Donald Richberg

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Donald Richberg
Donald R. Richberg in 1929
Born
Donald Randall Richberg

(1881-07-10)July 10, 1881
DiedNovember 27, 1960(1960-11-27) (aged 79)
Occupation(s)Author; Attorney; Federal civil servant
Spouses
Elizabeth Harriet Herrick
(div. 1917)
Lynette Mulvey
(div. 1924)
  • Florence Weed (surv. 1960)
ChildrenEloise Richberg Campbell (by Florence Weed)
Parent(s)John Carl and Eloise Olivia (née Randall) Richberg
RelativesLeda Richberg-Hornsby (sister)

Donald Randall Richberg (July 10, 1881 - November 27, 1960)

Taft-Hartley Act.[1][5][6]

Early life and career

Donald Richberg was born in July 1881 in Knoxville, Tennessee, to John Carl and Eloise Olivia (née Randall) Richberg.[1] His grandfather, Louis Richberg, and his father had migrated from Germany to the U.S. in 1851.[1] His grandfather set up shop as a merchant in New York City before moving to Chicago, Illinois, in 1854 and starting a meatpacking business.[1] Richberg's father became a corporate attorney and later represented the City of Chicago.[1] His grandmother, Mirenda Briggs Randall, and his mother were both physicians.[7] His sister was the aviator Leda Richberg-Hornsby.[8]

Donald Richberg graduated from a Chicago public high school, received a

J.D. from Harvard University in 1904.[1] He met Elizabeth Harriet Herrick while at Harvard, and they married in 1906; they separated in 1915, and divorced in 1917 after she left him.[9] He soon married Lynette Mulvey, but they divorced in 1924.[1] The same year, he married Florence Weed (she survived him).[1] They had one daughter.[10]

Richberg and his father established a law firm, Richberg & Richberg, in Chicago.[1][2] In 1913, Harold L. Ickes joined the firm.[1][2] His increasingly ill father gave up the practice of law in 1915, and Morgan Davies and John S. Lord joined the firm (now called Richberg, Ickes, Davies & Lord).[1][11] He was named a special state's attorney from 1913 to 1915 and assisted the City of Chicago with its extensive litigation against the People's Gas Company, and from 1916 to 1919 was a special master for a Chicago city court of chancery.[1]

Richberg's first foray into politics was in 1905. Becoming involved in

Progressive Party nationally.[12][13][14]

Great Railroad Strike of 1922

In 1922, Richberg became nationally famous for his involvement in the

Norris-La Guardia Act, federal legislation which was enacted by Congress in 1932 and which banned labor injunctions.[6][19][20][21] In an attempt to injure the bill's chances for passage, Secretary of Labor William N. Doak (in a meeting which included representatives of the National Association of Manufacturers) offered Richberg a federal judgeship if he would end his support for the bill.[21] Richberg refused. His experiences drafting these successful federal laws led many to consider Richberg to be the foremost expert on labor law by 1932.[2]

Federal service

Blue Eagle poster produced by the National Recovery Administration. The poster would be displayed by employers agreeing to participate in NRA industry codes of fair trade.

In September 1932, Richberg, Ickes, Fred C. Howe,

Charles Wyzanski and Bernard Baruch.[4][22][23] Moley asked Richberg to assist him in putting final touches on the bill after various competing drafts had been reconciled,[4] and Richberg was largely responsible for drafting Title I, Section 7(a)[20]—which guaranteed collective bargaining rights for workers and unions.[3][24]

