Willard Wirtz | |
|---|---|
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| 10thUnited States Secretary of Labor | |
| In office September 25, 1962 – January 20, 1969 | |
| President | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Preceded by | Arthur Goldberg |
| Succeeded by | George Shultz |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Willard Wirtz (1912-03-14)March 14, 1912 DeKalb, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | April 24, 2010(2010-04-24) (aged 98) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Beloit College (BA) Harvard University (LLB) |
| Signature |  |
William Willard Wirtz (March 14, 1912 – April 24, 2010) was a U.S.administrator,cabinet officer, attorney, and law professor. He served as theSecretary of Labor between 1962 and 1969 under the administrations of PresidentsJohn F. Kennedy andLyndon B. Johnson. Wirtz was the last living member of Kennedy's cabinet.[1]
Wirtz was born on March 14, 1912, inDeKalb, Illinois, the son of Alpha Belle (née White) andWilliam Wilbur Wirtz.[1] He attendedNorthern Illinois University, where he became a brother ofAlpha Phi Omega.[2] While a student atBeloit College, he met the former Mary Jane Quisenberry. They married in 1936. They had two sons, Richard and Philip Wirtz.[3]
He graduated fromHarvard Law School in 1937 and was immediately appointed to the faculty of theUniversity of Iowa College of Law by the dean of the law school (and future U.S. Supreme Court justice)Wiley B. Rutledge. Wirtz was a professor of law atNorthwestern University from 1939 to 1942. He served with theWar Labor Board from 1943 to 1945, and was chairman of theNational Wage Stabilization Board in 1946. Wirtz returned to teach law at Northwestern until 1954.
His students included futureU.S. Supreme Court justiceJohn Paul Stevens, whom Wirtz recommended for what became his 1947–48 clerkship with Justice Rutledge. He was active in Democratic politics and wrote speeches forAdlai Stevenson during his 1952 Presidential campaign.[4] Wirtz was appointed by the Under-Secretary of Labor in 1961.
He held the post ofLabor Secretary throughout the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, during which time he is credited for having dealt effectively with the varioustrade union strikes of the 1960s.[1] One of his programs, meant to deal with a shortage offarmworkers after the endBracero program in 1964 and a shortage ofsummer jobs for teenagers, was meant to replace themigrant workers with 17-year-old high school students.[5] More than 18,000 were recruited for the A-TEAM, orAthletes in Temporary Employment as Agricultural Manpower, but only 3,300 ever worked in the fields, and many of them quickly quit or stagedstrikes because of the poor working conditions, including oppressive heat and decrepit housing.[5] The program was cancelled after the first summer.
While serving in the Labor Department, Wirtz developed programs for the Johnson administration'sWar on Poverty. He advocated for remedial education for school dropouts and for retraining programs for unemployed workers.[4] Wirtz's relationship with Johnson was compromised by Wirtz sending a private memorandum to the President expressing concerns about the United States' involvement in theVietnam War.[4]
Following his public service, he practiced law inWashington, D.C. as a partner in Wirtz & Gentry (1970–78), Wirtz & Lapointe (1979–[?]), and Friedman & Wirtz (1984–1989). Named in 2000, theWirtz Labor Library is the main library of theU.S. Department of Labor in theFrances Perkins Building inWashington, D.C.[6] The library contains 181,000 items, including the James Taylor collection (labor history), the Folio collection (trade union serials) and a 30,000 volume labor law collection. Wirtz wrote a memoir entitled "In the Rear View Mirror" which was published in 2008 by The Beloit College Press.[4]
Wirtz was married to Mary Jane Quisenberry (1913-2002)[7] with whom he had 2 children. He died in an assisted living facility inWashington, D.C., on April 24, 2010.[8] At the time of his death he was the oldest living former cabinet member and the last surviving cabinet member of theKennedy administration.
William Willard Wirtz was born March 14, 1912, in DeKalb, Ill., the first child of William Wilbur Wirtz and Alfa Bell White Wirtz. He used his middle name to avoid confusion with his father.
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| Preceded by | U.S. Secretary of Labor Served under:John F. Kennedy,Lyndon B. Johnson September 25, 1962 – January 20, 1969 | Succeeded by |
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