Leo Donovan, “’46 Car Output to Be Half of Original Goal,” DFP, March 14, 1946; Arthur O’Shea, “GM Workers Await Call Back to Jobs,” DFP, March 14, 1946; “GM Balks at Recalling Men,” DFP, March 20, 1946; “GM Calling Workers Back,” DFP, March 26, 1946; “88,000 Back on Job at GM Plants Now,” DFP, March 31, 1946; and “10,000 Await Recall to GM in Detroit,” DFP, April 1, 1946.

20. “17,000 Idle Due to Strike at Briggs,” DFP, April 6, 1946; and “Briggs Co. to Resume Work Today,” DFP, April 8, 1946.

21. “Box to Sit on Missing, So 2,000 Are Idled,” DFP, March 28, 1946; “Strike Vote Due Today at Briggs,” DFP, May 3, 1946; and “Two Chrysler Plants Close,” DFP, June 8, 1946.

22. “Ford Returns to Work,” DFP, April 10, 1946; “Steel, Parts Shortages Close Ford for 3 Days,” DFP, April 18, 1946; Leo Donovan, “Auto Output Hit by Mine Shutdown,” DFP, April 21, 1946; Leo Donovan, “Auto Plants’ Closing May Mark Jubilee,” DFP, April 28, 1946; Leo Donovan, “Supplier Strikes Hit Auto Industry Heavily,” DFP, May 3, 1946; and Leo Donovan, “Slack Says Controls Retard Auto Output,” DFP, June 7, 1946.

23. Lawrence J. White, The Automobile Industry since 1945 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 10; “Coal Strike Closing Ford; Brownout Starts Tonight,” DFP, May 8, 1946; “More Plants Hit; Lakes Ships Stop,” DFP, May 10, 1946; “Idle Workers Stretch MUCC Lines,” DFP, May 10, 1946; “Shortages Cut 10,000 off Job at Chrysler’s,” DFP, May 13, 1946; “Two Chrysler Plants Close,” DFP, June 8, 1946; Leo Donovan, “Another Drop Likely in Auto Production,” DFP, May 21, 1946; and “Ford Plants to Reopen June 24,” DFP, June 5, 1946.

24. Leo Donovan, “New Depression Seen about to Hit Detroit,” DFP, May 15, 1946; and Bud Weber interview.

25. Rae, American Automobile Industry, 101–2; Leo Donovan, “Kaiser-Frazer Far behind Schedule,” DFP, May 5, 1946; Leo Donovan, “Auto Industry Needs Boogie-Woogie Pep,” DFP, June 9, 1946; “Auto Industry Falls Far Short of Goal,” DFP, June 27, 1946; and Leo Donovan, “Prices Seen as Crux of Auto Output Lag,” DFP, September 15, 1946.

26. Leo Donovan, “Slack Says Controls Retard Auto Output,” DFP, June 7, 1946.

27. “‘Heat’ Walkouts Idle 15,000 in City Plants,” DFP, June 29, 1946; Fran Martin, “7,000 Idled at Chrysler and Briggs,” DFP, July 12, 1946; “MESA Strikes 3 Plants to Get Doors on Toilets,” DFP, July 26, 1946; and “Dodge Plant Is Closed by Celebration,” DFP, August 15, 1946.

28. Other examples from just the next month include “Strikes Idle 22,200 in Auto Plants, DFP, September 12, 1946; Fran Martin, “13,050 Idle Following Firing of 2,” DFP, September 17, 1946; Fran Martin, “2,050 Strike in Auto Plants; 50,000 Idled,” DFP, September 18, 1946; “Strike Idle Total More Than 50,000,” DFP, September 19, 1946; and “Strike at Briggs Settled,” DFP, September 22, 1946.

29. Leo Donovan, “Auto Makers Timing Output during Crisis,” DFP, November 26, 1946; “Railroad Embargo to Idle 500,000 Michigan Workers,” DFP, December 4, 1946; Arthur O’Shea, “Ford Delays Layoffs of 20,000 More,” DFP, December 7, 1946; “Hudson Shutdown to Last Two Days,” DFP, December 14, 1946; “Yule Layoffs to Idle 82,000 Auto Workers,” DFP, December 21, 1946; and “Workers Start Holiday Early; 20,000 Idled,” DFP, January 1, 1947.

30. Leo Donovan, “Ford Output Totals 656,135 for Year,” DFP, December 27, 1946; “County Survey Shows 444,000 in Factory Jobs,” DFP, January 2, 1947; Leo Donovan, “Unfilled Chevrolet Orders Hit Million,” DFP, January 3, 1947; “GM Auto Output Falls under Half of ’41 Total,” DFP, January 6, 1947; and “100,000 Laid Off in City in 3 Weeks,” DFP, January 15, 1947.

31. Arthur O’Shea, “UAW Asks Guarantee of Full Week at GM,” DFP, March 9, 1947.

32. Robert Zieger, The CIO, 1935–1955 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press), 212–27.

33. Leo Donovan, “$400 Month Income Needed to Own Car?” DFP, March 30, 1947; and Leo Donovan, “1946 Auto Output Reaches 2,155,924,” DFP, March 6 1947.

34. Arthur O’Shea, “UAW Accepts GM Offer: 11 ½ Cts. Plus Holiday Pay,” DFP, April 25, 1947; Arthur O’Shea, “Sign 2-Year Chrysler Pact,” DFP, April 27, 1947; and Leo Donovan, “Chrysler Profits Hit Peak,” DFP, May 2, 1947.

35. “30,000 Idled by Shortage of Steel,” DFP, May 10, 1947; Leo Donovan, “Shortage of Steel Slows Auto Output,” DFP, May 11, 1947; “Auto Output at Low in Steel Pinch,” DFP, May 13, 1947; Leo Donovan, “Vast Black Market in Steel Is Charged,” DFP, May 28, 1947; and Leo Donovan, “70,200 Face Layoff in 3 GM Plants,” DFP, August 21, 1947.

36. “The ‘Used’ Car Deal,” Fortune (September 1948); Leo Donovan, “Steel Circles Dislike Auto Output Plans,” DFP, September 5, 1947; Leo Donovan, “Auto Makers Fail to Get More Steel,” DFP, September 11, 1947; Leo Donovan, “Used-Car Market Seen Leveling Off,” DFP, October 19, 1947; Leo Donovan, “Lack of Oil Hinges on Steel Shortage,” DFP, November 11, 1947; and Leo Donovan, “3-Way Coal Pinch Cuts into Car Output,” DFP, April 9, 1948.

37. “Still Behind,” Fortune (March 1948); Leo Donovan, “Cars Growing Heavier,” DFP, November 30, 1948; Warren Stromberg, “Even with GI Bill, Vets Can’t Meet Home Costs, Survey Shows,” DFP, March 30, 1947; Leo Donovan, “Used Car Sales Take Sharp Drop,” DFP, October 8, 1947; Leo Donovan, “Used-Car Market Seen Leveling Off,” DFP, October 19, 1947; and Leo Donovan, “Scrap-Iron Prices Worry Diemakers,” DFP, December 30, 1947.

38. Arthur O’Shea, “Ford Output Periled by FAA Strike,” DFP, May 22, 1947; “FAA Demands That Led to Ford Strike,” DFP, May 22, 1947; “Ford Foremen End Strike,” DFP, July 7, 1947; and Nelson Lichtenstein, “The Man in the Middle: A Social His tory of Automobile Industry Foremen,” in On the Line: Essays in the History of Auto Work, ed. Nelson Lichtenstein and Stephen Meyer (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989), 153–89.

39. “Auto Output at Low in Steel Pinch,” DFP, May 13, 1947; and Leo Donovan, “Auto Workers Begin Returning to Jobs as Steel Pinch Eases,” DFP, May 14, 1947.

40. “115,000 Return to GM Today,” DFP, July 28, 1947; “Over 54,000 Are Idled in Auto Plants,” DFP, July 31, 1947; “Murray OK’s No-Suit Clause, Union Says,” DFP, August 8, 1947; “Union Urges Return at Dodge Plant,” DFP, August 16, 1947; Clyde Bates, “Long Murray Strike Ends,” DFP, August 20, 1947; Leo Donovan, “70,200 Face Layoff in 3 GM Plants,” DFP, August 21, 1947; Leo Donovan, “Stifling Heat Cuts into Auto Output,” DFP, August 22, 1947; “Chevrolet Closes All City Plants,” DFP, August 22, 1947; “GM Recalls 70,000 to Work Today,” DFP, September 2, 1947; “Strike Idles 9,000 in Two Plants,” DFP, November 14, 1947; “Strike at Briggs Ended,” DFP, November 17, 1947; “12,000 Idled as 21 Quit Hudson,” DFP, December 2, 1947; and “42 Drivers Case Short K-F Strike,” DFP, December 20, 1947.

41. Leo Donovan, “Manpower Shortage Haunts Car Makers,” DFP, August 26, 1947; and “Detroit Employment at Peacetime High,” DFP, August 28, 1947.

42. Leo Donovan, “Workers’ Output Reported Lower Than in 1930s,” DFP, May 2, 1948; Paul Ish interview by Daniel Clark, June 18, 2002; and Joe Woods interview by Daniel Clark, June 28, 2002.

43. James Franklin interview by Daniel Clark, September 22, 2000.

44. L. J. Scott interview by Daniel Clark, October 27, 2003.

45. Don Hester interview by Daniel Clark, August 12, 2003.

46. “Still Behind,” Fortune (March 1948): 136; Leo Donovan, “Automobile Industry Counts Blessings,” DFP, December 25, 1947; “Unemployment in State Hits Peacetime Low,” DFP, December 31, 1947; “Chrysler Net Earnings 67 Million in 1947,” DFP, February 22, 1948; and Leo Donovan, “GM Rings Up Net of 287 Million in ’47,” DFP, March 16, 1948.

47. Leo Donovan, “Auto Makers Schedule Utmost in Production,” DFP, January 18, 1947; Leo Donovan, “New Pontiac Models on Display Feb. 1,” DFP, January 20, 1948; Leo Donovan, “Drop in Auto Sales Seen This Summer,” DFP, January 28, 1948; and Leo Donovan, “New-Car Owners Greedy for Seconds,” DFP, March 11, 1948.

48. “Plant Gas Off; 200,000 Idle,” DFP, January 24, 1948; “Decision Due Today on Gas for Industry,” DFP, February 1, 1948; Clyde Bates, “Gas Shortage Proves Greatest Blow to City’s Industry since Depression,” DFP, February 4, 1948; “Factory Figures,” DFP, February 4, 1948; Clyde Bates, “Jobless Pay Claims Hit Record High,” DFP, February 5, 1948; Clyde Bates, “Gas-Idled Workers Quick to Blame Industry,” DFP, February 12, 1948; “Rouge Plant to Lay Off 25,000,” DFP, March 5, 1948; Robert Sturgiss, “Depression Near, Says Ballenger,” DFP, March 16, 1948; and “Auto Makers Blast Depression Forecast,” DFP, March 17, 1948.

49. Leo Donovan, “Auto Industry Feels Coal Strike Pinch,” DFP, April 7, 1948; Leo Donovan, “3-Way Coal Pinch Cuts into Car Output,” DFP, April 9, 1948; “Rail Service Ordered Cut to 50 Per Cent,” DFP, April 10, 1948; Leo Donovan, “Industry Measures Cost of Coal Strike,” DFP, April 13, 1948; “GM to Lay Off 200,000 Friday for 9 Days,” DFP, April 17, 1948; Leo Donovan, “Coal Strike Seen Slowing Chrysler,” DFP, April 21, 1948; “GM Layoff of 200,000 Starts Today,” DFP, April 23, 1948; and “Steel Pinch to Close Chrysler,” DFP, May 5, 1948.

50. “Auto Output to Slump 17,000 Units in Week,” DFP, May 7, 1948; “Seek 50-Ct. Boost at Ford,” DFP, May 4, 1948; and “Let’s Cut Wage, Ford Tells UAW,” DFP, May 16, 1948.

51. Arthur O’Shea, “Strike at Chrysler Seen Certain as Talks Fail to Break Pay Deadlock,” DFP, May 11, 1948; Arthur O’Shea, “Chrysler Walkout to Hit 50,000 More,” DFP, May 13, 1948; and “Chrysler Workers to Get Little Relief from State,” DFP, May 14, 1948.

52. Jack Schermerhorn, “Wives Back Strikers, but See Grim Future,” DFP, May 15, 1948; and Arthur O’Shea, “Work Stoppages Idle 100,000 in Detroit,” DFP, May 22, 1948.

53. James J. Flink, The Automobile Age (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1988), 280; “How GM Formula Will Affect Workers,” DFP, May 26, 1948; and Arthur O’Shea, “Quick Chrysler Peace Seen,” DFP, May 26, 1948.

54. Arthur O’Shea, “13-Ct. Raise at Chrysler Ends Walkout of 75,000,” DFP, May 29, 1948; “Briggs Plant Closed in New Strife,” DFP, June 11, 1948; “GM Shuts for Week; Packard Raises Pay,” DFP, June 11, 1948; “Briggs and UAW Agree on 13-Cent Pay Raise,” DFP, June 13, 1948; and “Auto Layoffs in Detroit Increasing,” DFP, June 13, 1948.

55. Leo Donovan, “Used-Car Market Seen Leveling Off,” DFP, October 19, 1947; Leo Donovan, “Auto Dealers Get Warning on Credit,” DFP, March 10, 1948; Leo Donovan, “Credit Curbs Seen Cutting Auto Prices,” DFP, August 11, 1948; Leo Donovan, “Auto Producers Face Huge Backlog,” DFP, August 19, 1948; “Reins on Credit Start Sept. 20,” DFP, August 20, 1948; Leo Donovan, “Auto Output Still Short of Demand by Full Year,” DFP, August 22, 1948; “K-F to Cut Car Output,” DFP, January 10, 1949; and Leo Donovan, “Used Car Business at Standstill; Auto Values off 25 Per Cent,” DFP, October 17, 1948.

56. “50,000 Out of Work as 170 Strike,” DFP, September 9, 1948; “UAW Snubs Briggs’ Bid to Reopen,” DFP, September 12, 1948; “Briggs Talks Fail; UAW Intervenes,” DFP, September 17, 1948; and Arthur O’Shea, “Briggs Settles; 100,000 Called Back,” DFP, September 24, 1948.

57. “GM Profits Hit New High,” DFP, October 28, 1948; “Chrysler Profits and Sales Reach New Peaks,” DFP, November 3, 1948; and “City Reaches Peacetime High in Employment,” DFP, November 21, 1948.

Chapter 2. The Era of “The Treaty of Detroit”

1. James J. Flink, The Automobile Age (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1988), 282; James M. Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automotive Industry (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 268; “Still Behind,” Fortune (March 1948); “Joblessness Increasing in Michigan,” DFP, January 30, 1949; “Dip in Employment Baffles U.S. Agencies,” DFP, February 1, 1949; “U.S. Calm as Jobs and Prices Fall,” DFP, February 5, 1949; “MUCC Rolls Highest in 11 Months,” DFP, February 9, 1949; Sigrid Arne, “Depression-Unemployment: Will They Return?” DFP, February 27, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Average Auto 9.3 Years Old,” DFP, March 3, 1949; and Leo Donovan, “Car Inventories at Peak for Year,” DFP, September 13, 1949.

2. “Chrysler Cars Moisture Proof,” DFP, February 10, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Sales of Used Cars Fall Off,” DFP, February 20, 1949; “Credit Curbs Eased,” DFP, March 3, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Auto Circles Hail Eased Credit Curbs,” DFP, March 3, 1949; Isaac Jones, “Unemployment Brings Scare to Detroit Area,” Michigan Chronicle, March 5, 1949; and Leo Donovan, “Car Sales Surge Past 1948 Mark,” DFP, April 14, 1949.

3. Flink, Automobile Age, 279, 284; Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars, 209; Charles E. Edwards, Dynamics of the United States Automobile Industry (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1965), 198–200; Leo Donovan, “For Five Cars, a New Job,” DFP, March 12, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Auto Price War Seen Far Away,” DFP, April 12, 1949; “Auto Industry Sees New Peak,” DFP, April 16, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Plymouth Lines Moving Faster,” DFP, April 20, 1949; Leo Donovan, “GM Profits at Record 136 Million,” DFP, April 28, 1949; “Car Plant Sales at Postwar Peak,” DFP, April 28, 1949; and Leo Donovan, “GM Production Near ’41 Mark,” DFP, May 5, 1949.

4. “Speed Up,” Fortune (January 1949); Leo Donovan, “Kaiser to Lay Off 3,500 Monday,” DFP, January 14, 1949; “Ford Division Lays Off 1,400,” DFP, January 25, 1949; “14,000 Idled by Shortage and Strike,” DFP, February 16, 1949; “Walkouts Idle 19,000 at Briggs and Hudson,” DFP, February 19, 1949; “Hudson Shut Fourth Time in a Week,” DFP, February 23, 1949; “5,500 Idled at Briggs by Standards Dispute,” DFP, March 2, 1949; “It’s Off Again, On Again at Hudson Motor Plant,” DFP, March 16, 1949; “Strikes Idle 13,000 in Auto Plants,” DFP, March 17, 1949; “9 Strikes Idle 29,000 in Detroit,” DFP, March 23, 1949; and “36,000 Idled by Shortages at Auto Plants,” DFP, March 26, 1949.

5. Arthur “O’Shea, “Auto Plant Strikes Laid to Competition,” DFP, March 24, 1949.

6. Robert Asher, “The 1949 Ford Speedup Strike and the Post War Social Compact, 1946–1961,” in Autowork, ed. Robert Asher and Ronald Edsworth (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995), 127–54; “Union Council OK’s Ford Strike Action,” DFP, April 11, 1949; “Local 600 OK’s Strike Poll at Rouge Plant,” DFP, April 17, 1949; Arthur O’Shea, “Approval of Ford Strike Held Remote,” DFP, April 24, 1949; Arthur O’Shea, “Rouge Strike Set for Thursday: UAW Backs Action by Local 600,” DFP, May 4, 1949; Arthur O’Shea, “Ford Strikers Gird for Extended Siege,” DFP, May 6, 1949; Arthur O’Shea, “Ford Strike Layoffs Rise,” DFP, May 7, 1949; and “Ford Workers Preparing for Long Siege as Talks Resume,” Michigan Chronicle, May 14, 1949.

7. Nelson Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor (New York: Basic Books, 1995), 292; “Strike to Idle 147,200 in 3 Weeks,” DFP, May 6, 1949; Arthur O’Shea, “Ford Strike Layoffs Rise,” DFP, May 7, 1949; Robert Perrin, “Ford Strike Costs Local $5,000 a Day,” DFP, May 13, 1949; Charles J. Wartman, “On the Labor Line,” Michigan Chronicle, May 14, 1949; and Robert Perrin, “Strike Nearly Over, Rouge Pickets Believe,” DFP, May 25, 1949.

8. Arthur O’Shea, “Ford Strike Layoffs Rise,” DFP, May 7, 1949; James Oliver Slade, “Keeping the Record Straight: Ford Strike Points to Danger Ahead,” Michigan Chronicle, May 14, 1949; Arthur O’Shea, “U.S. Enters Ford Talks after Peace Moves Fail,” DFP, May 15, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Ford Strike Closing All Assembly Plants,” DFP, May 17, 1949; and “Strikers on Relief Take Big Pay Cut,” DFP, May 24, 1949.

9. John Murray, “Detroit’s Economy Showing Effects of Ford Strike,” DFP, May 22, 1949; “Strike Ends as Ford and UAW Agree to Submit Grievances to Arbitration,” DFP, May 29, 1949; Arthur O’Shea, “Return to Work Starts at Ford,” DFP, May 30, 1949; and “Arbiters File Decision in Ford Speedup Row,” DFP, July 9, 1949.

10. Fred Olmsted, “Prices Are Easing but You May Not Notice It in Detroit, DFP, May 29, 1949; Leo Donovan, “May Auto Sales 50 Pct. over 1948,” DFP, June 9, 1949; Hub George, “Rise in Unemployment Worries State Officials,” DFP, June 9, 1949; “Employment in County Up over 1948,” DFP, June 10, 1949; “Auto Output in August Due to Pass All Marks,” DFP, June 18, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Survey Shows Robust Market,” DFP, June 21, 1949; “GM Output in June at Record Peak,” DFP, July 2, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Now Who Buys All Those Cars?” DFP, July 3, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Car Demand Still Strong,” DFP, July 7, 1949; “Auto Output for Week Is Highest Ever,” DFP, July 16, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Truth about Tools,” DFP, September 16, 1949; and Leo Donovan, “Just How Strong Is the Chain?” DFP, September 21, 1949.