National Recovery Administration and Presidential councils

On June 20, 1933, at the request of Hugh S. Johnson, President Roosevelt appointed Richberg general counsel of the National Recovery Administration (NRA), the agency established to implement NIRA.[3] Richberg greatly feared that the Act he had helped author was unconstitutional, and spent much of his time in office trying to avoid bringing cases to trial or allowing them to advance through the appellate courts[25][26] As general counsel, Richberg also was tasked with implementing and defending Section 7(a). Richberg, like NRA Administrator Hugh Johnson, believed Section 7(a) would be self-implementing.[20] But both men were proven wrong: A massive wave of union organizing occurred, and employer resistance to Section 7(a) rights led to employer and union violence, strikes, and general strikes that threatened to disrupt economic recovery.[27] On August 5, 1933, just 46 days after the passage of the NIRA, President Roosevelt established the National Labor Board (NLB) to take over the implementation of Section 7(a).[20] Richberg openly opposed the National Labor Board and its successor agency (the "first" National Labor Relations Board, established on June 29, 1934).[28] In direct contradiction of NLB policy and rulings, he publicly declared that Section 7(a) did not prohibit company unions or the closed shop, opposed the NLB's concept of representational exclusivity, opposed any attempt to impose a requirement of good faith bargaining on employers.[29] Even as a national strike of 200,000 auto workers seemed imminent in February 1934,[30] Richberg joined with Johnson to issue a "clarification" of Section 7(a) in which they declared that company unions were acceptable under federal labor policy.[22][28]

On June 30, 1934, President Roosevelt announced that Richberg was taking a leave of absence from the NRA to become director of the newly created Industrial Emergency Committee. Roosevelt was experimenting with a number of coordinating bodies to assist in coordinating economic recovery efforts. He created an Executive Council on July 11, 1933, composed of most Cabinet heads and the leaders of most newly created economic recovery agencies "to provide for the orderly presentation of business and to coordinate inter-agency problems of organization and work of the new governmental agencies".

Cabinet.[34] His extensive power earned Richberg the sobriquet of "assistant president."[35] But Richberg's role didn't last. The Executive Council was merged with the National Emergency Council and the Industrial Emergency Committee was made a subcommittee of the new body in October 1934.[36] By the end of December 1934, Richberg had resigned from his role as "assistant president" after political attacks from others in the administration.[37]

Return to NRA

Richberg also returned to the NRA. NRA Administrator Hugh Johnson was showing signs of mental breakdown due to the extreme pressure and workload of running the National Recovery Administration.

Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935), making the issue moot.[24] A severability clause enabled NRA to continue functioning to some degree, but the vast majority of its regulatory work was now no longer possible. President Roosevelt terminated the Board on June 15, 1935, and replaced it with an Administrator again.[40][41] Richberg resigned the next day.[42]

Later life

Richberg's later life was marked by increasing conservatism and anti-labor attitudes, the practice of law, and writing. He attempted in 1936 to establish his own law firm in Washington, D.C., but this failed.

Taft-Hartley Act.[25] In 1956, he helped author a bill introduced into the Virginia General Assembly which would have stopped school desegregation.[1] From 1949 to 1952 he was a lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Law.[10]

Donald Richberg died at his home in Charlottesville, Virginia, on November 27, 1960.[10]

Writings

Richberg was a widely published essayist, novelist, poet, and non-fiction author.[3] His more well-known books include:[10]

  • Compulsory Unionism: The New Slavery. Published posthumously, 1972.
  • Donald R. Richberg's story: The Mexican Oil Seizure. Arrow Press, 1939.
  • G. Hovah Explains. National Home Library Foundation, 1940.
  • Government and Business Tomorrow. Harper & Brothers, 1943.
  • Guilty!: The Confession of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1936.
  • In the Dark. Forbes & company, 1912.
  • Labor Union Monopoly: A Clear and Present Danger. H. Regnery Co., 1957.
  • A Man Of Purpose. Kessinger Publishing, 1922.
  • The Murder of a Candidate. National Small Business Men's Association, 1952.
  • My Hero: The Autobiography of Donald Richberg. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1954.
  • Old Faith and Fancies New. Jarman Press, 1949.
  • Poems of Donald R. Richberg. American Natural Gas Company, 1959.
  • The Rainbow. Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1936.
  • The Shadow Men. Forbes & Company, 1911.
  • Tents of the Mighty. Willett, Clark & Colby, 1930.
  • Who Wins In November. 1916.

