Originally Posted by maples01
Unions were necessary at that time,
but Ford was one of the few who improved employee working conditions on his own.
No US automaker was unionized prior to 1936.
*
FoMoCo didn't become a 'union shop' (UAW) until 1941. Henry Ford hated unions, wanted no part of them, it was his son Edsel that finally convinced him to sign on.
The in-famous "Battle of the Overpass" occurred at The Rouge in 1938.
UAW prez Walter Ruether (a former Ford assembly line worker) and a companion were passing out UAW leaflets past the overpass that led from The Rouge to the employee parking lots.
Members of the Service Department, FoMoCo's name for their in-house security force, known as the "goon squad" (most were ex-cons), greeted, then beat the hell out of both Ruether and his companion.
The entire incident was photograped by a local newspaper reporter, made headlines throughout the world the next day.
* General Motors, after a prolonged workers "sit-in" strike that occurred in 1936 at the Flint MI Chevrolet assembly plant, was the first to unionize. Chrysler Corporation unionized in 1938.
Originally Posted by maples01
The Rutherford County court house has a picture of a captured Japanese mini sub.
This Japanese midget sub ran aground on December 7, 1941 after its gyro compass failed. Was one of six midget subs launched from mother subs that were to enter Pearl Harbor, launch torpedoes.
Ensign Sakamaka was captured, became POW #1. The sub was later sent on a War Bond tour across the US.
The midget sub exists, is located at Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz' birthplace in Fredericksburg TX known as the National Museum of the Pacific War.
btw: Two hours PRIOR to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the destroyer USS Ward (DD139) sank a midget sub by gunfire that was attempting to enter Pearl Harbor, but...
The report of this incident didn't reach Admiral Kimmel (CINCPAC ~ Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet) until
after the attack began.
btw, part II: Greywolf started a thread awhile back inre to FoMoCo history, was hoping it would become a regular feature. But it died PDQ, because there was next to no interest. Sad.