11. Leo Donovan, “Body Shortage Slows Car Flow,” DFP, August 18, 1949; “Plymouth Hit by Strike,” DFP, September 3, 1949; “3,500 Idled at Lincoln in Work Dispute,” DFP, September 6, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Technology’s Pace Baffling,” DFP, September 25, 1949; and Thomas Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 130–38.

12. Bud Weber interview; “63,000 Workers Idle as Unemployment Rises,” Michigan Chronicle, February 12, 1949; and Isaac Jones, “Unemployment Brings Scare to Detroit Area,” Michigan Chronicle, March 5, 1949.

13. “Ford Asks Freeze on Wages,” DFP, June 19, 1949; and “Ford Pay-Freeze Plan a ‘Fantasy,’ Says UAW,” DFP, June 23, 1949.

14. Harvey Campbell, “Some Workers Hold Two Jobs,” DFP, August 12, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Auto Output Near 4,000,000,” DFP, August 16, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Detroit’s Riches Called Lasting,” DFP, August 21, 1949; “Auto Worker Weekly Pay Sets Record,” DFP, August 25, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Autos Feed Millions—,” DFP, August 28, 1949; “Output Record Established by Auto Industry,” DFP, September 1, 1949; and Fred Olmsted, “Detroit: Top-Paying City,” DFP, October 2, 1949.

15. “A Compelling Argument,” editorial, Michigan Chronicle, March 5, 1949; Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis, 91–124; Charles Wartman, “On the Labor Line,” Michigan Chronicle, February 4, 1949; Horace White, “Facts in Our News,” Michigan Chronicle, March 5, 1949; quote from Charles J. Wartman, “On the Labor Line,” Michigan Chronicle, July 2, 1949; “City Sets Up Board to Fight Unemployment,” DFP, August 30, 1949; and Fred Olmsted, “Detroit: Prepared for a Depression?,” DFP, September 11, 1949.

16. Arthur O’Shea, “Ford Accord Is Reached,” DFP, September 29, 1949; Arthur O’Shea and Leo Donovan, “Industry Expects Chain Reaction in Ford Pension,” DFP, October 2, 1949; “Pensions Held Boon to Business,” DFP, October 25, 1949; “Ford Pact Is OK’d,” DFP, October 27, 1949; and James M. Haswell, “Retired Couple’s Needs Set at $2,089 a Year,” DFP, March 16, 1950.

17. Leo Donovan, “Just How Strong Is the Chain?” DFP, September 21, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Work Schedules Pose Problem,” DFP, October 14, 1949; Leo Donovan, “Steel Strike Effects Felt,” DFP, October 16, 1949; “State Acting to Assist Jobless; 300,000 New Layoffs Loom,” DFP, October 23, 1949; and Leo Donovan, “Fear of Shutdown Grips Car Firms,” DFP, October 30, 1949.

18. “Miners Back in Pits for Three Weeks,” DFP, November 10, 1949; “U.S. Steel Strike Ends,” DFP, November 12, 1949; “Auto Firms Heartened by Steel Peace,” DFP, November 13, 1949; “Auto Layoffs Climbing Past 100,000,” DFP, November 21, 1949; “Unemployment in Auto Plants to Reach New Peak,” DFP, November 23, 1949; and “Jobless Total Hits Year’s Peak in City,” DFP, November 30, 1949.

19. Myrtle Gaskill, “Bitter and Puzzled, the Unemployed Agree: Fellows, It’s Cold Outside,” Michigan Chronicle, December 3, 1949.

20. Leo Donovan, “Auto Plants Call Thousands Back on Job Monday,” DFP, December 3, 1949; and “Job Picture in State Improved,” DFP, December 14, 1949.

21. John B. Rae, The American Automobile Industry (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1984), 101–2; “1949 a Record Year, Chrysler Corp. Reports,” DFP, March 3, 1950; “In 1949, GM Hit 2 Highs,” DFP, March 11, 1950; Leo Donovan, “GM Reports Record 656-Million Profit,” DFP, March 14, 1950; Leo Donovan, “2 Firms Report Drop in Profits,” DFP, March 15, 1950; and “K-F Reveals Loss of 30 Million in ’49,” DFP, April 15, 1950.

22. Leo Donovan, “’49 Banner Year in Car Industry,” DFP, December 20, 1949; and Hub George, “Retail Sales in Detroit Dip 10 Pct.,” DFP, December 23, 1949. “Employes,” not “employees,” was standard usage in newspapers in this era.

23. Leo Donovan, “’49—Top Year in All Ways,” DFP, January 15, 1950.

24. Lichtenstein, Most Dangerous Man, 283; John Barnard, American Vanguard: The United Auto Workers during the Reuther Years, 1935–1970 (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2004), 276; Steve Jefferys, Management and Managed: Fifty Years of Crisis at Chrysler (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 115–16; Arthur O’Shea, “Strike Notice Filed on Chrysler,” DFP, January 19, 1950; Arthur O’Shea, “Chrysler Crews Poised to Strike,” DFP, January 25, 1950; Arthur O’Shea, “UAW Looks Ahead to Long Strike,” DFP, January 26, 1950; and “Chrysler Talks Set for Today,” DFP, February 4, 1950.

25. “Chrysler’s Hundred Days,” Fortune (June 1950); Arthur O’Shea, “Chrysler Pension Rejected by UAW,” DFP, January 18, 1950; Arthur O’Shea, “Strike Notice Filed on Chrysler,” DFP, January 19, 1950; and Arthur O’Shea, “Behind the Strike at Chrysler: Principles Are Found at Stake,” DFP, January 29, 1950.

26. Kenneth McCormick, “Paying the Unemployed of Michigan Is a Big Business,” DFP, February 5, 1950; Kenneth McCormick, “MUCC Examines Claims with Care,” DFP, February 6, 1950; “Chrysler Strike Hits Welfare,” DFP, February 13, 1950; “City Speeds Relief to Strikers,” DFP, February 21, 1950; and Fred Tew, “Cash Relief Is Denied to Chrysler Strikers,” DFP, February 1, 1950.

27. “Jobs Scarce, Chrysler Workers Find,” DFP, February 26, 1950.

28. Charles J. Wartman, “Idle Chrysler Co. Workers Prepared for Long Siege,” Michigan Chronicle, February 4, 1950; Arthur O’Shea, “Chrysler Strikers Jam Meeting,” DFP, March 8, 1950; letter to the editor from Chrysler striker John K. Evanoff, DFP, March 9, 1950; and Harold Schachern, “Striker’s Family of 5 Fights to Keep Going,” DFP, March 12, 1950.

29. Frank Beckman, “Depression-Era Army Answers DPW Job Call,” DFP, February 14, 1950; and “Jobs Scarce, Chrysler Workers Find,” DFP, February 26, 1950.

30. Fred Tew, “It Took a Strike: Now Detroit Housewife Has a Profitable Business,” DFP, August 13, 1950.

31. Leo Donovan, “‘Rat Race’ Is On along Livernois,” DFP, January 26, 1950; Arthur O’Shea, “Chrysler Picket Lines Continue Peacefully,” DFP, January 28, 1950; “Chrysler Co. Workers Still Idle,” Michigan Chronicle, February 4, 1950; “Old Ship Coaling Site Yields Supply of Fuel,” DFP, February 19, 1950; “Coal Crisis at Hand as City’s Stocks Vanish,” DFP, February 22, 1950; and “300,000 Families in Area Burn Coal,” DFP, February 22, 1953.

32. Harold Schachern, “Behind the Strike at Chrysler: Chrysler Strike Has Worker Tightening Belt,” DFP, January 29, 1950; Harold Schachern, “Striker at Chrysler Has Job—As Picket,” DFP, February 12, 1950; Harold Schachern, “Striking Worker Still Won’t Get Discouraged,” DFP, February 26, 1950; and “Food Problem Mounts as Strike Drags On,” DFP, March 26, 1950.

33. Letter to the editor from “A CIO Member,” DFP, February 22, 1950; and “7,000 Chrysler Strikers Hear Reuther at Rally,” DFP, March 31, 1950.

34. Arthur O’Shea, “Chrysler Strikers Jam Meeting,” DFP, March 8, 1950; and Harold Schachern, “Striker’s Family of 5 Fights to Keep Going,” DFP, March 12, 1950.

35. Harold Schachern, “Strike Family Splits Single Easter Basket,” DFP, April 9, 1950; “Strike Won’t Be Over for Months for Many,” DFP, April 30, 1950; and Harold Schachern, “Easter Gloom Fades Fast at Striker’s Home,” DFP, April 10, 1950.

36. Fred Tew, “Long Strike Brings Out Tale of Family’s Courage,” DFP, May 1, 1950; and Fred Tew, “Sun Breaks through for Evicted Family,” DFP, May 2, 1950.

37. “Chrysler’s Hundred Days,” Fortune (June 1950): 70; “MUCC Notes 199,000 Idle in Detroit,” DFP, March 2, 1950; Fred Olmsted, “16,000 Jobs Lost to Detroiters as Factories Move Out of City,” DFP, April 16, 1950; “Strike Ordeal Is Over but the Woes Linger,” DFP, May 5, 1950; and “Everybody Pays Cost of Chrysler Strike,” DFP, May 5, 1950.

38. Leo Donovan, “Ford Lines Work 5 Nine-Hour Days,” DFP, March 2, 1950; Leo Donovan, “GM Output Pace Far Ahead of ’49,” DFP, March 3, 1950; Robert Sturgiss, “Coal Strike Settled: Daily Pay Up 70 Cents,” DFP, March 4, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Car Output Is Speeded,” DFP, March 7, 1950; and “Ford Plans 6-Day Week,” DFP, March 17, 1950.

39. “GM’s Divisions Set Records,” DFP, April 4, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Ford-Chevrolet Battle Ever Hot,” DFP, April 9, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Auto Output Still Zooming,” DFP, April 27, 1950; “GM 3-Month Profit Again Sets Record,” DFP, May 6, 1950; and Leo Donovan, “Hudson Sports Records Too,” DFP, May 7, 1950.

40. “Peace Bid to Chrysler,” DFP, April 18, 1950; Leo Donovan, “GM Runs Ahead of ’49 Record,” DFP, May 2, 1949; “Chrysler Bares Loss of 1.7 Million,” DFP, May 5, 1950; and Harold Schachern, “Pact Doesn’t End Worker’s Troubles,” DFP, May 5, 1950.

41. Arthur O’Shea, “$100-a-Month Pensions? Not Right Away,” DFP, January 13, 1950; John Murray, “Ex-Ford Workers Praise Pension,” DFP, February 19, 1950; Harold Schachern, “Pensioners Look Forward to a ‘Soft’ Life,” DFP, March 1, 1950; “Summary of Pension at Chrysler,” DFP, May 5, 1950; and “Worker, 85, to Get Pension from Chrysler,” DFP, August 8, 1950.

42. Leo Donovan, “Greater Records Seen,” DFP, May 5, 1950; Robert Perrin, “Chrysler Plants Hum Again as Strikers Return to Shops,” DFP, May 9, 1950; “Chrysler Speeding Production,” DFP, May 10, 1950; “Rail Row Hits Chrysler,” DFP, May 11, 1950; “Rail Strike Has Brewed for 16 Years,” DFP, May 11, 1950; “Auto Output Cracks All-Time Record,” DFP, May 13, 1950; “Trucks Keep Auto Plants Running,” DFP, May 14, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Auto Plants Still Plagued by ‘Ifs,’” DFP, May 14, 1950; and “Rail Strike Ends on Note of Discord,” DFP, May 17, 1950.

43. “The Treaty of Detroit,” Fortune (July 1950); “The New Kind of Collective Bargaining,” Fortune (January 1950); Russell Davenport, “Health Insurance Is Next,” Fortune (March 1950); “UAW and GM Hail Pact,” DFP, May 24, 1950; Robert Perrin, “UAW Turns Sights to Guaranteed Annual Wage,” DFP, May 28, 1950; and C. E. Wilson, “Pact Working, Wilson Reports,” DFP, July 9, 1950.

44. “Joblessness in State Hits Low Mark,” DFP, June 11, 1950; “Factory Payrolls at County Record,” DFP, June 13, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Auto Records Don’t Last Long,” DFP, June 2, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Ford Breaks Truck Record,” DFP, June 9, 1950; Leo Donovan, “K-F Production Trails Demand,” DFP, June 14, 1950; “Peacetime Employment at New High in State,” DFP, July 1, 1950; “Chevrolet, Ford Set Records,” DFP, July 2, 1950; “GM June Output Biggest of Any Month in History,” DFP, July 6, 1950; “State Idle Shrinks to 100,000,” DFP, August 9, 1950; and “UAW Blasts Story of State Labor Pinch,” DFP, August 13, 1950.

45. Nancy Gabin, Feminism in the Labor Movement: Women and the United Auto Workers, 1935–1975 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990), 143–87; Dorothy Sackle interview; Joe Woods interview; Charles Wartman, “On the Labor Line,” Michigan Chronicle, February 5, 1949; “A Compelling Argument,” editorial, Michigan Chronicle, March 5, 1949; Charles Wartman, “On the Labor Line,” Michigan Chronicle, October 8, 1949; Charles J. Wartman, “On the Labor Line,” Michigan Chronicle, April 1, 1950; “NAACP Protests Bias in Factories,” Michigan Chronicle, May 27, 1950; Edwin Lahey, “Jobs Fade for the Middle-Aged,” DFP, June 7, 1950; and “Jobs Lag for Women in Detroit,” DFP, August 18, 1950.

46. “801 Face Garnishment after Long Strike Siege,” DFP, June 15, 1950; and “Detroit Is Rated Tops for Annual Factory Pay,” DFP, July 3, 1950.

47. James M. Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automotive Industry (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 209; Rae, American Automobile Industry, 109; Lawrence J. White, The Automobile Industry since 1945 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 93; and Leo Donovan, “Who Buys Cars? GM Checks to See,” DFP, February 24, 1950.

48. Edwards, Dynamics of the Automobile Industry, 28; White, Automobile Industry since 1945, 13; “Meat Prices Rising; No End in Sight,” DFP, July 4, 1950; “Prices Up on Meat, Coffee, Sugar, Flour,” DFP, July 19, 1950; Robert Perrin, “Public’s Panic Buying Deplored by Dealers,” DFP, July 20, 1950; Arthur O’Shea, “Warns War Industry Can’t Sprout at Once,” DFP, July 20, 1950; “Used-Car Sales Zoom in Detroit,” DFP, July 6, 1950; and “Car Dealers Refusing to Take Orders,” DFP, July 29, 1950.

49. Jefferys, Management and Managed, 118–20; “18 Walk Out, Idle 1,000 at Chrysler,” DFP, June 16, 1950; “Vernor Plant of Briggs Shut by Walkout,” DFP, June 30, 1950; “Dodge Runs in Spite of Wildcat Strike,” DFP, July 8, 1950; “Strike of 24 at Briggs Idles 8,500,” DFP, July 28, 1950; “Brief Strike Idles 5,000 at Chrysler,” DFP, July 29, 1950; “Walkout at Briggs Idles 12,000,” DFP, August 3, 1950; “Chrysler Crippled by Strike,” DFP, August 22, 1950; and “23,700 Workers Idled by Detroit Strikes,” DFP, August 24, 1950.

50. “K-F Layoff Today Will Idle 10,000,” DFP, July 7, 1950; and “Pact Reached in Strike at Warner Gear,” DFP, July 14, 1950.

51. “4-Day Strike Terminated at Hudson,” DFP, September 30, 1950; and Les Coleman interview by Daniel Clark, August 29, 2000.

52. Nelson Lichtenstein, Labor’s War at Home: The CIO in World War II (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 89–94; Daniel Clark, Like Night and Day: Unionization in a Southern Mill Town (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 125–26; Arthur O’Shea, “Umpire System Promotes Auto Peace,” DFP, July 23, 1950; and Patricia Cayo Sexton, “A Feminist Union Perspective,” in B. J. Widick, Auto Work and its Discontents (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976), 21.

53. Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis, 33–88; Census of Population: 1950, vol. 2: Characteristics of the Population, Part 22, Michigan (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1952); George A. Hough III, “Housing Shortage Continues to Plague Many Detroiters,” DFP, March 27, 1949; “No Houses to Rent, Workers Quit Detroit,” DFP, October 29, 1950; James Ransom, “750,000 Found Ill-Housed in Detroit,” DFP, December 7, 1950; and “‘Bootleg’ Landlords Called Threat to City,” DFP, March 13, 1952.

54. Reprint of letter from Local 600 officers to President Truman, October 25, 1950, in Ford Facts Special Layoff Edition, ca. July 1951; “Credit Curbs Ordered,” DFP, September 9, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Automotive Sales Tapering Off,” DFP, October 3, 1950; “Credit Curb Hits Autos,” DFP, October 14, 1950; “Car Dealers ‘Shocked’ by U.S. Order,” DFP, October 14, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Credit Cut Hurts Dealers,” DFP, October 17, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Defense Plans Stir Anxiety in Auto Industry,” DFP, October 22, 1950; “Consumers Debts Soar as Income Drops Off,” DFP, October 22, 1950; “Credit Curbs Slash Auto Sales,” DFP, October 26, 1950; Leo Donovan, “New Car Sales Take Plunge,” DFP, October 26, 1950; and Leo Donovan, “Auto Sales: New Credit Buying Controls Making Dealers Very Unhappy,” DFP, November 26, 1950.

55. Leo Donovan, “Defense Plans Stir Anxiety in Auto Industry,” DFP, October 22, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Wilson Raps Steel Pinch,” DFP, October 31, 1950; “Reuther Hits Cutback Order in Metals,” DFP, November 4, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Car Firms Face Steel Shortage,” DFP, November 16, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Copper Curb’s Effect Uncertain,” DFP, December 1, 1950; and “Workers in Demand as Year Closes,” DFP, January 1, 1951.

56. “90,000 to Be Idled in Detroit,” DFP, November 22, 1950; “Layoff Order Hits 50,000 at Ford Plant,” DFP, November 30, 1950; “Changeover Idles 17,000 at Dodge,” DFP, December 13, 1950; “17,500 More Being Idled at Chrysler,” DFP, December 15, 1950; and “Chrysler to Cut Back 20 Per Cent,” DFP, January 3, 1951.

57. Leo Donovan, “Auto Makers Hit All-Time Record,” DFP, December 3, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Auto Records Go Sky High,” DFP, December 21, 1950; “Detroit Production Up to 9.8 Billions,” DFP, December 30, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Ford’s ’50 Output Totals 2 Million,” DFP, December 31, 1950; and “Workers in Demand as Year Closes,” DFP, January 1, 1951.

Chapter 3. No Longer the Arsenal of Democracy

1. Charles E. Edwards, Dynamics of the United States Automobile Industry (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1965), 16; Earl F. Wegmann, “87,000 Idled in Auto Plants,” DFP, February 2, 1951; Earl F. Wegmann, “Auto-Plant Layoffs Mushroom,” DFP, February 3, 1951; “Rail Snarl to Idle 33,000 at Ford,” DFP, February 8, 1951; “Unionist Asks UAW to Oust Local’s Staff,” DFP, March 23, 1951; and “DeSoto UAW Accuses 4 in Walkouts,” DFP, April 11, 1951.

2. Norman Nicholson, “Job Seekers Warned against Expecting Work in Automobile Industry,” DFP, January 14, 1951.

3. John Griffith, “Detroit Food-Price Spiral Continues Unabated,” DFP, January 11, 1951; “‘Delay Pay Lids,’—UAW,” DFP, December 21, 1950; Earl F. Wegmann, “UAW Calls Price Lid an ‘Outright Fraud,’” DFP, February 1, 1951; Leo Donovan, “Workers Find Car Payments Hard to Meet,” DFP, February 23, 1951; Earl F. Wegmann, “Auto Worker’s Wages Racing with Prices,” DFP, March 12, 1951; and “Cost of Living Up 9.6 Pct. in Year,” DFP, May 24, 1951.