He also wrote the popular song Smoke Dreams.[10]

Notes

  1. ^
  2. ^
  3. ^
  4. ^
  5. ^
  6. ^
  7. ^ Smith, George W. History of Illinois and Her People, Vol. 5. Chicago: American Historical Society, 1927.
  8. ^ "At 23 Woman Who Eloped Joins Navigators of the Air." New York Sun. March 30, 1914.
  9. ^ "Donald Richberg Seeks Divorce." Chicago Daily Tribune. May 16, 1917.
  10. ^ a b c d e f "Donald Richberg of N.R.A. Is Dead." Associated Press. November 28, 1960.
  11. Accessed 2009-04-14.
  12. ^ ; McCarthy, Michael P. "Prelude to Armageddon: Charles E. Merriam and the Chicago Mayoral Election of 1911." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. November 1974.
  13. ^
  14. ^ "Injunction Upheld Against Rail Men." New York Times. September 24, 1922.
  15. .
  16. .
  17. ; Reynolds, Morgan O. "An Economic Analysis of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, the Wagner Act, and the Labor Representation Industry." Journal of Libertarian Studies. 6:3-4 (Summer/Fall 1982).
  18. ^
  19. ^
  20. ^ .
  21. ^
  22. ^
  23. ^ a b Vadney, Thomas E. The Wayward Liberal: A Political Biography of Donald Richberg. Lexington, Ky.: The University Press of Kentucky, 1970.
  24. ^
  25. ; Dickman, Howard. "Exclusive Representation and American Industrial Democracy: A Historical Reappraisal." Journal of Labor Research. 5:4 (December 1984); Hogler, Raymond. "Exclusive Representation and the Wagner Act: The Structure of Federal Collective Bargaining Law." Labor Law Journal. 58:3 (Fall 2007).
  26. ^ ; Fine, Sidney. Automobile Under the Blue Eagle: Labor, Management, and the Automobile Manufacturing Code. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1963.
  27. ^ "Executive Order 6202A - Appointing the Executive Council." July 11, 1933. John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters. The American Presidency Project. (Online.) Santa Barbara, Calif.: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database).
  28. ^ "Executive Order 6433-A - Creation of the National Emergency Council." November 17, 1933. John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters. The American Presidency Project. (Online.) Santa Barbara, Calif.: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database).
  29. ^ "Executive Order 6770 - Creating the Industrial Emergency Committee." June 30, 1934. John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters. The American Presidency Project. (Online.) Santa Barbara, Calif.: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database).
  30. ^ "Assistant President?" Time. November 12, 1934.
  31. ^ "Second Thought." Time. January 21, 1935.
  32. ^ "Executive Order 6889-A - Consolidating the National Emergency Council, the Executive Council and the Industrial Emergency Committee." October 31, 1934. John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters. The American Presidency Project. (Online.) Santa Barbara, Calif.: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database).
  33. ^ "Executive Order 6859 - Reorganizing the N.R.A. and Establishing the National Industrial Recovery Board." September 27, 1934. John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters. The American Presidency Project. (Online.) Santa Barbara, Calif.: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database).
  34. ^ a b "9.2.1 Records of the National Industrial Recovery Board." Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. 3 vols. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette, et al. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
  35. ^ "Executive Order 7075 - Reorganizing the N.R.A." June 15, 1935. John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters. The American Presidency Project. (Online.) Santa Barbara, Calif.: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database); "Executive Order 7076 - Extending the Activities of the N.R.A." June 15, 1935. John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters. The American Presidency Project. (Online.) Santa Barbara, Calif.: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database).
  36. ^ "J.L. O'Neill Slated to Head New NRA." New York Times. June 16, 1935.
  37. ^ "Visitor to Mexico." Time. March 20, 1939. The firm was later known as Davies, Richberg, Tydings, Landa & Duff. See: "Donald Richberg of N.R.A. Is Dead." Associated Press. November 28, 1960.

Further reading

  • Annunziata, Frank. "Donald R. Richberg and American Liberalism: An Illinois Progressive's Critique of the New Deal and Welfare State." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 67.5 (1974): 530-547. online
  • Gerber, Larry G. The Limits of Liberalism: Josephus Daniels, Henry Stimson, Bernard Baruch, Donald Richberg, Felix Frankfurter and the Development of the Modern American Political Economy (1983). online
  • Vadney, Thomas E. The Wayward Liberal: A Political Biography of Donald Richberg (University Press of Kentucky, 2014).

External links