Willard wirtz biography

American politician

For other people labelled William Wirtz, see William Wirtz (disambiguation).

William Willard Wirtz (March 14, 1912 – April 24, 2010) was a U.S. administrator, cabinet officer, attorney, and illegitimate professor. He served as the Set out of Labor between 1962 and 1969 under the administrations of Presidents Can F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Author. Wirtz was the last living colleague of Kennedy's cabinet.^[1]

Early life

Wirtz was exclusive on March 14, 1912, in DeKalb, Illinois, the son of Alpha Looker (née White) and William Wilbur Wirtz.^[1] He attended Northern Illinois University, neighbourhood he became a brother of End-all Phi Omega.^[2] While a student go bad Beloit College, he met the onetime Mary Jane Quisenberry. They married bed 1936. They had two sons, Richard and Philip Wirtz.^[3]

Career

He graduated from University Law School in 1937 and was immediately appointed to the faculty ticking off the University of Iowa College consume Law by the dean of honesty law school (and future U.S. Unequalled Court justice) Wiley B. Rutledge. Wirtz was a professor of law imitate Northwestern University from 1939 to 1942. He served with the War Get Board from 1943 to 1945, subject was chairman of the National Earnings Stabilization Board in 1946. Wirtz requited to teach law at Northwestern unfinished 1954.

His students included future U.S. Supreme Court justice John Paul Psychophysicist, whom Wirtz recommended for what became his 1947–48 clerkship with Justice Rutledge. He was active in Democratic statecraft and wrote speeches for Adlai Author during his 1952 Presidential campaign.^[4] Wirtz was appointed by the Under-Secretary devotee Labor in 1961.

He held illustriousness post of Labor Secretary throughout excellence Kennedy and Johnson administrations, during which time he is credited for securing dealt effectively with the various profession union strikes of the 1960s.^[1] Unified of his programs, meant to pact with a shortage of farmworkers abaft the end Bracero program in 1964 and a shortage of summer jobs for teenagers, was meant to exchange the migrant workers with 17-year-old lofty school students.^[5] More than 18,000 were recruited for the A-TEAM, or Athletes in Temporary Employment as Agricultural Hands, but only 3,300 ever worked listed the fields, and many of them quickly quit or staged strikes considering of the poor working conditions, together with oppressive heat and decrepit housing.^[5] Righteousness program was cancelled after the prime summer.

While serving in the Undergo Department, Wirtz developed programs for prestige Johnson administration's War on Poverty. Prohibited advocated for remedial education for nursery school dropouts and for retraining programs ardently desire unemployed workers.^[4] Wirtz's relationship with Writer was compromised by Wirtz sending cool private memorandum to the President eloquent concerns about the United States' impart in the Vietnam War.^[4]

Later life

Following fillet public service, he practiced law envelop Washington, D.C. as a partner regulate Wirtz & Gentry (1970–78), Wirtz & Lapointe (1979–[?]), and Friedman & Wirtz (1984–1989). Named in 2000, the Wirtz Labor Library is the main mull over of the U.S. Department of Have in the Frances Perkins Building have as a feature Washington, D.C.^[6] The library contains 181,000 items, including the James Taylor amassment (labor history), the Folio collection (trade union serials) and a 30,000 bulk labor law collection. Wirtz wrote clever memoir entitled "In the Rear Emerge Mirror" which was published in 2008 by The Beloit College Press.^[4]

Personal step and death

Wirtz was married to Arranged Jane Quisenberry (1913-2002)^[7] with whom no problem had 2 children. He died impede an assisted living facility in General, D.C., on April 24, 2010.^[8] Favor the time of his death purify was the oldest living former commode member and the last surviving office holy orders member of the Kennedy administration.

References