4. Edwards, Dynamics of the Automobile Industry, 124; reprint of letter from Carl Stellato, Local 600 president, to Stuart Symington, National Security Resources Board, December 14, 1950, in Ford Facts Special Layoff Edition, ca. July 1951; reprint of memo from Local 600 Executive Board to President Truman, June 29, 1951, in Ford Facts Special Layoff Edition, ca. July 1951; “GM and Chrysler Get Huge War Contracts,” DFP, December 23, 1950; “GM to Build Air Force Jet Planes,” DFP, December 27, 1950; “Government Awards 2 More Defense Contracts to Detroit Companies,” DFP, December 28, 1950; “Chrysler Given Contract to Produce Jet Engines,” DFP, January 8, 1951; Leo Donovan, “Packard Gets Contract for Engines from Navy,” DFP, February 20, 1951; “Ford Gets 195-Million Tank Order,” DFP, March 7, 1951; and Leo Donovan, “Ford Awarded 3 New Contracts,” DFP, May 2, 1951.

5. “U.S. Orders at GM Hit 3 Billion,” DFP, March 3, 1951; “Pontiac Gets 57-Million U.S. Contract,” DFP, March 22, 1951; and “Pontiac Gets Cannon Contract,” DFP, April 19, 1951.

6. Elwin Brown interview by Daniel Clark, August 7, 2003.

7. L. J. Scott interview.

8. Reprint of memo from Local 600 to Walter Reuther and the UAW International Executive Board, in Ford Facts Special Layoff Edition, ca. July 1951; “10,500 Idled by Shortage,” DFP, June 5, 1951; James M. Haswell, “Ask New Cuts in Auto Metals,” DFP, May 19, 1951; and “U.S. Cuts Car Output 3 Pct.,” DFP, June 3, 1951.

9. “10,000 Face Layoff at Ford in 60 Days,” DFP, May 18, 1951; Leo Donovan, “More Automobile Layoffs Feared,” DFP, May 20, 1951; Earl F. Wegmann, “Hudson Motor Lays Off 10,000,” DFP, May 23, 1951; Leo Donovan, “More Layoffs to Follow New Cutback,” DFP, June 3, 1951; “Ford to Idle 4,000 Friday at Rouge,” DFP, June 27, 1951; and “Chrysler and Briggs to Lay Off 28,000,” DFP, June 28, 1951.

10. “Budd Strike Idles 23,850 at Chrysler,” DFP, May 1, 1951; “3,250 Idled at Chrysler,” DFP, May 4, 1951; “Briggs Plant Again Shut by Walkout,” DFP, May 12, 1951; “6,200 Idle as 30 Strike Briggs,” DFP, May 16, 1951; “Dodge Workers Balk at Smocks; 10,000 Idled,” DFP, May 26, 1951; Earl F. Wegmann, “Dodge Strike Idles 32,000 Workers at 8 Chrysler Plants,” DFP, May 29, 1951; “Auto-Plant Rows Idle 21,000,” DFP, July 7, 1951; “8,000 Idled in Disputes at Chrysler,” DFP, July 9, 1951; “25,500 Idled by Auto Plant Work Dispute,” DFP, July 12, 1951; “8,000 Idled in Disputes at Chrysler,” DFP, July 19, 1951; “UAW Acts to Stop Walkouts,” DFP, July 24, 1951; “Strike Idles 16,000 at Dodge Main,” DFP, July 26, 1951; and David J. Wilkie, “Auto Makers Hit by Uncertainties,” DFP, June 26, 1951.

11. “UAW Claims Hudson Plots Slowdown,” DFP, July 21, 1951; “Unionist Hits Ford in Mass Layoffs,” DFP, July 22, 1951; and “GM to Shut Plants a Week,” DFP, July 24, 1951.

12. Leo Donovan, “Tool Business Really Rolling,” DFP, August 2, 1951; and Leo Donovan, “Still Lining Up for the Cadillac,” DFP, May 24, 1951.

13. Leo Donovan, “New U.S. Order to Cut Output,” DFP, September 12, 1951; Leo Donovan, “Metals Worry Car Producers,” DFP, November 12, 1950; and “Why an Auto Cutback? … 27 Cars Build a Tank,” DFP, January 7, 1951.

14. Leo Donovan, “U.S. Order Irks Auto Makers,” DFP, September 16, 1951; Robert Perrin, “Employment ‘Squeeze’ Is On,” DFP, November 4, 1951; “Reuther Hits Cutback Order in Metals,” DFP, November 4, 1950; “14,000 Ford Workers Face Indefinite Layoff,” DFP, November 8, 1950; and Earl F. Wegmann, “Critical Labor Shortage Threatening Detroit,” DFP, November 5, 1950.

15. Leo Donovan, “Eye State Plants for Scrap Metal,” DFP, November 8, 1951; Leo Donovan, “Industry Relies on Scrap Iron,” DFP, December 27, 1950; and “Whine of Diesels Replacing Old Iron Horses’ Puff,” DFP, December 12, 1954.

16. “Materials Handling: The New Word in Industry,” Fortune (June 1948); Thomas Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 130–38; Leo Donovan, “Time Is Money, Industry Finds,” DFP, October 11, 1951; “DeSoto’s New Plant Is Opened,” DFP, November 23, 1951; “Ford Engine Plant Nearly ‘Automatic,’” DFP, March 31, 1952; and untitled graphic on front page, Ford Facts, September 27, 1952.

17. Vincent Mitchell, “Call Committeeman If You’re Laid Off,” Ford Facts, October 27, 1951; Charles J. Wartman, “On the Labor Line,” Michigan Chronicle, December 22, 1951; and “Dodge Plant Closed by Walkout,” DFP, August 9, 1951.

18. “NAACP Protests Bias in Factories,” Michigan Chronicle, May 27, 1950; “Forty Women Fight to Save Jobs,” DFP, July 25, 1951; “Women Ready Grievance in Ford Layoff,” DFP, July 26, 1951; and Charles J. Wartman, “On the Labor Line,” Michigan Chronicle, December 1, 1951.

19. Owen Deatrick, “Unemployed List at 135,000 in State,” DFP, November 21, 1951; and Earl F. Wegmann, “Investigations Do Little to Cheer Detroit’s 120,000 Jobless,” DFP, December 23, 1951.

20. Open letter from Local 600 to UAW leadership, Ford Facts, October 27, 1951 (capitalization in the original); and “The State of the Union,” Ford Facts, September 27, 1952.

21. Bill Collett, “Model Changeover Comes at Bad Time,” Ford Facts, October 27, 1951; “DPW Denies Having 30,000 Jobs Open,” DFP, November 28, 1951; and “Auto Plants to Lay Off 25,500,” DFP, December 1, 1951.

22. “10,000 Sought for Mail Jobs,” DFP, November 6, 1951; “10,000 Seek Postal Jobs,” DFP, November 14, 1951; Geoffrey Howes, “3,000 Clamor for Shovel Jobs,” DFP, December 21, 1951; and “3,500 Seek Jobs as Laborers,” DFP, March 11, 1952.

23. “City, State Tackle Unemployment,” DFP, January 4, 1952; Drew Pearson, “The Defense Battle for Detroit,” DFP, January 6, 1952; “Wilson ‘Regrets’ City’s Joblessness,” DFP, January 7, 1952; Thomas S. Haney, “U.S. Acts to Aid City Job Crisis,” DFP, January 13, 1952; “City Faces $1,200,000 Deficit,” DFP, January 22, 1952; Robert Perrin, “Only 140,000 in State Now in Defense Work,” DFP, February 13, 1952; and James M. Haswell, “City Gets Promises but No More Work,” DFP, March 15, 1952.

24. “Raising of Car Quota to Save 70,000 Jobs,” DFP, January 9, 1952; Leo Donovan, “Ford Declares Car Quota Stirs False Job Hopes,” DFP, January 11, 1952; and Leo Donovan, “Aluminum Windfall Won’t Reduce Idleness,” DFP, February 11, 1952. There was long-standing frustration with Fleischmann among UAW members. See Local 600 Resolution on Jobs, Ford Facts Special Layoff Edition, ca. July 1951.

25. “Task Force Studies Shift of City’s Idle,” DFP, January 23, 1952; and Robert Perrin, “Tragedy of Errors Brought Job Pinch,” DFP, February 10, 1952.

26. “Boom Threatens to Go BOOM in ’52,” DFP, January 5, 1952; and “Raising of Car Quota to Save 70,000 Jobs,” DFP, January 9, 1952.

27. Robert Perrin, “How Workers without Jobs Weather Crisis,” DFP, February 17, 1952; and Clint Wilkinson, “Things Aren’t as Bad as They Seem,” DFP, February 17, 1952.

28. Louis Cook, “Winter—And No Job,” DFP, January 6, 1952; Louis Cook, “Available Jobs Don’t Aid Jobless,” DFP, January 8, 1952; and Robert Perrin, “How Workers without Jobs Weather Crisis,” DFP, February 17, 1952.

29. Gene Johnson interview; Margaret Beaudry interview; Paul Ish interview; Paul Ross interview by Daniel Clark, May 20, 2003; and “Local Store Boycott: Community Aroused over Non-Employment,” Pontiac Herald, October 14, 1957.

30. “Detroit Job Picture Labeled ‘Normal’; Moody Objects,” DFP, February 21, 1952; “No ‘Normal’ Seen for Unemployment,” DFP, February 22, 1952; and “30,000 Fail to Seek Jobless Pay,” DFP, May 27, 1951.

31. “Idle Rolls Increase by 13,000,” DFP, January 8, 1952; Louis Cook, “Available Jobs Don’t Aid Jobless,” DFP, January 8, 1952; “Only 194 Jobs Lost, Ford Says,” DFP, January 10, 1952; “Jobless Pay Exhausted by 20,000,” DFP, January 17, 1952; and Russell Clanahan, “Job Hunter Visits 7 Plants in One Day, but Still No Work,” DFP, March 14, 1952.

32. “114 Families Jam 3 Welfare Shelters,” DFP, January 6, 1952; and Charles Weber, “Family of 10 Faces a Homeless Prospect,” DFP, August 18, 1951.

33. “City Faces $1,200,000 Deficit,” DFP, January 22, 1952; Robert Perrin, “How Workers without Jobs Weather Crisis,” DFP, February 17, 1952; and Leo Donovan, “Influx of Out-of-Town Buyers Boosts Prices of Used Cars,” DFP, February 22, 1952.

34. Dale Nouse, “Joblessness Again Ups City’s Crime Curve,” DFP, January 7, 1952; Charles E. Boyd, “New Layoffs Hit Squeezed Retailers,” DFP, January 20, 1952; “Average Factory Wage Hits $2.04 Hourly Peak,” DFP, May 3, 1952; and “Father of 10 Held in Grocery Holdup,” DFP, July 17, 1952.

35. Norman Kenyon, “Recruiting Boom: Only Women Are a Problem,” DFP, February 17, 1952; “1,600 Face Draft Call in County,” DFP, November 8, 1951; and “State Draft Calls 2,200 for April,” DFP, March 5, 1952.

36. Elwin Brown interview; Joe Woods interview; L. J. Scott interview; and Don Hester interview.

37. Robert Zieger, The CIO, 1935–1955 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995), 300–304; Charles E. Egan, “Steel Firms to Fight Seizure; Strike Is Off,” DFP, April 9, 1952; “Steel Workers Strike as Court Voids Seizure,” DFP, April 30, 1952; “Steel Seizure Sticks til Top Court Rules,” DFP, May 1, 1952; “Strike Grips Steel; Court Ends Seizure,” DFP, June 3, 1952; and “Steel Strike Idles 18,000 in Detroit,” DFP, June 3, 1952.

38. “Ford Orders 4-Day Week,” DFP, June 19, 1952; “Ford Stays on 5-Day Week,” DFP, June 20, 1952; Robert Perrin, “Ford to Shut 18 Plants in U.S. Monday,” DFP, June 28, 1952; and Robert Perrin, “Ford to Halt All Assemblies for Week Beginning Monday,” DFP, July 12, 1952.

39. “Steel Strike Idles 12,400 at Chevrolet,” DFP, June 25, 1952; “Steel Strike Idling Thousands More Daily,” DFP, June 27, 1952; “Chrysler Closing Monday Because of Steel Strike,” DFP, July 10, 1952; Robert Perrin, “Layoffs Hit 16,000 at Briggs Today,” DFP, July 11, 1952; Robert Perrin, “Chrysler Lays Off 14,500 More,” DFP, July 19, 1952; and Leo Donovan, “Both Pontiacs Return to Normal,” DFP, August 20, 1952.

40. Robert Perrin, “Steel Strike Perils State Economy,” DFP, June 29, 1952; James McGuire interview by Daniel Clark, August 24, 2000; Leo Donovan, “Steel Priorities to Extend Famine,” DFP, July 10, 1952; Leo Donovan, “Financiers Curb Buying Sprees,” DFP, July 11, 1952; “Idle List Climbs to 240,000,” DFP, July 16, 1952; Leo Donovan, “Future Black, Auto Men Agree,” DFP, July 18, 1952; “Car Output Hits New Postwar Low,” DFP, July 18, 1952; and Robert Perrin, “State Reels Out of Strike,” DFP, July 25, 1952.

41. Leo Donovan, “Auto Industry Hopes for Relief,” DFP, July 25, 1952; Robert Perrin, “State Reels Out of Strike,” DFP, July 25, 1952; “Pact Ends Steel Strike,” DFP, July 25, 1952; “Auto Layoffs Go On Despite Steel Peace,” DFP, July 29, 1952; Robert Perrin, “Auto Plants Reopening,” DFP, August 1, 1952; “Idle Rolls in State Top 350,000,” DFP, August 5, 1952; Robert Perrin, “Ford to Shut 18 Plants for Week,” DFP, August 8, 1952; Robert Perrin, “Ford Recalls 60,000 Next Week,” DFP, August 15, 1952; “Strike Layoffs Due to End,” DFP, August 24, 1952; and “50,000 Idled by Strike Called Back,” DFP, August 27, 1952.

42. Letter to the editor from “Union Member,” DFP, October 1, 1952.

43. “Auto Lines Up Despite Supply Gap,” DFP, August 22, 1952; “Auto Output Hits 102,000,” DFP, August 23, 1952; Leo Donovan, “Auto Industry to GO in April,” DFP, September 7, 1952; “Manpower Pinch Hits Detroit,” DFP, September 11, 1952; “Leo Donovan, “Auto Production Rising Sharply,” DFP, September 19, 1952; Robert Perrin, “State Faces Acute Shortage of Manpower, Board Says,” DFP, September 30, 1952; Leo Donovan, “Overtime Checks Seen for Detroit Auto Workers,” DFP, October 3, 1952; and “State Faces Labor Shortage,” DFP, October 19, 1952.

44. Ernie Liles interview by Daniel Clark, May 27, 2003.

45. C. E. Wilson, “Pact Working, Wilson Reports,” DFP, July 9, 1950; Norman Kenyon, “Suburb Prepares to Attack Inflation,” DFP, November 25, 1951; Leo Donovan, “Auto Wage Loss: $6,500,000 a Day,” DFP, July 24, 1952; “Living Cost in Detroit Rises Again,” DFP, July 25, 1952; “Auto Pay to Go Up,” DFP, August 21, 1952; Robert Perrin, “Auto-Pay Boost to be 3 Cents,” DFP, August 22, 1952; and letter to the editor from “Union Member,” DFP, October 1, 1952.

46. “Renters Face Fast Gouging If Controls End Sept. 30,” Ford Facts, September 13, 1952; “Detroit Rent Up 140% after Decontrol Vote,” Ford Facts, September 27, 1952; James Ransom, “City Kills Rent Lids; DSR Increases Fares,” DFP, September 17, 1952; “Rents Going Up 25 Per Cent, Complaining Tenants Report,” DFP, September 18, 1952; “Courts See Deluge of Evictions,” DFP, September 18, 1952; and letter to the editor from Irmgard Bobak, Detroit News (hereafter cited as DN), July 26, 1953.

47. Nelson Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor (New York: Basic Books, 1995), 294; Robert Perrin, “UAW Calls for GM Hike,” DFP, September 18, 1952; and “GM Shows Full Job Recovery,” DFP, October 28, 1952.

48. Robert Perrin, “Michigan Takes Job Crises in Stride,” DFP, October 12, 1952.

49. Ed Winge, “U-M Portrays Social Profile of Detroit Area,” DFP, November 2, 1952; Robert Perrin, “Serious Manpower Shortage Plagues Michigan’s Industry,” DFP, November 7, 1952; and “Chronicle Continues Probe into Plant Hiring Practices,” Michigan Chronicle, January 17, 1953.

50. “Survey Indicates Job Picture Brightening in Detroit,” Michigan Chronicle, August 30, 1952; Bill Lane, “Negro Employment Still a Mystery at Tank Arsenal,” Michigan Chronicle, September 6, 1952; “Auto Plant Bias Under Attack by UAW-CIO,” Michigan Chronicle, November 22, 1952; “Chronicle Continues Probe into Plant Hiring Practices,” Michigan Chronicle, January 17, 1953; and Nancy Gabin, Feminism in the Labor Movement: Women and the United Auto Workers, 1935–1975 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990), 158–59.

51. Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis, 91–123; “Non-Whites in City Put at 303,721,” DFP, July 30, 1952; “UAW Opens Drive on Job Bias,” DFP, November 22, 1952; letter to the editor from Earl Clemens, DFP, November 28, 1952; and Charles J. Wartman, “Study Reveals Little Change in Hiring Patterns since Riot,” Michigan Chronicle, March 7, 1953.

52. Sam Petok, “Baffled Lad Seeks Sister in a Big City,” DFP, January 27, 1950; Louis Cook, “Shoe Weather Came Too Soon,” DFP, October 7, 1952; letter to the editor from Earl Clemens, DFP, November 28, 1952; and Gene Johnson interview.

53. Leo Donovan, “Chrysler’s Vast Growth,” DFP, October 20, 1952; Leo Donovan, “World of Wheels,” DFP, November 14, 1952; “Factory Pay 42 Pct. of Michigan’s Income,” DFP, November 23, 1952; Leo Donovan, “World of Wheels,” DFP, December 12, 1952; “State Cites Gains in Employment,” DFP, December 25, 1952; “’52 Production of Big 3 Was 4,613,512 Units,” DFP, January 3, 1953; “Chrysler Reports Plus Figures for 1952,” DFP, February 12, 1953; “Jobs Hit Peak at Chrysler,” DN, January 3, 1953; and “GM Payrolls Hit Record 2 Billion,” DFP, March 6, 1953.

54. Leo Donovan, “Die Makers Toil 58 Hours a Week,” DFP, June 10, 1952; Ed Winge, “U-M Portrays Social Profile of Detroit Area,” DFP, November 2, 1952; and “The Skilled Worker Is King of the Roost,” DFP, December 14, 1952.

Chapter 4. A Post–Korean War Boom

1. Charles E. Edwards, Dynamics of the United States Automobile Industry (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1965), 29; John B. Rae, The American Automobile Industry (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1984), 105; Leo Donovan, “Curtice Predicts High Employment for GM in 1953,” DFP, January 17, 1953; “Employment at Ford Up,” DFP, January 25, 1953; “Employment in Detroit Sets Record,” DFP, January 31, 1953; “Jobs at Record High in Detroit Area,” DN, February 1, 1953; Leo Donovan, “World of Wheels,” DFP, February 4, 1953; “Auto Jobs Hit Record Peak,” DN, February 15, 195; Leo Donovan, “World of Wheels,” DFP, February 20, 1953; Ralph Watts, “Auto Output Climbs with New Models,” DN, January 25, 1953; Ralph Watts, “Swift Rise Shown in Auto Production,” DN, February 3, 1953; “Auto Quotas Die,” DFP, February 14, 1953; Asher Lauren, “Auto Makers Cheer at End of Controls,” DN, February 14, 1953; and “Auto Output Up Sharply,” DN, February 20, 1953.

2. Robert Perrin, “Men Wanted! That’s Detroit’s Sign of Spring,” DFP, March 1, 1953; and Ralph Watts, “Manpower Problem Perils Auto Goals,” DN, March 24, 1953.

3. Kenneth Thompson, “50,000 Youths, Idle in Streets, Hunt Trouble,” DFP, April 16, 1948; Robert Perrin, “Jobs Are Available, but Employers Are Particular,” DFP, September 6, 1949; and Leo Donovan, “Workers’ Output Reported Lower Than in 1930s,” DFP, May 2, 1948.

