Out to Pasture

For more than half a century, Tom Mercer Girdler was a man of steel. He was especially proud of the fact that he came from a family that loved work. "Work has been the significant thing in our lives," he said. "We have received from it wonderful excitement and satisfaction." Last week, long since at the top of the industry, Tom Girdler, 79, finally gave up his excitement and satisfaction, and retired.

Son of an Indiana farmer, young Girdler went to Lehigh ('01), got his first steel job offer (as a foreman in the Pittsburgh Oliver Iron & Steel Co. at $1,000 a year) from a classmate. After two more production jobs, he joined Jones & Laughlin as assistant general superintendent in 1914, worked up to president in 1928, left the following year. His annual salary and bonus in 1929 totaled $350,000.

A Scrap for Solvency. Girdler became president and chairman of the newly formed Republic Steel, a merger of four ailing companies. With sales declining in the Depression, he was determined to make the new company succeed. "We'll make it," he said. To make it, Girdler resorted to extraordinary methods, sold off inventory, scrapped plant equipment to get scrap for steel. He bought Truscon Steel, later acquired fabricating companies to stimulate demand for steel. After five years in the red, he produced a net profit of more than $4,000,000 in 1935.

With Republic's battle for solvency won, pugnacious Tom Girdler rolled up his sleeves for the fight of his life. This time he was to take on John L. Lewis and the C.I.O., which had begun to organize steelworkers in 1937. That year, U.S. Steel signed the first steel contract with the C.I.O., but Girdler was determined not to let the union into the Republic camp. On May 26 the famous Little Steel Strike began. Girdler had a call to war: "Before I sign with the Steelworkers Organizing Committee, I will go back to my farm and raise apples."

He went so far as to fly provisions into one Republic plant for workers who stayed on the job. In six weeks the bloody strike cost twelve lives, cost Republic $350,000 worth of damage claims and $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 more in back pay to 1,500 jobless workers. But Girdler refused to sign. Because of the strike, he became a symbol of hate to union men. Years after the Little Steel Strike, Dean James M. Landis of Harvard Law School used the name of Girdler as a mythical villain for case lectures. Not until 1942, when Girdler was on leave, did Republic settle its grievances with the union and sign a contract.

A New Era. Within a week after Pearl Harbor, Girdler had taken over Consolidated and Vultee Aircraft corporations. As chairman, he merged the two companies, introduced assembly-line methods, had Republic Steel make components for planes. The war over, Girdler went back to Republic, gradually relinquished his control to others. Last year he gave up his post as chief executive (TIME. July 4, 1955); last week he finished off an illustrious career as Republic's chairman to enjoy a peaceful life on his horse-breeding farm in the pastures of Lexington, Ky.

To the chairmanship of Republic's board goes Girdlers protege, straight-talking Charles M. White, 65, president of Republic since 1945. The new president is genial Thomas F. Patton, 53, who reflects an era far removed from the fighting, roaring times of Tom Girdler. Patton is the first Republic president who did not come up through production, instead, started as Republic's general counsel in 1936, more recently helped negotiate steel's most peaceful strike. With Girdler gone, Chairman White will set Republic policy, Patton will execute it.

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