Charles McElroy White (June 13, 1891 – January 10, 1977) was an American steel manufacturing executive. He was a protégé of Tom M. Girdler, and was briefly superintendentIn the American steel industry, the superintendent is the chief operating officer of a steel company or a plant and is responsible for day-to-day operations, labor relations, and proper functioning of the supply chain for raw materials. The superintendent coordinates closely with officers in charge of sales and shipping of product. of Jones and Laughlin Steel Company in 1929. He followed Girdler to the rapidly growing Republic Steel in 1930, where he was appointed president of the company in 1945. He was promoted to chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer in 1956. He retired in 1960.
Early life and career Charles M. White was born in June 1891 in Oakland, Maryland, to Charles Franklin and Estella Virginia (Jarboe) White. He grew up in Hutton, Maryland, where his father operated a sawmill.Current Biography Yearbook, p. 53. He was educated in public school in Hutton, but did not graduate from high school. He started working in lumber camps when he was 12 years old, leading mules. By the age of 14, he was driving a four-horse team. Determined to earn money to attend college, he found employment as a construction worker on a railroad and in a tannery.Girdler and Sparkes, p. 183. He won admission to Maryland State College, where he graduated in 1913 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.Callcott, p. 241.
After graduation, White took a job with the American Bridge Company for two years as a millwright's helper.Thomas, Jr., Robert McG. "Charles White, Former Chairman of Republic Steel, Dies in Florida." New York Times. January 11, 1977. Over the next three years, he continued to take courses in chemistry, engineering, and metallurgy at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. White took a job with the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company in 1915, and within a year was superintendent of a sintering plant. In 1916, he was promoted to assistant superintendent of the blast furnace at Jones and Laughlin's Eliza Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His position was reclassified in 1917 as a master mechanic. Two years later, he was promoted to the position of assistant to the superintendent of mechanical and construction work at J&L's South Side works.
In 1918, White married Helen Bradley. The couple had a daughter, Jean."Inaugural Charles and Helen White Symposium." MEtrics. 3:2 (Summer 2003), p. 15. Accessed 2012-03-13."White, Charles McElroy." The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. July 10, 1997. Accessed 2012-03-13.
In 1920, Benjamin Franklin Jones Jr., chairman of the board of directors of Jones and Laughlin Steel, asked Tom M. Girdler (then Jones and Laughlin's General Manager) to take over the operation of the company's shortline railroads, which were inefficient and losing money. But United States antitrust law prevented Jones and Laughlin from directly controlling these railroads. Jones suggested that Girdler find a trusted associate to operate the shortline railroads, while Girdler secretly held the real decision-making power. Girdler turned to Charles M. White.Wollman and Inman, p. 94. White was promoted to operating manager of the Monongahela Connecting Railroad in 1920. He was soon given operating control of three other shortline railroads owned by Jones and Laughlin Steel, including the Aliquippa and Ohio River Railroad.
In 1927, White left J&L's railroad subsidiaries to become assistant superintendent of the company's Aliquippa Steel Works in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. He was promoted to general superintendent of the plant in 1929, but served only a few months. In May 1930, White was appointed assistant vice president in charge of operations at Republic Steel."C.M. White With Republic Steel." New York Times. May 5, 1930.
Five years later, when Girdler was appointed president of Republic Steel, White was promoted to take over Girdler's role as vice president of operations.
Republic Steel White is best known for his years at Republic Steel. His early years at the company were marked by battles with labor unions, which he strenuously opposed. According to historian Irving Bernstein, under White it was Republic Steel's policy to use violence to oppose unionization.Bernstein, p. 516.