4. Robert Perrin, “Men Wanted! That’s Detroit’s Sign of Spring,” DFP, March 1, 1953.

5. “More Wives Working Outside of Their Homes,” DFP, May 28, 1952; “Manpower Pinch Hits Detroit,” DFP, September 11, 1952; Robert Perrin, “State Faces Acute Shortage of Manpower, Board Says,” DFP, September 30, 1952; “State Faces Shortage of Labor,” DFP, October 19, 1952; Robert Perrin, “Men Wanted! That’s Detroit’s Sign of Spring,” DFP, March 1, 1953; Asher Lauren, “Employers Desperate as Worker Shortage Grows Worse,” DN, March 8, 1953; “Job Boom Bypasses Women,” DN, April 19, 1953; Nancy Gabin, Feminism in the Labor Movement: Women and the United Auto Workers, 1935–1975 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990), 143–87; and Stephen Meyer, Manhood on the Line: Working-Class Masculinities in the American Heartland (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2016), 112–209.

6. Edith Arnold interview by Daniel Clark, November 7, 2003; Margaret Beaudry interview; Nora Kay Bailey interview by Daniel Clark, August 8, 2003; and Edwin G. Pipp, “GM in Flint Hires Women as Labor Shortage Becomes Acute,” DN, March 8, 1953.

7. “Job Boom Bypasses Women,” DN, April 19, 1953.

8. Edith Arnold interview.

9. Margaret Beaudry interview; and Collins George, “Michigan Pushes Drive for Labor as Shortage Pinches State Industry,” DFP, March 27, 1953.

10. Elwin Brown, Ernie Liles, Don Hester, and James Franklin interviews.

11. “Ford Upgrades First Negro Truck Driver,” Michigan Chronicle, May 2, 1953; Charles J. Wartman, “On the Labor Line,” Michigan Chronicle, May 2, 1953; and Charles J. Wartman, “The Spectator,” Michigan Chronicle, May 2, 1953.

12. “Even with Pensions, Plant Workers Are Reluctant to Retire,” DFP, November 30, 1952; Collins George, “Job Surplus a Break for Older Workers,” DFP, March 31, 1953; and “Dixie Pool Drying Up; Seek New Workers Elsewhere,” DN, April 1, 1953.

13. Edwards, Dynamics of the Automobile Industry, 172–74; Thomas Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 127–30, 138–40; Leo Donovan, “See Decentralization Move by Auto Firms,” DFP, January 20, 1946; Fred Olmsted, “16,000 Jobs Lost to Detroiters as Factories Move Out of City,” DFP, April 16, 1950; Leo Donovan, “Chrysler Plant Starts Operating,” DFP, February 8, 1952; Leo Donovan, “Chrysler’s Vast Growth,” DFP, October 20, 1952; “Ford to Build 2 New Plants,” DFP, January 18, 1953; Collins George, “Michigan Pushes Drive for Labor as Shortage Pinches State Industry,” DFP, March 27, 1953; Ralph Watts, “Auto Output Climbs Rapidly in California,” DN, April 2, 1953; and “Ford Plans New Plant,” DFP, April 27, 1953.

14. Robert S. Ball, “Auto Manufacturing Deep in the Throes of Significant Change,” DN, February 22, 1953; Leo Donovan, “World of Wheels,” DFP, February 5, 1953; Ralph Watts, “Auto Output Heads for 6-Month Record,” DN, March 31, 1953; Leo Donovan, “World of Wheels,” DFP, April 3, 1953; and “Expansion of Auto Industry Centers Mainly in Michigan,” DN, May 26, 1953.

15. Fred Olmsted, “16,000 Jobs Lost to Detroiters as Factories Move Out of City,” DFP, April 16, 1950; Ralph Watts, “Chevrolet to Build Factory in Livonia,” DN, April 23, 1953; John Griffith, “Wayne Folks Harvest 5,000 Bushels of Corn,” DFP, October 26, 1950; and Leo Donovan, “World of Wheels,” DFP, October 9, 1952.

16. “Labor,” Fortune (February 1953); Edwin G. Pipp, “Cancel 154 Million Ford Contract,” DN, April 16, 1953; Robert Perrin, “Ike Tells UAW He’ll Fight to Prevent Any Job Pinch,” DFP, April 26, 1953; Harold Tyler, “City Industrialists See No Recession Here,” DFP, May 3, 1953; James M. Haswell, “Kaiser Shorn of Contracts by Air Force,” DFP, June 25, 1953; “Save Jobs at Kaiser, UAW Pleads,” DFP, June 25, 1953; Asher Lauren, “Job Hunt Speeded by State for 9,600 Kaiser Workers,” DN, June 27, 1953; “Hope Wilts for Willow Villagers,” DN, June 27, 1953; and “Slash in War Work Due to Hit Area Soon,” DN, July 9, 1953.

17. “Business Roundup: Retail Boom,” Fortune (February 1953); “How to Recognize a Recession,” Fortune (March 1953); “Business Roundup,” Fortune (March 1953); “Business Roundup: Detroit: Danger Ahead,” Fortune (May 1953); Robert Perrin, “Auto Output Too High, Reuther Tells Industry,” DFP, May 16, 1953; “Auto Layoffs Threatened, Reuther Says,” DN, May 16, 1953; and “Automakers See Boom Continuing,” DFP, May 27, 1953.

18. “Business Roundup: Cars, Cars, Cars,” Fortune (August 1953); Edwards, Dynamics of the Automobile Industry, 29; “Inventories Increase 6 Billion,” DFP, August 10, 1953; “Auto Plants Cut Down on Steel,” DFP, August 10, 1953; Ralph Watts, “Dealers’ Stocks at Postwar High,” DN, August 27, 1953; Ralph Watts, “Auto Production Pace Slackens,” DN, September 3, 1953; “77,571 Jobless in State,” DFP, August 14, 1953; and “Economists Hit ‘Depression Talk,’” DFP, August 14, 1953.

19. Nelson Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor (New York: Basic Books, 1995), 294; John Barnard, American Vanguard: The United Auto Workers during the Reuther Years, 1935–1970 (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2004), 220; Robert Perrin, “UAW Gets 10 Ct. Hike in Fast Deal with GM,” DFP, May 23, 1953; “Ford OK’s 10-Ct. Hike and Record Pension,” DFP, May 26, 1953; Asher Lauren, “GM, Chrysler Join in Pension Boost,” DN, May 28, 1953; and Robert Perrin, “Chrysler Ups Benefits,” DFP, May 28, 1953.

20. Jim Ransom, Jack Strohm, Arthur W. O’Shea Jr., Collins George, and Miller Hollingsworth, “$40,000,000 GM Fire Razes Plant, Kills 2: Fear More Dead in Ruins,” DFP, August 13, 1953; “Drop Hose in Creek to Battle GM Blaze,” DN, August 13, 1953; “10,000 Idled by Fire,” DN, August 13, 1953; “GM Fire Ruins Yield 4th Body,” DFP, August 15, 1953; and “GM Bids for K-F Plant,” DFP, August 18, 1953.

21. “GM Sees No Layoffs at Burned-Out Plant,” DFP, August 13, 1953; “10,000 Idled by Fire,” DN, August 13, 1953; “50,000 Face Layoffs as Fire Result,” DFP, August 14, 1953; “GM Bids for K-F Plant,” DFP, August 18, 1953; Curt Haseltine, “GM Hopes Rise on Gear Output,” DFP, August 19, 1953; “Negotiations Still On for Willow Run,” DFP, August 20, 1953; and “GM Fire Seen Idling 65,000,” DFP, September 18, 1953.

22. “GM Fire Slashes Output of Cars by 4,000 a Day,” DFP, August 16, 1953; “Reuther Urges State Aid Stepup,” DFP, August 16, 1953; Curt Haseltine, “GM Hopes Rise on Gear Output,” DFP, August 19, 1953; Leo Donovan, “Fire to Idle 25,800 Next Week,” DFP, August 22, 1953; “GM Recall of 7,000 Predicted,” DFP, September 14, 1953; and Robert D’Arcy, “Savings, Temporary Jobs Support Thousands Hit by Livonia Fire,” DN, September 27, 1953.

23. James McGuire interview.

24. Nick Smith, “10,000 Affected by Sale of Willow Run Plant to GM,” DN, November 11, 1953.

25. Leo Donovan, “GM Closes Deal for Willow Run,” DFP, November 11, 1953; and Robert Perrin, “Willow Run Purchase Held Blow to Workers,” DFP, November 12, 1953.

26. “Leo Donovan, “K-F Deal Set with Willys,” DFP, March 24, 1953; Strike Is Settled in GM Transfer,” DFP, August 25, 1953; Robert Perrin, “GM Halts Shift of Machinery,” DFP, August 26, 1953; and “Vital Jobs at Willow Run Open,” DFP, September 4, 1953.

27. Ralph Watts, “Auto Production Pace Slackens,” DN, September 3, 1953; “Hiring in July Hits Bottom,” DFP, September 4, 1953; “Some Auto Firms Cut Production,” DFP, September 13, 1953; Leo Donovan, “Ford Sales Please Boss,” DFP, September 17, 1953; and “GM Fire Seen Idling 65,000,” DFP, September 18, 1953.

28. “Labor: Jitters in Detroit,” Fortune (October 1953); “22,000 Laid Off: Plymouth, Briggs Idle Workers,” DFP, September 19, 1953; “Briggs to Call 14,000 Back Monday,” DFP, September 22, 1953; Robert Perrin, “UAW Rips Chrysler for Overproduction,” DFP, October 11, 1953; and Robert Perrin, “Labor: Reuther Makes a Point,” DFP, October 11, 1953.

29. “Leo Donovan, “The Future Is Bright,” DFP, September 1, 1953; “‘Mr. Steel’ Fails to See Any Recession,” DFP, September 22, 1953; and Leo Donovan, “Don’t Be Afraid,” DFP, October 11, 1953.

30. Ralph Watts, “5,000,000th Car Rolls Off Line,” DN, October 9, 1953; and Ralph Watts, “Auto Output Cut to Help Dealers,” DN, November 3, 1953.

31. “A New Kind of Car Market,” Fortune (September 1953); Frank Beckman, “Economy to ‘Taper Off’ in 1954, Expert Says,” DFP, October 25, 1953; Ralph Watts, “Car Stocks Up, Output Drops,” DN, November 17, 1953; “Jobless Rolls in Michigan Highest in Last 16 Months,” DFP, November 29, 1953; “Jobs Hit 15-Month Low Here,” DN, December 13, 1953; Ralph Watts, “Auto Cutbacks Mainly Seasonal,” DN, December 11, 1953.

32. “10,000 Families to Go Homeless,” DFP, August 20, 1953; Arthur O’Shea, Jr., “Progress Makes ‘DPs’ of Thousands in City,” DFP, November 1, 1953; and James M. Haswell, “Detroit Rent Rise Tops Rest of U.S.,” DFP, December 27, 1953.

33. “Any Home Looks Good to Evictees,” DFP, August 21, 1953; and Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis, 33–88.

34. Bud Goodman, “A Room Best Home Family of 4 Can Afford,” DFP, August 25, 1953.

35. Letter to the editor signed “S.M.,” DN, October 6, 1953.

36. Letter to the editor signed “Her Mother,” DN, October 6, 1953.

37. “A Growing Crisis: Rapid Rise in Mortgage Foreclosures Perils Security of Laid-off Worker,” Michigan Chronicle, February 20, 1954; “Foreclosures on Land Contracts Not Excessive,” Michigan Chronicle, March 6, 1954; and Louis Tendler, “Foreclosures Rise on Land Contracts,” DN, February 14, 1954.

38. Bud Goodman, “Slum Tenants Helpless against Landlords’ Greed,” DFP, August 22, 1953.

39. Ibid.

40. “Evictions Balked in Slum Dispute,” DFP, March 16, 1954.

41. Bud Goodman, “8 in Family Live in Shelter Hall,” DFP, August 26, 1953; Bud Goodman, “Families Down on Luck Crowd City’s Shelters,” DFP, August 27, 1953; R. Hollingsworth, “Many Bosses Shun Disabled Workers,” DFP, September 13, 1953; Robert Perrin, “Deafness Gets a Hearing,” DFP, January 17, 1954; and Gene Johnson interview.

42. “A New Kind of Car Market,” Fortune (September 1953).

43. “Reuther Hints World Depression,” DFP, September 16, 1953; Miller Hollingsworth, “Auto Slump Due, Douglas Asserts,” DFP, November 9, 1953; Leo Donovan, “Auto Supply Hits Peak,” DFP, November 17, 1953; and “Michigan Idle Roll Increases,” DFP, November 29, 1953.

44. Leo Donovan, “Sees Break for Buyers,” DFP, November 10, 1953; and Leo Donovan, “Colbert Sees Gains,” DFP, November 13, 1953.

45. “Ike Promises Fight to Keep Prosperity: It Doesn’t Depend on War, He Says,” DFP, January 5, 1954.

46. Kenneth A. Thompson, “Labor Level Slips Again,” DFP, November 10, 1953; and “Auto Slump? Ford Derides Red’s Forecast,” DFP, November 29, 1953.

47. “Job Slash of 45,000 Seen in ’54,” DFP, November 14, 1953; Kenneth Thompson, “Detroit Has Most Jobless,” DFP, December 10, 1953; Ralph Watts, “Value of Output, Pay at New High,” DN, December 15, 1953; Jack Strohm, “High Employment in 1954 Predicted,” DFP, December 27, 1953; and Jack Strohm, “Night Courses Develop Skills, Jobless Told,” DFP, January 18, 1954.

48. Robert Perrin, “UAW Flays Chrysler Layoffs,” DFP, December 17, 1953; “B of C Says Plant Pay Buys More,” DFP, January 3, 1954; Robert Perrin, “Chrysler, Hudson to Idle 12,150,” DFP, January 8, 1954; and “Reuther Demands Hiked Aid,” DFP, February 26, 1954.

Chapter 5. A “Painfully Inconvenient” Recession

1. “Chrysler Takes the Bumps,” Fortune (April 1954); Lawrence J. White, The Automobile Industry since 1945 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 15; James M. Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automotive Industry (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 214; Martin S. Hayden, “Jobs Here Periled by Army Cuts,” DN, January 6, 1954; “UAW Lists Heavy Cost of Layoffs by Kaiser,” DN, January 7, 1954; “100,000 Detroiters Idle, Union Tells Ike,” DFP, January 7, 1954; Robert Perrin, “Chrysler, Hudson to Idle 12,150,” DFP, January 8, 1954; Asher Lauren, “167,000 Out of Work in State, Says MESC,” DN, January 10, 1954; “Packard Orders Layoff,” DFP, January 15, 1954; and “Army’s Orders Being Slashed,” DFP, January 19, 1954.

2. Ed Winge, “107,000 Jobless in Detroit; More Layoffs Are Predicted,” DFP, January 10, 1954; “Detroit Pinch Idles 82,000, State Reports,” DN, January 7, 1954; Asher Lauren, “167,000 Out of Work in State, Says MESC,” DN, January 10, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Ford Aide Chides Dealers for Chanting the Blues,” DFP, January 11, 1954; Leo Donovan, “NADA Has a Program,” DFP, January 15, 1954; and Asher Lauren, “Job Picture for Detroit Has Good and Bad Spots,” DN, January 31, 1954.

3. Stewart Didzun, “Laid-off Workers Here Fearful of the Long Haul,” DN, January 12, 1954.

4. Thomas Nowak interview by Daniel Clark, September 20, 2000; Emerald Neal interview by Daniel Clark, August 21, 2000; Don Hester, Margaret Beaudry, Gene Johnson, Elwin Brown, L. J. Scott, and James Franklin interviews.

5. Robert Perrin, “‘Recession Has Set In’—Reuther,” DFP, January 17, 1954; “Ford Sees 1,500,000 Auto Slash: Shouldn’t Mean Layoffs, He Says,” DFP, January 18, 1954; Leo Donovan, “GM to Put Billion in Expansion,” DFP, January 20, 1954; Ed Winge, “Total at Work in Area Tops Boom of 1952,” DFP, January 24, 1954; “Employment in Detroit,” editorial, DN, February 4, 1954; “Wilson Disputes Detroit Job Need,” DN, February 9, 1954; and Jack Strohm, “Job Pinch Here Seen at Peak,” DFP, February 10, 1954.

6. James M. Haswell, “City’s Jobless to Get U.S. Aid: Detroit Rated Area of Distress,” DFP, February 9, 1954; and “Our Employment Pattern,” DN, February 10, 1954.

7. Letter to the editor from Ted Kaleniecki, DFP, January 23, 1954.

8. Charles Manos, “We’re the Unemployed,” DFP, February 26, 1954.

9. “Survey Calls Pinch ‘Moderate,’” DFP, January 26, 1954; Frank Beckman, “Worried Cobo Ponders Aid for Jobless,” DFP, January 27, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Auto Output Cut 12 Pct.,” DFP, January 28, 1954; “UAW Asks Local Action,” DFP, February 3, 1954; “3,800 Face Week Off at Packard: Chevrolet to Idle 60,000 for a Day,” DFP, February 5, 1954; and Jack Strohm, “UAW Official Attacks GM’s ’32-Hour Week,’” DFP, February 19, 1954.

10. Collins George, “Mother of 9 Finds Life Uphill Struggle,” DFP, September 28, 1954.

11. Letter to the editor from Martin A. Larson, DN, March 12, 1953. For refutations of stereotypes associated with Southern white migrants, see Chad Berry, Southern Migrants, Northern Exiles (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000); Bob Bowen interview by Daniel Clark, August 25, 2000, and August 28, 2000; Gene Johnson, Ernie Liles, James McGuire, Emerald Neal, and Paul Ross interviews. For evidence that could partially support Larson’s position, with cautions against stereotyping, see Evelyn S. Stewart, “Third Ave. Opens Door to Southerners,” DFP, August 28, 1957; and Gerald Weales, “Small-Town Detroit: Motor City on the Move,” Commentary, September 1, 1956.

12. Dale Nouse, “Jobless Start Rush on Welfare,” DFP, February 3, 1954.

13. Letter to the editor signed “A.V.F.,” DN, October 5, 1953; letter to the editor from Walter F. Grogan, DN, February 18, 1954; letter to the editor signed “D.C.,” DN, February 18, 1954; letter to the editor from Bill Thomson, DN, October 19, 1954; and letter to the editor from Henry Sommerfeld, DN, October 30, 1954.

14. “The Rich, Middle-Income Class,” Fortune (May 1954); letter to the editor signed “Wage Earner,” DN, February 1, 1954; Dorothy Sackle, Edith Arnold, and Katie Neumann interviews; letter to the editor signed “A Working Housewife,” DN, February 26, 1954; Charles Manos, “We’re the Unemployed,” DFP, February 26, 1954; and Asher Lauren, “Jobs Kept by Women in Plants,” DN, February 28, 1954.

15. George Bick, “Jobless Wives Forsake Hearth, Yearn for Return to Factory,” DN, February 14, 1954; letter to the editor from Sarah Lovell, DN, October 28, 1954; and Boyd Simons, “Union Worked Up on Working Wives,” DN, March 28, 1955.

16. Charles E. Edwards, Dynamics of the United States Automobile Industry (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1965), 72; Asher Lauren, “Job Picture for Detroit Has Good and Bad Spots,” DN, January 31, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Production Is Still High,” DFP, February 5, 1954; Ralph Watts, “Ford, Chevrolet Set Pace in Race,” DN, April 2, 1954; “Ford Outproduces Chevie in Quarter,” DFP, April 3, 1954; “10-Hour Day to Lift Output of Cadillacs,” DN, April 5, 1954; Dale Nouse, “Ford Hits 30-Year Sales Peak,” DFP, April 8, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Ford Passed by Chevrolet,” DFP, April 30, 1954; “Ford Output Soars Past Pace Last Year,” DN, May 3, 1954; and Leo Donovan, “3rd Biggest Year Seen,” DFP, May 7, 1954.

17. Robert S. Ball, “Ingenious New Machinery Cuts Toil in Auto Plants,” DN, February 19, 1954.

18. Ralph Watts, “Chevrolet Line Rolls Over Gaps,” DN, October 15, 1954; Leo Donovan, “The ‘Most’ in Plants,” DFP, October 21, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Ford’s Answer,” DFP, October 22, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Automation at Pontiac,” DFP, December 2, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Automation Will Grow,” DFP, January 12, 1955; and “Ford Puts 625 Million into 3-Year Expansion,” DFP, April 29, 1955.

19. Les Coleman interview; Robert S. Ball, “Ingenious New Machinery Cuts Toil in Auto Plants,” DN, February 19, 1954; and Warren Stromberg, “Looking for a Trade? Factory Skills Spell Security,” DFP, April 25, 1954.