While vice president of operations at Republic Steel, White oversaw the rapid expansion of the Republic Steel police force. This included putting the company police in uniforms, establishing a military-like hierarchy, and arming the previously weaponless force.Subcommittee on Senate Resolution 266, ...Private Police Systems, p. 126-152. White asserted in 1937 testimony before a subcommittee of the United States Senate Committee on Education and Labor that the men recruited for the police force were of the highest quality and received excellent training. But his subordinate, James L. Williams (superintendent of police at Republic Steel), contradicted White on both counts. White was also alleged to have agreed to use excess force in response to union organizing efforts. Republic Steel acquired Berger Manufacturing Co. in 1933. In a union organizing election held under the auspices of the National Labor Relations Act, workers at the plant voted to form a union in 1935. The union was certified as duly elected by the National Labor Relations Board. The workers struck in order to pressure Republic Steel to recognize and bargain with their union. White was present at the plant during the strike. Witnesses alleged before the Senate subcommittee that White permitted the Republic Steel police to use excessive amounts of tear and vomit gas, fire weapons indiscriminately into crowds, arm themselves with and use metal clubs on strikers and bystanders, and to venture far off company property into the surrounding streets at will. During the short strike, 28 people were hospitalized, seven people shot, and 110 sued Republic Steel for damages (which paid out $46,000 to settle these suits).Subcommittee on Senate Resolution 266, ...Private Police Systems, p. 128-129. Republic Steel president Rufus Wysor apologized for the "regettable riot" his company police caused.Subcommittee on Senate Resolution 266, ...Private Police Systems, p. 144. White's testimony before the subcommittee played down these incidents or denied that they occurred. The official subcommittee report questioned his credibility,Subcommittee on Senate Resolution 266, ...Private Police Systems, p. 135. declared his statements to be "a deliberate attempt to mislead the committee",Subcommittee on Senate Resolution 266, ...Private Police Systems, p. 123. and "specious and completely disingenuous".Subcommittee on Senate Resolution 266, ...Private Police Systems, p. 134.
During this testimony, White engaged in a now-famous exchange of words with Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr. White admitted to La Follette's committee that he had authorized the expenditure of $11,900 for tear gas and handguns in June 1935. When pressed to explain why, White said that the rule of law had broken down and mobs were seizing steel plants. La Follette scoffed at this claim, leading to the sarcastic exchange: White: We all look very peaceful in this room, yet I see four policemen with side arms. If it is for my protection, I am grateful. La Follette: We want you to feel in a home-like atmosphere.
White's response to numerous unionization attempts at Republic Steel facilities was vigorous. He approved a campaign of espionage, infiltration of unions, incitement to strikes and violence, physical intimidation, and "rough shadowing" (intimidation by openly following someone so that they know they are being followed and significantly alter their normal behavior thereby).Subcommittee on Senate Resolution 266, ...Private Police Systems, p. 153-194. In Senate testimony, White did not deny that he knew espionage and rough shadowing was being employed by company police under his supervision from 1935 to 1937.Subcommittee on Senate Resolution 266, ...Private Police Systems, p. 230. He later admitted before Congress that he signed several thousand dollars' worth of vouchers to pay for anti-unionization efforts.Subcommittee on Senate Resolution 266, ...Private Police Systems, p. 199, 202. Between June 1933 and April 1937, Republic Steel spent $392,120 on these anti-union activities as well as a company union.Stark, Louis. "Worker Plan Cost Republic $392,120." New York Times. July 19, 1938. Although White described his company's industrial relations as harmonious during this period, he authorized expenditures of $214,129 on strike activities.
In 1945, White was elected president of Republic Steel by the company's board of directors. He replaced Rufus Wysor, who retired. His replacement as vice president of operations was his assistant, E. M. Richards."Charles M. White New President Of Republic Steel Corporation." New York Times. May 10, 1945. In the post-war period, White continued to vocally oppose unionization of the steel industry. He called for right-to-work laws in the United States,"Republic Backs U.S. Steel Stand." New York Times. January 18, 1946. and demanded repeal of the National Labor Relations Act."Asks Wagner Act Repeal." New York Times. May 22, 1946.
In 1948, White embroiled Republic Steel in a major dispute with the Kaiser-Frazer company. During World War II, the federal government constructed a $28 million steel works near Cleveland, Ohio, to provide steel for the war effort. It leased this plant to Republic Steel. When the federal government began selling off its federally owned war plants in the late 1940s, it offered the plant to Republic Steel. But White refused to pay the asking price. The War Assets Administration then leased the plant to Kaiser-Frazer, which angered Republic Steel and led many in the steel industry to believe that Kaiser-Frazer would cut off pig iron supplies to the steel industry."Kaiser Steel Deal Rouses Industry." New York Times. August 20, 1948. White appealed to President Harry S. Truman, demanding that he terminate the lease.Cloke, H. Walton. "Kaiser Lease Fight Taken to Truman." New York Times. August 25, 1948. General Jess Larson, Administrator of the War Assets Administration, testified before Congress on August 25 that White had tried to bluff the federal government in order to get a lower price for the lease, and that the federal government walked away from the talks believing Republic was not bluffing.Cloke, H. Walton. "'Bluff' Is Charged to Republic Steel." New York Times. August 26, 1948. Two days later, Kaiser-Frazer agreed to continue to let Republic Steel operate the plant in return for a greater share of the pig iron produced by it."Republic to Run Pig-Iron Furnace." New York Times. August 28, 1948.