20. Russell Clanahan, “How Does Worker Qualify Himself for Skilled Post?” DFP, March 16, 1952.

21. Ibid.; Don Vance, “Plenty of Jobs for Bright Apprentices?” DFP, November 3, 1953; Jack Strohm, “Are Skilled Men Cheated?” DFP, March 7, 1954; Warren Stromberg, “Looking for a Trade? Factory Skills Spell Security,” DFP, April 25, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Let Junior Use Hands,” DFP, September 24, 1954; and letter to the editor signed “Skilled Worker’s Wife,” DN, May 13, 1956.

22. L. J. Scott and Paul Ish interviews.

23. Joe Dowdall, “Burglaries Up 56 Pct. This Year,” DFP, February 23, 1954; Jack Schermerhorn, “Crime in City Rises 100 Pct.,” DFP, February 28, 1954; “One Buck Costs $25,” DFP, March 4, 1954; “Rise in Hold-Ups Creating Serious Problem in Detroit,” Michigan Chronicle, March 6, 1954; “140,000 in Area Lack Jobs,” DFP, March 7, 1954; and Don Vance, “Sick, Idle, Broke; His Answer—a Gun,” DFP, March 11, 1954.

24. “Women Foresake Homes for Odd Jobs as Clouds of Recession Lower,” Michigan Chronicle, March 6, 1954; Richard B. Henry, “Negroes Hit Hard by Job Crisis,” Michigan Chronicle, July 17, 1954; John Griffith, “8 Living in Hearse Would Like a Home,” DFP, February 11, 1954; “Clan Living in Hearse Sad Again,” DFP, February 12, 1954; “140,000 in Area Lack Jobs,” DFP, March 7, 1954; and “Unemployed March on City Hall,” DFP, April 14, 1954.

25. Ralph Watts, “Credit Backbone of Auto Market,” DN, December 6, 1953; Ralph Watts, “Dealers’ Stocks Stay Near Peak,” DN, April 20, 1954; and Leo Donovan, “Hint Ceiling Reached in Auto Pay,” DFP, May 16, 1954.

26. James M. Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automotive Industry (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 209; Lawrence J. White, The Automobile Industry since 1945 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 109–16; John B. Rae, The American Automobile Industry (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1984), 109; Ralph Watts, “Ford, Chevrolet Set Pace in Race,” DN, April 2, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Grim Days at Chevrolet,” DFP, April 14, 1954; “Auto Sales Highest in 9 Months,” DFP, April 21, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Styling Is a Gamble,” DFP, May 18, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Output Hits 1954 Peak,” DFP, May 21, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Dealers to Convene,” DFP, May 23, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Rough Days for Dealers,” DFP, May 25, 1954; Leo Donovan, “2nd Quarter Output Rises,” DFP, June 15, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Somber Day for Dealers,” DFP, June 18, 1954; and Leo Donovan, “Only Big 3 in Black,” DFP, July 7, 1954.

27. White, Automobile Industry since 1945, 159–60; Edwards, Dynamics of the Automobile Industry, 30; Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars, 324; Leo Donovan, “Dealers Alarmed by Bootlegging,” DFP, January 31, 1950; “GM, Ford Warn ‘Bootleg’ Dealers, DFP, February 17, 1954; “Car Bootleg Increase Reported,” DFP, February 19, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Chrysler Enters ‘Bootleg’ Battle,” DFP, March 9, 1954; Ralph Watts, “Bootleg Autos Still Run Wild,” DN, May 25, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Somber Days for Dealers,” DFP, June 18, 1954; “Chrysler Dealers Told to Sell or Quit,” DN, August 27, 1954; and Leo Donovan, “Bootlegging Rages Anew,” DFP, November 9, 1954.

28. William B. Harris, “Last Stand of the Auto Independents,” Fortune (December 1954); Edwards, Dynamics of the Automobile Industry, 13–14, 34–38, 109; Rae, American Automobile Industry, 100, 107; John Barnard, American Vanguard: The United Auto Workers during the Reuther Years, 1935–1970 (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2004), 296; Robert Perrin, “Nash, Hudson Seal Merger,” DFP, January 15, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Hudson Lines to Leave City,” DFP, May 28, 1954; and Saul Pett, “Battle of the Giants,” DFP, August 22, 1954.

29. Leo Donovan, “Hudson Lines to Leave City,” DFP, May 28, 1954; Asher Lauren, “4,300 to Lose Jobs as Hudson Moves,” DN, May 28, 1954; and “Hudson’s Decision Stuns Work Force,” DN, May 28, 1954.

30. Edwards, Dynamics of the Automobile Industry, 38–44, 75, 118; Barnard, American Vanguard, 296; Louis Cook, “Tri-County Area Gets 108 Plants,” DFP, January 25, 1953; Ralph Watts, “Packard to Spend Millions to Expand,” DN, February 8, 1954; “’54 Basically a Sound Year, Nance Says,” DFP, March 16, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Loss Bared by Packard,” DFP, May 4, 1954; David K. Wilkie, “Studebaker, Packard OK Merger,” DFP, June 20, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Merger Seen Creating New Packard Jobs,” DFP, June 23, 1954; “3,800 Idled by Moving at Packard,” DFP, June 25, 1954; and “Packard Calls Back 4,800 at 2 Plants,” DFP, July 13, 1954.

31. “Auto Suppliers Need Diversified Products,” DFP, August 29, 1954; “Spring Firm Shuts Plant at Van Dyke,” DFP, October 12, 1954.

32. Barnard, American Vanguard, 298; Geoffrey Howes, “2,500 Losing ‘Life’ at Murray,” DFP, July 4, 1954; “7,000 Jobs Shrink to 50 at Murray’s,” DN, November 19, 1954; Bruce Tuttle, “Murray Ends Defense and Body Work,” DN, November 19, 1954; and letter to the editor from Art Willcocke, DN, July 8, 1955.

33. “Chrysler Takes the Bumps,” Fortune (April 1954); Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars, 214; Ralph Watts, “Car Output Cut from Year Ago,” DN, May 30, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Ford Sets New Marks,” DFP, June 2, 1954; Ralph Watts, “Auto Forecast Proves Accurate,” DN, June 30, 1954; “U.S. Job Picture Brighter in June,” DFP, July 7, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Auto Sales in June Hit 4-Year Peak,” DFP, July 10, 1954; and Ralph Watts, “Output to Rise Last Two Months,” DN, August 3, 1954.

34. “How Teenagers Can Find Work,” DFP, June 3, 1954; letter to the editor from A. M. Moakley, DFP, July 22, 1954; John McManis, “The Life Story of a Hoodlum,” DN, July 28, 1954; letter to the editor from Mrs. Phyllis Robinson, DN, August 1, 1954; letter to the editor signed “40-Year News Reader,” DN, August 30, 1954; and Marjorie Porter, “Teen-Age Gang Members Changed into Choirboys,” DN, October 24, 1954.

35. “Labor: No ‘Basic’ Runaway,” Fortune (July 1954); Edwards, Dynamics of the Automobile Industry, 172–74; Harold Schachern, “Plants Expected to Move Back to City from Suburbs,” DN, November 15, 1954; and “High Stakes, High Hopes: Automobiles in Our Future,” editorial, DN, September 2, 1954.

36. “6,000 Idled by 2 Auto Disputes,” DFP, July 16, 1954; Asher Lauren, “Dodge Row Idles 30,000,” DN, July 20, 1954; Jack Strohm, “32,000 Are Idled by Strike at Chrysler,” DFP, July 21, 1954; Asher Lauren, “Strike at Dodge Boosts Jobless Total to 169,000,” DN, July 22, 1954; “Strike Hits All Plants of Chrysler,” DFP, July 23, 1954; “UAW Ends Chrysler Strike,” DFP, July 24, 1954; and Asher Lauren, “Call Off Strike at Chrysler,” DN, July 24, 1954.

37. “An Instance of Costly Cause and Effect Which Detroiters Should Weigh Soberly,” editorial, DFP, July 26, 1954.

38. “Chrysler to Close All Plants,” DN, July 19, 1954; Jack Strohm, “Chrysler to Lay Off 40,000,” DFP, July 20, 1954; and “Auto Shutdown Longest since Before the War,” DN, August 8, 1954.

39. Letter to the editor from W. A. Gallimore, DFP, July 30, 1954; and letter to the editor from Buddie Tidwell, DN, August 5, 1954.

40. “Colbert’s Talk Stirs Workers’ Hopes,” DFP, August 27, 1954; and “Jobs in Detroit: Feast or Famine,” editorial, DN, October 14, 1954.

41. Hub M. George, “Wilson Predicts ‘Balancing Out’ of Employment,” DFP, October 12, 1954; and Robert Perrin, “Wilson Apologizes for ‘Dog’ Remarks,” DFP, October 14, 1954.

42. “Ford’s Fight for First,” Fortune (September 1954); “Chrysler to Add 26,000 Jobs,” DFP, September 12, 1954; “Record Job Total at Chrysler Seen,” DFP, September 18, 1954; “306,000 to Draw Paychecks This Christmas,” DFP, September 19, 1954; “New Cars Seen Hiking Employment,” DFP, September 29, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Ford Takes Output Lead,” DFP, October 3, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Nance Sees More Auto Jobs in City,” DFP, October 5, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Chrysler Puts 250 Millions into 1955 Model Changes,” DFP, October 12, 1954; Ralph Watts, “Floors Cleared for New Autos,” DN, October 19, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Pontiac Eyes Lead in Its Field,” DFP, October 20, 1954; and “Ford Shifts to ’55s at Record Rate,” DFP, October 20, 1954.

43. “Detroit Labeled Distressed Area,” editorial, DFP, February 10, 1954.

44. Robert L. Wells, “Gain Is 383,000 as City Shrinks, Suburbs Boom,” DN, November 14, 1954; Asher Lauren, “Warn Jobseekers Not to Flood City,” DN, November 18, 1954; and “Job Hunters Told Not to Flock Here,” DN, November 23, 1954.

45. Letter to the editor signed “B.H.,” DN, October 19, 1954.

46. Emerald Neal interview; letter to the editor signed “What About It?” DN, December 1, 1954; and Charles J. Wartman, “On the Labor Line,” Michigan Chronicle, December 4, 1954.

47. Steve Jefferys, Management and Managed: Fifty Years of Crisis at Chrysler (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 127–30; Robert Perrin, “UAW Votes for Chrysler Strike,” DFP, November 12, 1954; “Chrysler Faces 2nd Walkout,” DFP, November 17, 1954; “Production, Orders Soar at Chrysler,” DFP, November 24, 1954; M. M. Hollingsworth, “Chrysler Strike Called Tuesday,” DFP, November 27, 1954; “Plymouth UAW Local Backs Strike Vote,” DFP, November 29, 1954; Robert Perrin, “New Offer Seen Opening Way for Chrysler Peace,” DFP, November 30, 1954; “Plymouth Strike Vote Called Off,” DFP, December 9, 1954; Asher Lauren, “Job Timing Blamed in Threat of Lincoln-Mercury Strike,” DN, December 15, 1954; and Ralph Watts, “Auto Big 3 Production Records Set,” DN, December 17, 1954.

48. Leo Donovan, “Auto Lines Humming,” DFP, November 30, 1954; Leo Donovan, “GM Doubles Its Output,” DFP, December 3, 1954; Ralph Watts, “Auto Big 3 Production Records Set,” DN, December 17, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Autos, Autos Everywhere,” DFP, December 19, 1954; Leo Donovan, “Output Peak at Chevrolet,” DFP, December 21, 1954; and Leo Donovan, “Ford Sights First Place,” DFP, December 22, 1954.

49. Barnard, American Vanguard, 263–64; letter to the editor signed “Perplexed,” DN, November 30, 1954; letter to the editor signed “A Worker’s Wife,” DN, November 30, 1954; letter to the editor from Robert W. McGill, DN, December 3, 1954; and letter to the editor signed “A Worker?” DFP, January 30, 1955.

50. Robert Perrin, “Reuther Urges U.S. to Work for Full Employment,” DFP, December 6, 1954; letter to the editor from Jim Basden, DN, December 22, 1954; and “Auto Chiefs See Big Year in ’55,” DFP, January 1, 1955.

Chapter 6. “The Fifties” in One Year

1. William Cronin, “AMA Has a Smile,” DFP, January 9, 1955; A. W. Zelomek, “Consumption to Determine Whether Level Is Sustained,” DFP, January 9, 1955; “Production Loss Seen by Reuther,” DFP, January 17, 1955; “A Well Qualified Prophet Sees 1955 as Best Year,” editorial, DFP, January 18, 1955; Robert Perrin, “Auto World Keeps Eye on Chrysler’s Comeback,” DFP, January 30, 1955; “Late Rally Gives Chrysler ’54 Profit,” DFP, February 11, 1955; Leo Donovan, “’55 Output to Hit New Peak—Curtice,” DFP, January 18, 1955; and Leo Donovan, “More Fords, Dealers Ask,” DFP, February 11, 1955.

2. Leo Donovan, “Gay Tempo at Plymouth,” DFP, February 16, 1955; “Auto Output Near 200,000 a Week,” DFP, February 19, 1955; “Car Sales Peak for First Quarter Seen by Expert,” DFP, February 23, 1955; “Auto Sales Records Chalked Up by Big 3,” DFP, February 26, 1955; Ralph Watts, “Car Production at Record Pace,” DN, March 30, 1955; Ralph Watts, “Auto Market Fools Skeptics,” DN, April 1, 1955; “Auto Sales for March Set Record,” DFP, April 2, 1955; “Ford Reports Record Sales, Production,” DFP, April 6, 1955; and “Chrysler Sets Record,” DFP, April 6, 1955.

3. “Jobless Rolls in Detroit Drop 15,000,” DFP, January 6, 1955; letter to the editor signed “Ed J.,” DFP, January 18, 1955; “Jobless Down 50% in City, U.S. Reports,” DFP, January 22, 1955; letter to the editor signed “Independent,” DFP, January 24, 1955; letter to the editor signed “Florence M.,” DFP, January 24, 1955; letter to the editor from Mary Evans, DN, March 4, 1955; Asher Lauren, “Auto Boom Increases Jobs Here,” DN, March 6, 1955; “Jobless Roll Cut Slightly, State Says,” DFP, March 6, 1955; letter to the editor from Edward Klien, DN, March 9, 1955; and Geoffrey Howes, “At 40, Jobs Are Scarce, Experts Admit,” DFP, May 8, 1955.

4. “UAW Sees Jobless Rise in Late ’55,” DFP, January 28, 1955; and Leo Donovan, “Can Sales Keep Pace?” DFP, February 9, 1955.

5. Robert Perrin, “Unions Training for Annual Wage Fight,” DFP, March 22, 1953; Nat Weinberg, “UAW Has a Frown,” DFP, January 9, 1955; “UAW Sees Jobless Rise n Late ’55,” DFP, January 28, 1955; “Curtice Says GM Is Not Stockpiling,” DFP, February 4, 1955; “Labor,” Fortune (January 1955); “Business Roundup: Cutbacks in Cars,” Fortune (March 1955): 34; and Daniel Bell, “Beyond the Annual Wage,” Fortune (May 1955).

6. Robert Perrin, “Reuther Calls for Teamwork,” DFP, November 29, 1953; Jack Strohm, “UAW to Bid for Job Guarantees,” DFP, March 24, 1954; Jack Strohm, “Can Industrial Unions Survive?” DFP, April 25, 1954; and Frank Woodford, “Fear: Industrial By-product,” DFP, May 9, 1955.

7. Robert Perrin, “Reuther Insists Annual Wage Precede Short Week,” DFP, December 7, 1953; “Reuther Objects to 30-Hour Week,” DFP, March 24, 1954; and “Guaranteed Jobs Goal—Reuther,” DFP, April 28, 1955. For a sustained argument in favor of the thirty-hour week and opposed to Reuther and the GAW, see Jonathan Cutler, Labor’s Time: Shorter Hours, the UAW, and the Struggle for American Unionism (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004).

8. Tom Nicholson, “Rank and File Back Yearly Pay in Quiz,” DFP, January 17, 1955; letter to the editor signed “H.J.S.,” DFP, April 16, 1955; and Horace White, “Facts in the News: Guaranteed Annual Wage,” Michigan Chronicle, May 21, 1955.

9. Letter to the editor from Charlie Buber, DFP, January 28, 1955; “National Labor Group Backs Reuther’s Annual Wage Campaign,” DFP, February 23, 1955; Edwin Lahey, “UAW Ties Stand for Annual Wage to Principle,” DFP, March 8, 1955; and Leo Donovan, “Wage Drive Is Given Impetus by Automation,” DFP, March 27, 1955.

10. “National Labor Group Backs Reuther’s Annual Wage Campaign,” DFP, February 23, 1955; “GM Paid Curtice $686,000,” DFP, February 18, 1955; “The Mutual Aims of Religion and Labor,” in Walking Together: Religion and Labor, pamphlet distributed by the National Religion and Labor Foundation, ca. 1950, in author’s possession; Adrian Fuller, “Methodists Laud Full GAW,” DFP, June 17, 1955; and Arthur O’Shea Jr., “Father Coughlin Returns, Backs Annual Wage,” DFP, December 5, 1953.

11. Tom Nicholson, “Rank and File Back Yearly Pay in Quiz,” DFP, January 17, 1955; Ed Winge, “GAW Hit, Praised in Debate,” DFP, March 14, 1955; and letter to the editor signed “Guy in the Middle,” DFP, April 11, 1955.

12. “Business Hits Annual Wage Plan,” DFP, October 11, 1953; Leo Donovan, “Chrysler Chief Cool to Annual Auto Pay,” DFP, November 13, 1953; “UAW, C. of C. Clash on Annual Pay Plan,” DFP, December 29, 1953; Jack Strohm, “Vital Annual Wage Question,” DFP, May 23, 1954; “Bugas Spikes Ford Annual Wage Rumor,” DFP, January 23, 1955; “The Guaranteed Annual Wage Issue,” editorial, DFP, February 1, 1955; “Industrialist Sees Bad Labor Year,” DFP, March 12, 1955; and William Sudomier, “Sligh Raps GAW as a Potential ‘Disaster’ to U.S.,” DFP, April 26, 1955.

13. Robert Perrin, “State Job Rate ‘High’ Compared with Past,” DFP, March 27, 1955.

14. Leo Donovan, “Chrysler Net Already Tops ’54,” DFP, March 25, 1955; Leo Donovan, “Plymouth to Boost Capacity,” DFP, April 15, 1955; “Detroit Area Payrolls Hit Record High,” DN, April 17, 1955; Leo Donovan, “GM Divisions Report Peak Output,” DFP, April 21, 1955; Leo Donovan, “GM Pay, Profits Hit Peak,” DFP, April 22, 1955; Leo Donovan, “Suppliers Are Pressed,” DFP, May 6, 1955; “Earnings Set Record at Chrysler,” DFP, May 6, 1955; “Jobless Total Dips to 3.5 Pct.,” DFP, May 6, 1955; Leo Donovan, “Best Month in 14 Years,” DFP, May 10, 1955; Leo Donovan, “Plymouth After Another Record,” DFP, May 18, 1955; “GM Sales in Early May Set Record,” DFP, May 27, 1955; Leo Donovan, “Five Months of Records,” DFP, June 2, 1955; and “Plymouth Sales Soar,” DFP, July 12, 1955.

15. L. J. Scott, Thomas Nowak, Joe Woods, Elwin Brown, James Franklin, Edith Arnold, Margaret Beaudry, Katie Neumann, Dorothy Sackle, and Paul Ross interviews.

16. “Ford Puts 625 Million into 3-Year Expansion,” DFP, April 29, 1955; Frank Beckman, “Ford Seen as First Target for GAW,” DFP, April 30, 1955; and “Free Loans Form Part of Ford Plan,” DFP, May 27, 1955.

17. “Workers Comment on Proposal,” DFP, May 27, 1955; “How the UAW Answers Ford’s Offer,” DFP, May 28, 1955; and Charles Manos, “The People Speak—and Today’s Subject Is the Ford Offer,” DFP, May 28, 1955.

18. Letter to the editor signed “Worker’s Wife,” DFP, June 3, 1955; letter to the editor signed “Capitalist,” DFP, June 3, 1955; Robert Perrin, “UAW to Ford: Let Vote Settle Pact,” DFP, May 31, 1955; Robert Perrin, “UAW Ultimatum to Ford: Pact Monday—or Strike,” DFP, June 2, 1955; “4,800 Idle in Ford Walkouts,” DFP, June 2, 1955; Ted Shurtleff, “Ford Workers Boo Extension of Talks,” DFP, June 2, 1955; and “Ford Gets Rejections on Overtime,” DFP, June 4, 1955.

19. “Labor,” Fortune (July 1955); “FORD PEACE!” DN, June 6, 1953; Robert Perrin, “GM Can Give Us More, Says UAW,” DFP, June 7, 1955; and Miller Hollingsworth, “Ford Would Pick Up Entire Idle-Pay Tab,” DFP, June 9, 1955.

20. “What’s the Story behind Ford Jobless Pay Plan?” DFP, June 7, 1955; Miller Hollingsworth, “Jobless Aid Laws Facing Changes,” DFP, June 7, 1955; and Lyall Smith and Leo Donovan, “Fight Over, Bugas ‘Hangs Up Gloves,’” DFP, June 7, 1955.

21. “NAM President ‘Disappointed’ at Ford Contract,” DFP, June 7, 1955; “Reuther Hands the UAW a Fat Economic Package,” editorial, DFP, June 7, 1955; Sylvia Porter, “GAW Means Price Hikes,” DFP, June 7, 1955; Leo Donovan, “Crystal Ball Mighty Busy,” DFP, June 7, 1955; and Dale Nouse, “Ford Contract Called Buffer to Depression,” DFP, June 8, 1955.

22. “Labor: Stumbling Blocks to the G.A.W.,” Fortune (August 1955); Ted Shurtleff, “Stellato Booed at Rouge Plant,” DFP, June 7, 1955; Lyall Smith and Leo Donovan, “Fight Over, Bugas ‘Hangs Up Gloves,’” DFP, June 7, 1955; “Contract ‘Flaws’ Cited by Workers,” DFP, June 7, 1955; and “Walkout at Rouge,” DN, June 7, 1955.

23. Saul Pett, “But This Worker Is Leery—He May Vote Against It,” DFP, June 12, 1955; and Saul Pett, “The Profile of a Ford Worker: Jim’s Not Strong for New Pact,” DN, June 12, 1955.

24. Sylvia Porter, “America’s New Aristocracy Comes Off Assembly Lines,” DFP, June 10, 1955; and “The Rich, Middle-Income Class,” Fortune (May 1954).

25. Robert Perrin, “10,000th Worker Gets Ford Pension,” DFP, January 11, 1955. On rising prices after wage increases, see Bill Collett, “The Jobless Our Major Concern,” Ford Facts, May 10, 1958.

26. Robert Perrin, “Strikes Idle 60,000,” DFP, June 10, 1955; “GM Skilled Aides Seek Own Local,” DFP, June 12, 1955; “Skilled Men at GM Seek UAW Charter,” DFP, June 13, 1955; Robert Perrin, “GM-UAW AGREEMENT!” DFP, June 13, 1955; “Craftsmen Map Drive for Local,” DFP, June 14, 1955; and Edwin A. Lahey, “Big Auto Strikes Are Dead,” DFP, June 14, 1955.

27. “Curtain Going Up,” editorial, DFP, June 14, 1955; “Employers See ‘Doom’ in GAW,” DFP, June 16, 1955; “Curtain Going Up,” editorial, DFP, June 17, 1955; and “What Is UAW Thinking on GAW, Future Plans?” DFP, June 17, 1955.

28. “GM Back-to-Work Move Growing,” DFP, June 14, 1955; “GM Pickets Feel Strike Is Legal,” DFP, June 16, 1955; “GM’s Idle at 65,900 in Strike Wave,” DN, June 17, 1955; Ralph Nelson, “UAW Chiefs to Settle GM Strike,” DFP, June 17, 1955; and “2 GM Plants Still Struck,” DN, June 18, 1955.

29. Ralph Watts, “Rise Is Halted in Auto Output,” DN, May 13, 1955; Ralph Watts, “Auto Production Bound to Drop,” DN, May 20, 1955; “Booming Car Sales Start to Taper Off,” DN, May 25, 1955; Leo Donovan, “Inventories Set Record,” DFP, June 21, 1955; Leo Donovan, “World of Wheels,” DFP, June 23, 1955; Ralph Watts, “Drop Expected in Auto Output,” DN, June 23, 1955; Leo Donovan, “Is 4 Million 55 Pct.?” DFP, June 28, 1955; and “Unemployed Up for June,” DFP, July 9, 1955.

30. James J. Flink, The Automobile Age (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1988), 281–82; Ralph Watts, “Auto Cleanup Drive Mapped,” DN, July 9, 1955; “Ford Offers Safety Belts on Cars,” DFP, July 12, 1955; Ralph Watts, “GMAC Cautions on Easy Credit,” DN, August 11, 1955; “Are Autos Running on Debt?” DFP, August 11, 1955; Don Whitehead, “U.S. Lives It Up on Credit,” DN, September 18, 1955; and Kenneth Thompson, “How High Can It Go?” DFP, October 2, 1955.

31. “Payrolls in Area Set Record,” DFP, April 16, 1955; “406,631 Employed by GM,” DFP, June 13, 1955; “Take-Home Pay Hits New Peak,” DFP, June 24, 1955; Sterling R. Green, “U.S. Sees ’55 as Best Year in All History,” DFP, July 3, 1955; “Recession of ’54 Is Minimized,” DFP, July 12, 1955; Asher Lauren, “Auto Workers Reaping Fat Overtime Payments,” DN, July 24, 1955; David J. Wilkie, “5-Millionth Auto Is Due Next Week,” DFP, July 26, 1955; “Ford Motor Weekly Pay Held Record,” DFP, August 9, 1955; Leo Donovan, “Detroit Merchants Escape Annual ‘Summer Slump,’” DFP, August 10, 1955; and “Store Sales in Detroit Up 10.6 Pct.,” DFP, October 1, 1955.

32. Asher Lauren, “Chrysler Pay Up in Accord,” DN, September 1, 1955; “Comparing Chrysler Pact with Ford, GM Contracts,” DN, September 1, 1955; Robert Perrin, “Auto Pacts Worth Billion,” DFP, September 2, 1955; Robert Perrin, “Half of UAW Is Covered by GAW,” DFP, September 18, 1955; John S. Knight, “What Makes Detroit Tick Told in Chrysler Story,” DFP, September 18, 1955; “Chrysler Plans Huge Parts Plant,” DFP, October 2, 1955; “Chrysler Sales Set High Mark,” DFP, October 8, 1955; Asher Lauren, “Packard Pact Gives Idle Pay,” DN, November 10, 1955; and James M. Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automotive Industry (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 214.

33. John B. Rae, The American Automobile Industry (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1984), 108; Lawrence J. White, The Automobile Industry since 1945 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 15; Bruce M. Tuttle, “$9.5 Billion Sales Sets GM Record,” DN, October 27, 1955; Leo Donovan, “Car Output Is Record,” DFP, January 17, 1956; “’55 Payroll of Ford Co. Tops Billion,” DFP, January 25, 1956; “3 ½ Billion in Sales Set Chrysler Mark,” DFP, February 10, 1956; Bruce M. Tuttle, “Chrysler Net Quadruples on All-Time Record,” DN, February 10, 1956; “GM Weekly Pay Up $11 to $102.41,” DN, February 20, 1956; “Big 3’s Payrolls Exceeded 5 Billion,” DFP, February 21, 1955; Bruce M. Tuttle, “Ford Net Up 92 Pct. Over ’54,” DN, February 21, 1956; and Leo Donovan, “Ford’s Profits Hit 437 Million,” DFP, February 21, 1956.

34. Asher Lauren, “Skilled UAW Workers Plan to Form Own Union,” DN, July 13, 1955; “2,000 Skilled UAW Workers Plan Union of Their Own,” DFP, July 18, 1955; “Craftsmen Protest UAW Policy,” DFP, October 24, 1955; Asher Lauren, “275 Craftsmen Vote on Leaving UAW,” DN, November 3, 1955; “Skilled Tradesmen Vote for Own Union,” DN, November 7, 1955; and Asher Lauren, “Nation’s Boom Shows Need for More Skilled Workers,” DN, November 20, 1955.

35. Jean Sharley, “Working Gal Lets Jobs Go Begging,” DFP, August 1, 1955; and Asher Lauren, “391,000 Women Defying Men to Keep Jobs in Detroit Area,” DN, August 7, 1955.

36. “State Jobless Drop 13,000 to 143,000,” DFP, October 7, 1955; Robert Perrin, “Plymouth Line Cut,” Detroit Reporter, December 17, 1955 (the Detroit Reporter was a temporary newspaper published during a strike that shut down the city’s daily newspapers); Ralph Watts, “Production Falls Off,” DN, January 16, 1956; and Ralph Watts, “Auto Production Sales Tops in ’55,” DN, January 22, 1956.

Chapter 7. “A Severe and Prolonged Hangover”

1. Miller Hollingsworth, “2,450 Facing Layoff,” Detroit Reporter, January 4, 1956; Thomas Nowak interview; Miller Hollingsworth, “Chevrolet Tops Ford by 65,504,” Detroit Reporter, January 4, 1956; M. M. Hollingsworth, “Ford to Idle 1,657,” Detroit Reporter, January 10, 1956; and “Chrysler to Slash Production 10 Pct.,” Polish Daily News (English edition), January 13, 1956. The Polish Daily News published several editions in English during a strike that shut down Detroit’s daily newspapers in late 1955 and early 1956.

2. Walter Rosser, “One-Day Layoff,” Ford Facts, February 18, 1956; Bill Collett, “The Mad Race, Then Layoffs,” Ford Facts, February 18, 1956; Leo Donovan, “GM Plans to Spend a Billion,” DFP, January 17, 1956; Ralph Watts, “GM Allots Billion for ’56 Spending,” DN, January 16, 1956; “1,500 More to Be Idled at Chrysler,” DN, February 3, 1956; “Chrysler, Ford Reveal New Layoffs,” DFP, February 14, 1956; and “Chrysler, Ford Go on 4-Day Week,” DN, February 14, 1956.

3. John Orr, “Layoffs Continue,” Ford Facts, February 11, 1956; Tony Stellato, “How Can We Stop Layoffs?” Ford Facts, February 11, 1956; “Car Dealers Hit Factory Pressure,” DN, January 19, 1956; Ed Winge, “Outlook for ’56: Year of the Hard Sell,” DFP, February 19, 1956; “‘Easy’ Auto Deals Spark Credit Boom,” DN, January 25, 1956; Ralph Watts, “Auto Industry Backs Credit,” DN, January 26, 1956; Ralph Watts, “Further Decline in Output Seen,” DN, February 2, 1955; and Harry Golden Jr., “Here’s the Car I Would Make,” DFP, February 19, 1956.

4. Ralph Watts, “Inventories Set Auto Record,” DN, February 21, 1956; Tom Nicholson and Harry Golden Jr., “Layoffs Reflect Season Lag,” DFP, March 4, 1956; Leo Donovan, “Inventories Hit Peak,” DFP, March 20, 1956; “Jobs Down 10 Per Cent in Detroit,” DFP, April 6, 1956; “Hangover Lasts for Auto Men,” DN, June 5, 1956; and “Did Industry Make Too Many Cars?” DN, June 10, 1956.

5. Carl Stellato, “Lay-Offs Show Need for GAW & 30 Hr. Week,” Ford Facts, February 18, 1956; Sylvia Porter, “GAW Picture Far from Rosy,” DFP, April 21, 1956; and Asher Lauren, “Idle Benefits Protested on Eve of Start,” DN, May 25, 1956.

6. “Output Cuts by Big 3 Idle 26,000,” DFP, January 22, 1956; Tom Joyce, “Business Hums in City Despite Auto Cutbacks,” DN, February 5, 1956; “Detroit Layoffs Jam Jobless Pay Offices,” DFP, February 15, 1956; “Relief Up 25 Pct. in City,” DFP, May 1, 1956; Harry Golden Jr., “Busy City in Land of Play,” DFP, May 6, 1956; and L. J. Scott and Dorothy Sackle interviews.

7. Tom Nicholson and Harry Golden Jr., “Layoffs Reflect Season Lag,” DFP, March 4, 1956; Sylvia Porter, “Dilemma of Vanished Income,” DFP, April 26, 1955; and letter to the editor from William Mazinkowski, DFP, November 30, 1956.

8. Sylvia Porter, “Dilemma of Vanished Income,” DFP, April 26, 1955; and Robert Perrin, “This Prosperity Worries Pierre,” DFP, September 18, 1955.

9. Kenneth A. Thompson, “Supplier’s Number Up?” DFP, March 23, 1956; Kenneth A. Thompson, “Motor Prod. Loses Out,” DFP, April 4, 1956; Ralph Watts, “Jobbers Lost Out to Car Makers,” DN, April 8, 1956; “4,000 Face Loss of Jobs if Motor Products Closes,” DN, May 18, 1956; “Mack Plant Idles 4,000,” DN, September 1, 1956; and Leo Donovan, “Sharp Cuts Detailed,” DFP, September 5, 1956.

10. Charles E. Edwards, Dynamics of the United States Automobile Industry (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1965), 172–74; John Barnard, American Vanguard: The United Auto Workers during the Reuther Years, 1935–1970 (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2004), 297; Leo Donovan, “World of Wheels,” DFP, April 11, 1956; Leo Donovan, “We Must Be Efficient,” DFP, May 2, 1956; and Leo Donovan, “Stress Ideas at Bendix,” DFP, May 3, 1956.

11. Charles J. Wartman, “On the Labor Line,” Michigan Chronicle, April 7, 1956; Charles Weber, “Industry Shifts to Be Studied,” DFP, April 29, 1956; and Thomas Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 76–77, 140–41.

12. Edwards, Dynamics of the Automobile Industry, 118; Leo Donovan, “Studebaker-Packard Near Merger with Curtiss Firm,” DFP, May 9, 1956; Earl Wegmann, “Congressmen Act to Help Packard,” DN, May 9, 1956; “Workers Await Fate in Move by Packard,” DN, May 9, 1956; “Job Rise Prediction ‘Hoax,’ Reuther Says,” DN, July 4, 1956; Leo Donovan, “Details of S-P Deal Revealed,” DFP, August 5, 1956; Ralph Watts, “Packard Dismantling Ends Plant Operations,” DN, August 15, 1956; Leo Donovan, “Packard Motor Hits End of Road in Detroit,” DFP, August 16, 1956; Robert D’Arcy, “Hopes Die as Packard Passes Out,” DN, August 16, 1956; Tom Nicholson, “Government, Unions to Aid Laid-Off Older Workers,” DFP, September 9, 1956; “Reuther Urges Hike for Jobless,” DFP, September 19, 1956; and “Older Workers And New Work,” editorial, DFP, September 24, 1956.

13. “Employment Up Despite Layoffs,” DFP, April 25, 1956; “Living Cost Rise Here Tops Nation,” DFP, April 26, 1956; “Jobs in April Set Record,” DN, May 8, 1956; “Auto Pay Rises 7 Cents,” DFP, May 25, 1956; “’56 Seen as Best Year Yet,” DFP, June 25, 1956; “Boom Records Set Despite Soft Spots,” DN, July 1, 1956; “U.S. Jobs Hit Record High in June,” DFP, July 10, 1956; Asher Lauren, “Auto Pay to Go Up 4 Cents,” DN, August 24, 1956; and Tom Nicholson, “Living Cost Brings Raise to Workers,” DFP, August 25, 1956. Harvey Swados emphasized the discrepancy between America’s prosperous middle class and the lives of autoworkers in “The Myth of the Happy Worker,” The Nation (August 17, 1957): 65–66.

14. Bill Collett, “Mad Race, Then Layoffs,” Ford Facts, February 18, 1956; “Ford Profit Near Peak,” DN, April 23, 1956; Ralph Watts, “Defense Contracts Off at GM,” DN, April 26, 1956; Tom Nicholson, “More Join Idle Ranks in Detroit,” DFP, May 2, 1956; “Union Aide Seeks to Halt Auto Layoffs,” DFP, May 4, 1956; Bruce Tuttle, “Chrysler’s Profits Decline 66 Pct. for First Quarter,” DN, May 4, 1956; and Leo Donovan, “GM Lines Close Today,” DFP, May 11, 1956.

15. “But Job Sag Here Is Called Critical,” DFP, May 9, 1956; “Governor Asks U.S. Aid after New Auto Layoffs,” DN, May 9, 1956; “6,500 Face 2-Day Layoff at Chrysler,” DFP, May 10, 1956; “Chrysler Extends Layoffs,” DFP, May 12, 1956; Tom Nicholson, “U.S. Plans Detroit, Flint Job Aid,” DFP, May 24, 1956; and Asher Lauren, “Label Detroit, Flint Critical Job Areas,” DN, May 24, 1956.

16. Harold Becker, “What’s Wrong with the Auto Industry?” Ford Facts, February 23, 1957; “McNamara: Auto Men Ignored,” DFP, June 14, 1956; Leo Donovan, “Car Backlog Being Cut,” DFP, July 6, 1956; “Ford to Start Changeover in Late July,” DFP, July 14, 1956; David J. Wilkie, “Car Output Holds Low, but Level,” DFP, July 24, 1956; and Ralph Watts, “Car Production to Drop 20 Pct.,” DN, August 3, 1956.

17. Elwin Brown, James McGuire, and Emerald Neal interviews; Asher Lauren, “Jobs, Work Force Fluctuate Together,” DN, June 24, 1956; and Carl Rudow, “A Look at Detroit, State Economy,” DN, July 2, 1956. For more on autoworkers’ secondary support networks in this period, see Swados, “Myth of the Happy Worker,” 65–66.

18. Tom Joyce, “Business Hums in City Despite Auto Cutbacks,” DN, February 5, 1956; Tom Nicholson and Harry Golden Jr., “Layoffs Reflect Season Lag,” DFP, March 4, 1956; “Merchants Rejoice as Workers Return,” DN, March 9, 1956; Frank Beckman, “Despite Auto Lag, Faith in Future Is Strong,” DFP, July 1, 1956; “Job Rise Prediction ‘Hoax,’ Reuther Says,” DFP, July 4, 1956; John R. Stewart, “Detroit Trends Distorted,” DFP, January 13, 1957; and William F. Chapman, “Store Blight Widespread,” DFP, February 10, 1957.

19. “Job Picture Brighter, State Says,” DFP, October 5, 1956; Tom Nicholson, “Ford, GM Report Hike in Jobs,” DFP, October 11, 1956; and “GM’s Payroll Climbs 42,000 in Michigan,” DN, October 22, 1956.

20. Carl Stellato, “Job Runaway Plagues Chrysler, Ford, General Motors Workers,” Ford Facts, February 23, 1957; Asher Lauren, “139,500 Now at Work for Ford in Job Upswing,” DN, October 11, 1956; “Auto Output Up Sharply,” DN, October 19, 1956; “New Model Pickup Increases Auto Jobs,” DFP, October 20, 1956; Leo Donovan, “‘Leftovers’ Help Score,” DFP, December 19, 1956; “Auto Slump Shown in ’56 Figures,” DFP, January 3, 1957; and “’56 Car and Truck Production 2 Million Below ’55 Record,” DN, January 3, 1957.

21. “Wildcatters Idle 8,000 at Chrysler,” DFP, February 24, 1956; “1,400 End Walkout at Ford Plant,” DN, May 10, 1956; “12,000 Idled by Dispute at Dodge,” DFP, May 16, 1956; “11,000 Idle in Walkout at Chrysler,” DN, June 11, 1956; “New Strikes Idle 16,000 at Chrysler,” DN, June 14, 1956; “New Strike Idles 13,500 at Chrysler,” DN, June 15, 1956; and “Walkout Continues at DeSoto,” DFP, July 26, 1956.

22. “Wildcatters Ordered to Return,” DFP, October 24, 1956; “Chrysler Strike Idles 35,000,” DFP, October 25, 1956; “Wildcat Strike Ends at Chrysler,” DFP, October 26, 1956; “Chrysler Plant Workers Vote to End Tie-Up,” DN, October 25, 1956; “35,000 Back at Chrysler,” DN, October 26, 1956; “Chrysler Fires Strike Ringleaders,” DFP, October 27, 1956; and letter to the editor signed “Laid-Off Worker’s Wife,” DN, December 5, 1956.

23. “Labor: The Bumpy Road,” Fortune (March 1954); Margaret Beaudry, Edith Arnold, Katie Neumann, Don Hester, and Bud Weber interviews; and Tom Agorgianitis interview by Daniel Clark, January 21, 2002.

24. Elwin Brown, Les Coleman, and Ernie Liles interviews.

25. Asher Lauren, “UAW Denies Refugees Get Idled Men’s Jobs,” DN, November 29, 1956; and James K. Anderson, “Refugees Finding Niche in Detroit,” DN, December 11, 1956.

26. Letter to the editor signed “Proud American,” DN, December 5, 1956; letter to the editor signed “G. N.,” DN, December 11, 1956; and letter to the editor signed “L. C.,” DN, February 4, 1957.

27. Andy Yesta, “The Truth about Layoffs,” Ford Facts, February 25, 1956; Pauline Sterling, “Rosie Is Still with Us,” DFP, October 27, 1957; letter to the editor from Frank Winn, DN, November 8, 1956; and letter to the editor from Kenneth Filary, DN, December 17, 1956.

28. John R. Stewart, “Detroit Trends Distorted,” DFP, January 13, 1957; Charles Schmidt, “1956 Economy Reached New High,” DFP, January 13, 1957; “Spokesman Says Work Is ‘Deferred,’” DFP, January 22, 1957; and Miller Hollingsworth, “State Finds It Hard to Lure Plants,” DFP, May 1, 1957.

29. “UAW Seeks DeSoto Strike OK,” DFP, January 21, 1957; Tom Joyce, “Vast Chrysler Shakeup in Plants,” DN, March 7, 1957; Tom Nicholson, “Here’s Story behind Spurt in Chrysler Profits, Sales,” DFP, March 8, 1957; and Leo Donovan, “Firm Now Getting 19 Per Cent of Market,” DFP, March 8, 1957.

30. “5,500 Idled by Dodge Wildcatters,” DFP, January 16, 1957; and “UAW Says Chrysler Gives ‘False Picture,’” DN, March 8, 1957.

31. Roberta Mackey, “How Your Neighbor Lives,” DFP, February 16, 1957; letter to the editor from Leo Orsage, DN, April 3, 1957; and Geoffrey Howes, “1,400,000 to Get 2-Cent Hike,” DFP, May 25, 1957.

32. Ralph Watts, “Auto Sales Boom Linked to Growth of Middle Class,” DN, January 30, 1957.

33. Ruth Weiss, “Deserting Husbands Take Easy Way Out,” DN, February 16, 1957; Robert Kirk, “Foreclosures on Land Contracts Rising,” DN, April 10, 1957; and John Orr, “Layoffs Continue,” Ford Facts, February 11, 1956. See also Swados, “Myth of the Happy Worker,” 65–66.

34. James M. Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automotive Industry (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 214; Ralph Watts, “Delay Now Seen in Auto Boom,” DN, April 25, 1957; “Car Output Holds Firm, but Sales Dip,” DFP, April 27, 1957; “Auto Output Due to Boom This Month,” DN, May 3, 1957; “Car Output Moves Up 5.2 Per Cent,” DFP, May 10, 1957; “Curtice Sees 1957 Sales at ’56 Level,” DFP, May 25, 1957; Ralph Watts, “Car Distribution Is Top Problem,” DN, June 21, 1957; “Half-Year Auto Output 2nd Highest,” DN, June 28, 1957; Fred Olmsted, “’57s Do Well for Chrysler,” DFP, July 2, 1957; and Bruce Tuttle, “Chrysler’s Sales and Net Hit All-Time Peaks for Half Year,” DN, July 26, 1957.

35. Miller Hollingsworth, “Industry Jobs Fall Sharply in Michigan,” DFP, June 28, 1957; Owen Deatrick, “Auto Jobs Shrink 153,000,” DFP, July 30, 1957; Carl Rudow, “Williams Traces Jobless Rise in Michigan to Auto Industry,” DN, July 30, 1957; and “Machines Held Small Job Factor,” DFP, August 14, 1957.

36. John Griffith, “‘The Box’ Baffles 5,000 Seeking Jobs,” DFP, August 4, 1957; “Women, Older Workers Face Obstacles,” DFP, June 16, 1957; and Tom Nicholson, “The 16-Hour Day,” DFP, September 24, 1957.

37. “Ford Executive Assails Unions’ Wage Inflation,” DN, October 11, 1957; and “You’re Almost Broke,” DFP, October 19, 1957.

38. Lawrence J. White, The Automobile Industry since 1945 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 93; Fred Olmsted, “Auto Costs $775 a Year?” DFP, October 30, 1957; Ralph Watts, “Family Budgets, Autos Analyzed,” DN, October 30, 1957; “‘Need New Labor Policy,’” DFP, November 1, 1957; “Jobless Problem Still Here,” DFP, November 10, 1957; and “October Industrial Output Off,” DFP, November 16, 1957.

39. Kenneth Thompson, “Current ‘Recession’ Third since World War II,” DFP, November 10, 1957; Tom Nicholson, “AFL-CIO Demands Big Raise in 1958,’” DFP, December 12, 1957; “NAM Chief Attacks AFL-CIO,” DFP, December 13, 1957; “Cost of Living Soars to Record,” DFP, December 21, 1957; “UAW Aide Fires Back at Curtice,” DFP, December 29, 1957; and Tony Stellato, “How Can We Stop Layoffs?” Ford Facts, February 11, 1956.

40. Ralph Watts, “Some Makers Curtail Output,” DN, December 11, 1957; “Ford Calls for Layoff of 3,333,” DFP, December 12, 1957; Tom Nicholson, “Layoffs Slated for 70,000,” DFP, December 21, 1957; and Harry Salsinger, “No Jobs and No Parking,” DN, December 24, 1957.

41. Edwards, Dynamics of the Automobile Industry, 202–204; Fred Olmsted, “Auto Makers End Fourth-Best Year,” DFP, January 1, 1958; Fred Olmsted, “Ford Claims Auto Lead for 1957,” DFP, January 1, 1958; Fred Olmsted, “Chevy ’57 Output Leads by 132 Cars,” DFP, January 3, 1958; “Ford Boasts of Record Jobs, Pay,” DFP, January 22, 1958; “Chrysler Hits 20% of Market,” DFP, January 4, 1958; and “What’s So Bad About 7,207,304,” editorial, DFP, January 8, 1958.

42. “Job Picture Gloomy in Detroit,” DFP, January 1, 1958; Tom Joyce, “State Unemployment Higher during 1957,” DN, January 1, 1958; and “Plus and Minus Signs,” editorial, DFP, January 3, 1958.

Chapter 8. The Nadir

1. E. Plawecki, T. O’Neil, and B. Hughes, “Outlook Bleak for Auto Workers,” Ford Facts, January 4, 1958; William B. Harris, “The Trouble in Detroit,” Fortune (March 1958); Hub M. George, “Jobless Pay Overdrawn,” DFP, January 3, 1958; “Chrysler Layoff Hits 1,000,” DFP, January 4, 1958; “Auto Sales Set Record: 55 Billion,” DFP, January 5, 1958; Tom Nicholson, “UAW Sees Big Layoffs at Chrysler,” DFP, January 8, 1958; James M. Haswell, “Jobs Are Detroiters’ Chief Concern, Dingell Finds,” DFP, January 8, 1958; Ralph Watts, “Output Slashed for 1st Quarter,” DN, January 9, 1958; “Auto Plant Layoffs Spreading,” DFP, January 10, 1958; “Auto-Output Off 16 Pct. from 1957,” DN, January 10, 1957; “Million a Day Paid by MESC,” DFP, February 2, 1958; Hub George, “Jobless Pay Expected to Rise,” DFP, February 6, 1958; and “4,000 More at Ford to Be Laid Off,” DN, February 22, 1958.

2. Charles Weber, “Vacant Stores All over Detroit Are Headache for Our Planners,” DFP, January 13, 1958; “Prices That Rise Despite Recession,” editorial, DFP, February 27, 1958; “Bad Checks on Increase,” DFP, March 1, 1958; Kenneth Thompson, “How Stores Suffered in February,” DFP, April 1, 1958; Tom Nicholson, “UAW Is in Red, May Need Loan,” DFP, April 20, 1958; Tom Nicholson, “UAW Pay Cuts and Layoffs Outlined,” DFP, April 25, 1958; “Reuther Tells How UAW Cuts Its Costs,” DN, May 2, 1958; “Local 600 Asks Members to Pay Extra $1 a Month,” DFP, May 17, 1958; and Roy Courtade, “Chrysler Peace Brightens Jefferson Business Outlook,” DN, October 2, 1958.

3. “Labor: End of the Quiet Time,” Fortune (January 1958); William B. Harris, “The Trouble in Detroit,” Fortune (March 1958); Miller Hollingsworth, “Hint UAW to Drop 4-Day Week Bid,” DFP, January 12, 1958; and Tom Nicholson, “UAW Locals Like Profit Sharing—And!” DFP, January 19, 1958.

4. “Labor: End of the Quiet Time,” Fortune (January 1958); William B. Harris, “The Trouble in Detroit,” Fortune (March 1958); Charles J. Wartman, “UAW Plan Becomes Hot Issue,” Michigan Chronicle, January 18, 1958; “New Proposals Necessary to Maintain Progress,” Michigan Chronicle, January 25, 1958; Asher Lauren, “UAW’s Demands,” DN, January 13, 1958; “What UAW Wants in 1958 Contracts,” DFP, January 14, 1958; Tom Nicholson, “New GAW Proposal Will Be Big Point in Auto Bargaining,” DFP, January 19, 1958; Tom Nicholson, “UAW Locals Like Profit Sharing—And!” DFP, January 19, 1958; Asher Lauren, “UAW to Ask 80 Per Cent Jobless Pay,” DN, January 20, 1958; “UAW Asks 80% Idle Pay,” DFP, January 20, 1958; and Tom Nicholson and Tom Craig, “UAW OK’s Profit-Split Demand,” DFP, January 24, 1958.

5. “Auto Executives Assail UAW Profit-Split Plan,” DFP, January 14, 1958; Earl Wegmann, “Big 3 to Fight UAW Profit Plan,” DN, January 14, 1958; and “Breech Cites ‘Fishhooks’ in UAW Plan,” DFP, January 24, 1958.

6. “Priced Out of Jobs,” editorial, DN, January 2, 1958; “UAW’s Big Package,” editorial, DN, January 14, 1958; “What Walter Reuther Is Really Asking For,” editorial, DFP, January 15, 1958; and David Lawrence, “Why Doesn’t Reuther Offer to Share Loss?” DFP, January 17, 1958.

7. Tom Craig, “Reuther Accuses Big 3 of Distortion,” DFP, January 15, 1958; Asher Lauren, “UAW to Ask 80 Percent Jobless Pay,” DN, January 20, 1958; and James Haswell, “Big 3 ‘Rigs’ Car Prices, Reuther Says,” DFP, January 29, 1958.

8. Miller Hollingsworth, “226,000 on Jobless ‘Payroll,’ in Michigan,” DFP, February 13, 1958; “U.S. Must Act Now in Job Crisis: An Editorial,” Michigan Chronicle, March 8, 1958; letter to the editor signed “Unemployed,” DN, April 2, 1958; and letter to the editor from B. E. Pierson, DN, April 6, 1958.

9. “Seek More Arms Jobs for State,” DFP, January 8, 1958; Asher Lauren, “Chrysler Starts Hiring for Big Missile Job,” DN, January 9, 1958; “Chrysler Creates Missile Division,” DFP, January 25, 1958; James Bellows, “Detroit Can Lead World in Missiles,” DFP, February 2, 1958; “Thor IRBM Undercuts Jupiter,” DFP, February 18, 1958; “Army Work to Open 200 Jobs in Area,” DFP, March 5, 1958; “Reuther to U.S.: Rush Contracts,” DN, March 19, 1958; “New Contracts Seen Spurring Jobs in City,” DN, March 20, 1958; “State Gets 211 Millions in Boosts,” DFP, March 20, 1958; and “Chrysler Gets New Missile Job,” DFP, April 2, 1958.

10. “Layoffs Spell Upturn in Ranks of Teachers,” DN, January 25, 1958; Earl Wegmann, “Plenty of Jobs Available, but There’s a Catch,” DN, January 26, 1958; Miller Hollingsworth, “226,000 on Jobless ‘Payroll’ in Michigan,” DFP, February 13, 1958; “Eye Jobs for 2,600 in Parks,” DN, February 19, 1958; John Carlisle, “City Spurs Projects to Increase Jobs,” DN, March 20, 1958; Douglas Larsen, “Women Workers Survive Slump Better Than Men, Facts Show,” DN, May 7, 1958; letter to the editor signed “An Old Maid,” DFP, June 1, 1958; and Frank Beckman, “Mayor Cries for U.S., State Aid in Crisis,” DFP, October, 16, 1958.

11. James B. Glyn, “Detroit’s Jobless ‘Have Had It,’” DFP, March 23, 1958; L. J. Scott and James McGuire interviews.

12. Elwin Brown, Les Coleman, Emerald Neal, Gene Johnson, Margaret Beaudry, and Edith Arnold interviews.

13. Tom Joyce, “Idled Workers Return to Dixie,” DN, March 16, 1958; Ray Courage, “State Jobless Leave—$1 ½ Million Follows,” DFP, June 15, 1958; and “Jobless Workers Return to Mountains from Detroit,” DN, September 28, 1958.

14. “Pontiac UAW to Protest Short Weeks,” DFP, March 20, 1958; “Pontiac UAW Parades to Protest Work Cuts,” DN, March 23, 1958; “Paraders Hit Short Work Week,” DFP, March 23, 1958; Frank Tripp, “Is Jobless Pay Developing New ‘Willingly Idle’ Class?” DFP, June 29, 1958; and letter to the editor from Mrs. T. White, DN, August 12, 1958.

15. Jane Schermerhorn, “Union Wives Long for Year-Round Security,” DN, February 23, 1958.

16. Ibid.; letter to the editor from Leona McCabe, DFP, March 14, 1958; and Ruth Carlton, “A Wife’s Salary: Where Does It Go?” DN, October 26, 1958.

17. Letter to the editor from A. Dunn, DFP, March 21, 1958; Kenneth Thompson, “How Stores Suffered in February,” DFP, April 1, 1958; and Earl Wegmann, “Buyers, Tipplers, Jailbirds All Feel Recession Woes,” DN, April 13, 1958.

18. Samuel Lubell, “Washington Worries Most about Slump,” DFP, April 8, 1958; “450,000 Jobless in State,” DFP, April 10, 1958; Samuel Lubell, “Own Status Guides Ideas on Recession,” DFP, April 15, 1958; Samuel Lubell, “Young Ask over 50 to Retire,” DFP, April 16, 1958; “Living Cost Soars to New Peak,” DFP, April 24, 1958; and “Cost of Living Index Hits New High,” DFP, May 23, 1958.

19. Joseph Alsop, “‘Wait and See’ on Recession? You Can See in Detroit NOW,” DFP, April 15, 1958; and Joseph Alsop, “Debts Crush Jobless,” DFP, April 17, 1958.

20. Joseph Alsop, “‘Wait and See’ on Recession? You Can See in Detroit NOW,” DFP, April 15, 1958; Joseph Alsop, “Debts Crush Jobless,” DFP, April 17, 1958; “Chronicle Urges Moratorium on Mortgage Payments,” Michigan Chronicle, March 15, 1958; and “Unemployed Now 205,000 in Detroit,” Michigan Chronicle, March 22, 1958.

21. Fred Olmsted, “Says ‘Hesitancy’ Adds to Dip,” DFP, December 31, 1957; James M. Haswell, “Colbert Frowns on Car Price Cut,” DFP, February 7, 1958; “Buy More, Hall Urges,” DN, March 3, 1958; “Idle Rolls Soar; Action Demanded,” DFP, March 15, 1958; “Idle Pay Offices to Open,” DFP, March 16, 1958; Asher Lauren, “‘Drive Out of Slump in a New Car’ Urged,” DN, March 21, 1958; Geoffrey Howes, “Split on How to End Slump,” DFP, June 3, 1958; and Carl Rudow, “Labor Peace, New Cars Called Recovery Keys,” DN, July 15, 1958.

22. “Inventory of New Cars Dips,” DFP, April 15, 1958; “GM to Shut 2 Plants for a Week,” DFP, March 29, 1958; Fred Olmsted, “Sales Lowest Since ’52,” DFP, April 1, 1958; “Chevy to Shut Willow Run Truck Plant,” DFP, April 5, 1958; “One in 7 Unemployed in Pontiac,” DFP, April 9, 1958; “Jobs, Pay, and Sales Fall Again,” DFP, April 12, 1958; “Chevy to Shut Nine Plants for a Week,” DFP, April 12, 1958; William Sudomier, “People Feel the Slump’s Cause Is Making too Many Cars too Fast,” DFP, April 13, 1958; Kenneth Thompson, “Industrial Output Nears 1954 Low,” DFP, April 15, 1958; “24 Auto Plants Shut to Trim Inventories,” DN, April 15, 1958; “60,000 Hit as 24 Auto Plants Shut,” DN, April 21, 1958; and “April Auto Production Cut Sharply,” DFP, May 3, 1958.

23. “Jobless Mark Hits 18 Pct. in City, 15.9 Pct. in State,” DFP, May 3, 1958; “Michigan Jobless at Peak of 465,000,” DN, May 3, 1958; Fred Olmsted, “History Repeating Itself, Says Benson Ford,” DFP, May 7, 1958; and Carl Rudow, “Labor Peace, New Cars Called Recovery Keys,” DN, July 15, 1958.

24. “Labor: No Strike in Autos,” Fortune (May 1958); Tom Nicholson, “No Strike; Better SUB; A 7¢ Raise,” DFP, May 18, 1958; Tom Craig, “How Reuther Figures to Outwit Big 3,” DFP, May 24, 1958; Ralph Watts, “Half-Year Output Is Down 31.5 Pct.,” DN, July 1, 1958; Ralph Watts, “Billion Gambled on 1959 Autos,” DN, July 9, 1958; Fred Olmsted, “Ford Loses 17.3 Million in Quarter,” DFP, July 22, 1958; “Chrysler Loss $2.89 a Share,” DFP, July 25, 1958; and letter to the editor from J. H. Bohl, DFP, June 13, 1958.

25. Tom Nicholson, “GM-UAW Pact Is Dead,” DFP, May 30, 1958; Tom Craig, “UAW, Ford Also Get Nowhere,” DFP, May 31, 1958; Tom Nicholson, “Ford, Chrysler Refuse to Yield,” DFP, June 1, 1958; Tom Nicholson, “UAW Contracts Die at Chrysler, Ford,” DFP, June 2, 1958; Asher Lauren and Tom Joyce, “Plants Stay Normal as Auto Pacts Die,” DN, June 2, 1958; and Tom Craig, “We’ll Work This Week, UAW Says,” DFP, June 8, 1958.

26. Steve Jefferys, Management and Managed: Fifty Years of Crisis at Chrysler (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 135–42; Tom Nicholson and Charles Weber, “Chrysler-UAW Row Flares,” DFP, June 6, 1958; Asher Lauren, “2,700 Idled in Dispute at Plymouth,” DN, June 6, 1958; and “UAW Talk Seeks Chrysler Peace 5,400 Are Idled,” DN, June 7, 1958.

27. Bill Collett, “Unemployed Demand Action,” Ford Facts, April 26, 1958; “‘Spring Upsurge’ Brings Rise in Unemployment,” Ford Facts, April 26, 1958; Bill Collett, “The Jobless Our Major Concern,” Ford Facts, May 10, 1958; William B. Harris, “Chrysler’s Private Depression,” Fortune (June 1958); Ralph Watts, “Chrysler Local Leaders Boo Back-to-Job Plea,” DN, June 8, 1958; Tom Nicholson, “Chrysler Plant Walkouts End,” DFP, June 10, 1958; Tom Nicholson, “Wildcat Strike Closes Dodge Truck Plant,” DFP, June 11, 1958; Jerome Hansen, “Industry Begins Model Changeover,” DFP, June 27, 1958; and Asher Lauren and Tom Joyce, “Row Idles 5,400 at Plymouth,” DN, June 28, 1958.

28. Robert Boyd, “‘If We Could Only Get Out of Hock,’” DFP, July 8, 1958.

29. Asher Lauren and Tom Joyce, “13,000 UAW Old-Timers Hear Reuther at Picnic,” DN, July 16, 1958; “UAW Retirees Plan Slow March at GM,” DN, July 20, 1958; Asher Lauren, “5,000 Retirees Picketing GM over Pensions,” DN, July 23, 1958; Roy Courtade, “Backyard Farmers Reap Their Harvest,” DN, August 3, 1958, “Welfare Rolls Still Climbing,” DFP, October 16, 1958; and Louis Cook, “Garden of Eatin,’” DFP, August 1, 1959.

30. “Strike Shuts Chrysler’s Mound Plant,” DFP, August 7, 1958; “Detroit May Feel Ohio Strike,” DFP, August 14, 1958; “Chrysler Twinsburg Strike Ends,” DFP, August 19, 1958; “Walkouts Peril Output of ’59 Cars,” DN, August 22, 1958; Tom Nicholson, “5 Strikes Slow Lines at Big 3,” DFP, August 23, 1958; “Pontiac Factory and Dodge Truck Shut by Strikes, DN, August 26, 1958; Tom Craig, “‘Cold War’ Auto Strikes Increase,” DFP, August 27, 1958; “9,000 Strikers Delaying 1959 Cars,” DFP, August 28,1958; Tom Craig, “Wildcat Strikes Idle over 18,500,” DFP, August 29, 1959; Tom Craig, “Car Strikes Boost Idled to 12,000,” DFP, August 30, 1958; “Every Day Is Labor Day,” editorial, DN, September 1, 1958; and Asher Lauren, “Car Strikes Idle 26,100 as Talks Near Climax,” DN, September 7, 1958.

31. “Pontiac Factory and Dodge Truck Shut by Strikes,” DN, August 26, 1958; and Tom Joyce, “New Strike Boosts Idle Past 18,000,” DN, August 29, 1958.

32. Tom Nicholson, “3-Year Pact at Ford Improves Wages, SUB,” DFP, September 18, 1958; “Highlights of Ford Pact with UAW,” DN, September 18, 1958; and “Ford-UAW Contract Terms,” DFP, September 18, 1958.

33. Tom Craig, “‘This Is It, Boys’: Ford Local Strikes, Then Peace Comes,” DFP, September 18, 1958; James Sullivan, “Skilled Workers Fear a ‘Sellout,’” DFP, September 15, 1958; “Ford Paralyzed as Rebels Strike,” DN, September 19, 1958; Tom Craig, “UAW Rejects GM Proposal,” DFP, September 21, 1958; “Skilled Units at Rouge Vote to Continue Strike,” DFP, September 22, 1958; “Pickets Return to Ford Rouge,” DN, September 22, 1958; “Rouge Open; Talks at Chrysler Stalled,” DN, September 24, 1958; and Tom Nicholson, “23,000 Returning at Rouge,” DFP, September 24, 1958.

34. Tom Craig, “Chrysler Pact Ok’d; GM Faces Deadline,” DFP, October 2, 1958; Asher Lauren and Tom Joyce, “GM Shut by Strike,” DN, October 2, 1958; Tom Nicholson and Tom Craig, “GM, UAW Settle,” DFP, October 3, 1958; “Highlights of UAW, GM Pact,” DFP, October 3, 1958; and Boyd Simmons, “What the UAW Asked and Benefits It Got,” DN, October 3, 1958.

35. Letter to the editor signed “Disgusted Member,” DN, September 7, 1958; letter to the editor from Gene Hoffman, Chairman, and Irving Canter, Secretary, representing the Rank and File Citywide Committee of UAW Skilled Workers, DN, October 8, 1958; “Tradesmen Seek UAW Jobless Aid,” DFP, October 20, 1958; Tom Joyce, “Tool, Die Industry Warns Union on Pay Demands,” DN, October 28, 1958; “Job Shops Ask Help of UAW,” DFP, October 28, 1958; letter to the editor from James L. Ward, Chief Steward, Local 157, Consolidated Tooling Co., DN, October 31, 1958; letter to the editor signed “Voice of Experience,” DN, November 5, 1958; “Tool-Die Workers OK Strike,” DFP, November 10, 1958; and Kenneth Thompson, “Tool and Die Industry Put in Peril,” DFP, November 16, 1958.

36. Letter to the editor signed “Unemployed Skilled Worker,” DN, November 10, 1958; letter to the editor signed “Another Worker,” DN, November 14, 1958; “Union OK’s Pay Cut to Keep Firm Open,” DN, December 14, 1958; and Tom Nicholson, “Negro Workers Seeking Opportunities in Skilled Trades,” DFP, December 27, 1960.

37. “Auto Pay to Soar in Overtime Spurt,” DN, November 7, 1958; letter to the editor from Mrs. J. E. Bennett, DN, November 12, 1958; letter to the editor from W. F. Scott, DFP, November 23, 1958; and Fred Olmsted, “More Overtime Set Next Month by Ford,” DFP, November 27, 1958.

38. “Pickets Halt Dodge Output,” DFP, November 9, 1958; “Pickets Cut Production at Chrysler,” DN, November 22, 1958; Asher Lauren, “Chrysler Unemployed Hold Firm on Protest,” DN, November 23, 1958; “Jobless Pickets Halt Two Plants,” DFP, November 23, 1958; and “Hire More of Jobless, UAW Asks,” DFP, November 26, 1958.

39. Ralph Watts, “Output Trails ’57 by 2 Million,” DN, December 16, 1958; William Sudomier, Tom Nicholson, and John Mueller, “’Tis the Season to Be …,” DFP, December 23, 1958; “How Grim Was Job Picture?” DFP, December 28, 1958; and “Recession Struck Detroit Hardest of All U.S. Areas,” DFP, July 3, 1960.

40. Tom Nicholson, “Some Jobs Gone for Good,” DFP, November 2, 1958; “Detroit Business Picture Bright,” DFP, December 16, 1958; and Daniel Bell, “The ‘Invisible’ Unemployed,” Fortune (July 1958): 109.

41. “Breech Sounds a Warning of Rising Danger to America,” editorial, DFP, December 21, 1958.

Chapter 9. “What IS happening? Which way ARE we headed?”

1. Fred Olmsted, “Chevrolet, Ford Wage Hot Battle,” DFP, February 7, 1959; “Ford Has Record Profits; U.S. Economy Zooms,” DFP, April 20, 1959; Fred Olmsted, “Chrysler Earnings, Sales Rise,” DFP, April 22, 1959; and “GM Sales, Earnings Up Sharply,” DFP, April 30, 1959.

2. “Jobs and the Jobless,” editorial, DN, July 18, 1957; “Machines Held Small Factor,” DFP, August 14, 1957; “Unemployed Employables,” editorial, DFP, January 7, 1959; Don Schram, “500 Jobless Hold Rally in City Hall,” DFP, January 13, 1959; Fred Olmsted, “Chevrolet, Ford Wage Hot Battle,” DFP, February 7, 1959; James Haswell, “Reuther Asks U.S. to Aid Idle,” DFP, February 10, 1959; Jerry Johnson, “State Idle Decline by 37,000,” DFP, April 10, 1959; “Ford Has Record Profits,” DFP, April 20, 1959; Fred Olmsted, “Chrysler Earnings, Sales Rise,” DFP, April 22, 1959; “GM Sales, Earnings Up Sharply,” DFP, April 30, 1959; and “7,300 Jobs at $12 a Day,” DFP, July 17, 1959.

3. Tom Nicholson, “Auto Plants Hit by Glass Strike,” DFP, January 13, 1959; “Chrysler Lines to Close Friday,” DFP, January 14, 1959; “Chrysler Moves to Get Glass,” DFP, January 24, 1959; “Auto Glass Strike Near Settlement,” DFP, January 29, 1959; “Glass Strike Talks Recess, Chrysler’s Hopes Dashed,” DFP, January 30, 1959; “Glass Union Settles,” DFP, February 12, 1959; “Chrysler to Recall Thousands,” DFP, February 17, 1959; Fred Olmsted, “Chrysler Earnings, Sales Rise,” DFP, April 22, 1959; and Fred Olmsted, “Chrysler’s Profit Tops 15 Million,” DFP, May 1, 1959.

4. “UAW Cuts Staff and Services,” DFP, January 15, 1959; “UAW Will Lay Off 70,” DFP, February 7, 1959; “UAW Rolls Dip 289,411 in 1958,” DFP, March 17, 1959; and Tom Nicholson, “Even the MESC Lays Off People,” DFP, March 28, 1959.

5. William Sudomier, “75 Store Jobs Available, 600 Line Up to Apply,” DFP, January 28, 1959.

6. Jean Sharley, “My Husband Is Out of a Job,” DFP, March 15, 1959.

7. Tom Nicholson, “I Got a Job,” DFP, April 26, 1959.

8. “’59 Detroit Boom Seen as Auto Output Rises,” DFP, February 22, 1959; Ray Moseley, “Life Tough, but Oldsters Laugh,” DFP, December 10, 1959; Ray Moseley, “‘We Look All Over for Jobs—No Luck,’ Say Oldsters,” DFP, December 11, 1959; “Packard Retirees Win Millions,” DFP, December 12, 1959; and “Where Are Packard’s 4,000?” DFP, January 24, 1960.

9. “200 Women Rally for Job Rights,” DFP, April 16, 1959; and “Stellato: No Favors for Women,” DFP, April 16, 1959.

10. Lawrence J. White, The Automobile Industry since 1945 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 183; James J. Flink, The Automobile Age (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1988), 319–26; and John B. Rae, The American Automobile Industry (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1984), 120. The only American automaker to specialize in small, fuel-efficient vehicles in the mid- to late 1950s was Nash, which produced the Rambler and continued to do so after its merger with Hudson to form American Motors. Nash/American Motors produced the Rambler in Kenosha, Wisconsin. See White, Automobile Industry since 1945, 180; Flink, Automobile Age, 284; Charles E. Edwards, Dynamics of the United States Automobile Industry (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1965), 50–69; and Rae, American Automobile Industry, 109.

11. Edwards, Dynamics of the Automobile Industry, 127–41; White, Automobile Industry since 1945, 177–87; Rae, American Automobile Industry, 117–29; Fred Olmsted, “Volks Is a ‘Hot’ Little Car,” DFP, June 16, 1957; James Haswell, “Car Imports Top U.S. Export Sales,” DFP, October 10, 1957; Tom Nicholson, “Jobs and Small Cars,” DFP, April 5, 1959; Samuel Lubell, “Despite ‘Boom,’ Many Workers Are Worried,” DFP, May 4, 1959; and Fred Olmsted, “Small Cars Bring New Boost for 6’s,” DFP, June 21, 1959.

12. “9 Centers to Aid Idle in Detroit,” DFP, March 12, 1959; “Ford Pickets Protest Ohio Small Car Job,” DFP, May 16, 1959; Tom Nicholson, “Local 600 Fights for Falcon Work,” DFP, June 2, 1959; “1,700 Workers Protest Layoffs, Strike Ford Plant,” DFP, July 7, 1960; and Collins George, “Quit City, Dodge Men Told,” DFP, July 13, 1959.

13. “Auto Output Zooms, Far Surpasses 1958,” DFP, June 2, 1959; Tom Nicholson, “State Industry Masses Steel Stockpile,” DFP, June 28, 1959; Fred Olmsted, “June Auto Sales Best since 1955,” DFP, July 8, 1959; Kenneth Thompson, “Steel Stockpiled but Strike Feared,” DFP, July 9, 1959; “Ford Co. Earnings Hit All-Time High,” DFP, July 22, 1959; Kenneth Thompson, “GM Sales Hit 6.5 Billion,” DFP, July 30, 1959; “July Output of Autos Is 3rd Best,” DFP, August 1, 1959; “Auto Output Near 4 Million Mark,” DFP, August 4, 1959; and Tom Nicholson, “GM Faces Near Total Shutdown,” DFP, October 22, 1959.

14. The best account of the 1959 steel strike is Jack Metzgar’s Striking Steel: Solidarity Remembered (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000). “McLouth Tied Up over Safety,” DFP, January 30, 1959; “Safety Plan Ends McLouth Strike,” DFP, January 31, 1959; “First Crews Go Back at McLouth,” DFP, February 1, 1959; Tom Nicholson, “McLouth Workers Jump Gun,” DFP, July 15, 1959; Tom Nicholson, “Pickets’ Motto: Don’t Let Them Take It Away,” DFP, July 16, 1959; and “Area Steel Output Slows to Trickle,” DFP, July 22, 1959.

15. Jerry Johnson, “Strike Fails to Disturb Ecorse Calm,” DFP, July 26, 1959; “U.S. Steel Profits Highest in History,” DFP, July 29, 1959; “Head of USW Rallies Detroit Steel Workers,” DFP, August 15, 1959; Gerald Johnson, “Strike Blights Business in Steel Towns,” DFP, August 23, 1959; and Jean Sharley, “‘We Can Hold Out Another 75 Days,’” DFP, September 27, 1959.

16. “Detroit Area to Feel Steel-Strike Pinch in 14 Days,” DFP, September 15, 1959; “Shortage of Steel Hits GM,” DFP, September 22, 1959; “Auto Firms Feeling Steel Pinch,” DFP, September 27, 1959; Curt Haseltine, “Ore Ready If Steel Strike Ends,” DFP, September 27, 1959; “Chevrolet Layoffs to Idle 9,000,” DFP, October 13, 1959; “40,500 Idle at GM from Steel Strike,” DFP, October 16, 1959; “32,000 Idled in Michigan as Steel Shortage Grows,” DFP, October 17, 1959; Tom Nicholson, “GM Faces Near Total Shutdown,” DFP, October 22, 1959; “Steel Strike Puts GM at Standstill,” DFP, October 30, 1959; “Auto-Plant Layoffs Hit 199,530,” DFP, November 6, 1959; Fred Olmsted, “Auto Sales Soaring—Now, No Steel,” DFP, November 6, 1959; “Steel Trickles in Too Late for GM,” DFP, November 11, 1959; “GM Halts Production of Autos,” DFP, November 12, 1959; “GM Sales Plunge by 40 Pct.,” DFP, November 17, 1959; “All Workers Back at Great Lakes,” DFP, November 21, 1959; Fred Olmsted, “Auto Sales to Top 4th Quarter Output,” DFP, December 10, 1959; and Fred Olmsted, “Strike Cost Autos Output of 600,000,” DFP, January 5, 1960.

17. “Ford Profits Soar to $8.24 a Share,” DFP, February 4, 1960; and “GM’s ’59 Profit Near Record,” DFP, February 5, 1960.

18. Tom Nicholson, “Auto Industry Sets Stage for Record First Quarter,” DFP, January 5, 1960; “Car Output Highest since 1955,” DFP, January 15, 1960; Tom Nicholson, “Dodge Local 3 Boss Sees Blue Skies Ahead,” DFP, January 18, 1960; Tom Nicholson, “Car Output Up, Job List Down, Survey Shows,” DFP, January 21, 1960; James Ransom, “Auto Output Sets January Record,” DFP, February 2, 1960; Sylvia Porter, “Auto Pattern Changed? Too Early to Say,” DFP, February 8, 1960; “Car Output Hits Low for 1960,” DFP, February 12, 1960; “Car Output Declines 4th Week,” DFP, February 13, 1960; “Ford to Idle 4,400 for One Week,” DFP, February 26, 1960; and “667,900 Car Output Forecast,” DFP, March 19, 1960.

19. “Chrysler Warns It May Leave City,” DFP, February 19, 1960; and “Here’s What Haber Group Discovered,” DFP, March 20, 1960.

20. Edwards, Dynamics of the Automobile Industry, 47–69; Tom Craig, “Ex-Hudson Men Happy in Kenosha,” DFP, June 28, 1959; Fred Olmsted, “Dart Success Story of 1960 Car Market,” DFP, March 24, 1960; James Ransom, “Auto Production Up 23 Per Cent in First Quarter,” DFP, April 2, 1960; “Willow Run GM Plants Still Closed,” DFP, April 5, 1960; James Ransom, “AMC Sales Up 37 Pct. This Year,” DFP, April 6, 1960; James Ransom, “575,847 Car Sales in March Boost Industry’s Hopes,” DFP, April 7 1960; Fred Olmsted, “Compact Boom Sparks Best Spring since ’55,” DFP, May 6, 1960; “Car Output Up 7 Pct. for Week,” DFP, May 21, 1960; Fred Olmsted, “Output Edge over 1959 Due to New Compacts,” DFP, June 1, 1960; Fred Olmsted, “Compacts Boost Share of State’s Production,” DFP, July 1, 1960; and “Chevrolet Will Add 2,600 Jobs,” DFP, September 1, 1960.

21. “Reuther Fights Ford Rouge Layoffs,” DFP, April 12, 1960; Fred Olmsted, “Record Profits for Ford,” DFP, April 21, 1960; Fred Olmsted, “1st-Quarter GM Profits a Record,” DFP, April 28, 1960; and Kenneth Thompson, “Another Auto Supplier, Peninsular, Drops Out,” DFP, June 17, 1960.

22. “Here’s What Haber Group Discovered,” DFP, March 20, 1960; and Tom Nicholson, “Job Outlook Still Dim for Three Months,” DFP, April 17, 1960.

23. Tom Nicholson and Ray Courage, “Their Big Fear: Unemployment,” DFP, May 1, 1960; Tom Nicholson, “Spread Out Factory Jobs, Union Men Here Plead,” DFP, May 5, 1960; and “Detroit Listed by U.S. for Lack of Jobs,” DFP, June 7, 1960.

24. “1960 Auto Output Nears ’59 Total,” DFP, June 25, 1960; Fred Olmsted, “First Half Only 6 Pct. Off Record 1955 Pace,” DFP, June 28, 1960; “Car Output in Early ’60 Near Peak,” DFP, July 2, 1960; Fred Olmsted, “GM Sales Hit All-Time High for 6 Months,” DFP, July 28, 1960; Fred Olmsted, “Chrysler Sales, Earnings Rise,” DFP, July 29, 1960; “AMC Sales Set Record for Quarter,” DFP, July 29, 1960; “Detroit Idle Roll Up 30,000,” DFP, August 10, 1960; “Michigan Economy Plugs Along,” DFP, August 14, 1960; and “Auto Output Hits Three-Year High,” DFP, September 10, 1960.

25. “1,700 Workers Protest Layoffs, Strike Ford Plant,” DFP, July 7, 1960; “Row Halts All Ford Compacts,” DFP, July 8, 1960; “Progress Made in Ford Talks,” DFP, July 10, 1960; “Rift Shuts Four More Ford Plants,” DFP, July 12, 1960; “Cleveland Strike Settled,” DFP, July 14, 1960; “Walton Hills Ford Strike Ends as Workers Ratify Pact,” DFP, July 15, 1960; “Chevrolet Will Add 2,600 Jobs,” DFP, September 1, 1960; “Production of Autos Up, Down,” DFP, November 12, 1960; and Tom Kleene, “Corvair Plant Expanded 50 Pct.,” DFP, December 7, 1960.

26. “Cut to Idle 1,900 at Chrysler,” DFP, November 16, 1960; Tom Nicholson, “Car Output and Sales Soaring,” DFP, November 29, 1960; “Great Lakes Steel to Shut Down Production for 10 Days,” DFP, December 8, 1960; Fred Olmsted, “Car Sale Lag Is Forecast,” DFP, December 8, 1960; Fred Olmsted, “Sales Placed at 6,740,000,” DFP, December 21, 1960; “New Rise in Jobless Is Reported,” DFP, December 28, 1960; and Fred Olmsted, “Car Sales Are Off 11.5 Pct.,” DFP, December 29, 1960.

Conclusion

1. “Detroit Job Picture Labeled ‘Normal’; Moody Objects,” DFP, February 21, 1952; “No ‘Normal’ Seen for Unemployment,” DFP, February 22, 1952; and Charles Weber, “B of C Secretary Hall Calls Senator Moody Puppet of CIO,” DFP, February 26, 1952.

2. “Chrysler to Slash Production 10 Pct.,” Polish Daily News (English edition), January 13, 1956; and “Output Cuts by Big 3 Idle 26,000,” DFP, January 22, 1956.

3. Bert Stoll, “Michigan’s Popular State Parks about to Burst Seams,” DFP, February 13, 1957.

4. Presentation to the Rochester Older Persons Commission, October 28, 2008, Rochester, Michigan; and presentation as part of the Oakland University History Department’s “History Comes Alive” lecture series, January 14, 2014, Rochester, Michigan.

5. For recent depictions of the early postwar years as relative boom times for organized labor generally, and autoworkers in particular, see David Maraniss, Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015), 212; and Jefferson Cowie, The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016), 153–54, 156–60.

6. See, for example, James J. Flink, The Automobile Age (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1988), 280.

7. Evelyn Rogers, interview by Daniel Clark, June 21, 2002; Edith Arnold, Elwin Brown, Les Coleman, James Franklin, Don Hester, Paul Ish, Gene Johnson, Ernie Liles, James McGuire, Emerald Neal, Katie Neumann, Thomas Nowak, Paul Ross, Dorothy Sackle, L. J. Scott, and Joe Woods interviews.