James P. Mitchell

James Paul Mitchell (November 12, 1900 – October 19, 1964) was an American politician from New Jersey. Nicknamed "the social conscience of the Republican Party," he served as United States Secretary of Labor from 1953 to 1961 in the Eisenhower Administration. Mitchell was considered a potential running mate for the 1960 Republican presidential candidate, Vice President Richard M. Nixon, but was ultimately not chosen. Instead, he ran unsuccessfully that year for Governor of New Jersey. He then retired from politics.

Early career

Mitchell was born on November 12, 1900, and he was raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey. His father Peter John died in 1912. His mother was Anna C. Driscoll. Mitchell attended from Battin High School and graduated from St. Patrick High School in 1917. Mitchell's uncle was the character actor Thomas Mitchell. Mitchell married Isabelle Nulton on January 22, 1923. He began his political career in 1932 as the Union County supervisor for the New Jersey Relief Administration. Six years later he was appointed to the New York City division of the Works Progress Administration.

When Brehon B. Somerwell went to Washington, D.C. to become head of the Army Construction Program, he made Mitchell head of the labor relations division in the Army Construction Program. In 1942, Mitchell became director of industrial personnel for the War Department, in charge of one million men. After the war he returned to the private sector and in 1947 became director for labor relations and operations at Bloomingdale Brothers. In 1948 he was hired by the Army for personnel work in Germany, and was later responsible for a similar task in Korea. He also sat on the personnel advisory board in the first Hoover Commission.

Eisenhower's administration

In 1952, Mitchell was the "Democrat-for-Eisenhower." After Eisenhower's inauguration as Presidency in 1953, Mitchell was appointed by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. On October 9, 1953, Eisenhower chose him to replace another Democrat, when Martin P. Durkin, who had resigned.^[1]

He served as Secretary of Labor. As the Labor Secretary, Mitchell was a staunch advocate of labor - he encouraged management cooperation, fought against employment discrimination, and was concerned by the plight of migrant workers. He was selected as the administrator-designate of the Emergency Manpower Agency; part of a secret group created by President Eisenhower in 1958 that would serve in the event of a national emergency. The group became known as the Eisenhower Ten.

Achievements as Secretary

As Secretary, he established the administrative machinery of the Landrum-Griffin Act. and improved DOL organization and clarified the roles of labor to reduce overlapping functions. J. Ernest Wilkins was appointed Assistant Secretary of Labor for International Affairs, the second African-American at DOL.

Executive Order No.10590 established the Committee on Government Employment Policy to eliminate discrimination within the U.S. Federal government. The Welfare and Pensions Plans Disclosures Act was established on August 28, 1958, followed by the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act on September 14, 1959. Mitchell supported minimum wages for the soft-coal industry and other industries according to the Walsh-Healy Act.^[2]

He is a member of the Labor Hall of Fame.

Governor's race

After stepping down as the Secretary of Labor, Mitchell was chosen the Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey in a bitter primary over State Senators Walter H. Jones and Wayne Dumont, Jr. with 43.7% of the vote in 1961. He lost the general election to the Democratic candidate, Richard J. Hughes, by 1,084,194 to 1,049,274; a margin of 34,920. He returned to the private sector with the Crown-Zellerbach Corporation, becoming its senior vice president in 1962.

Mitchell died of heart failure in New York City, New York, on October 19, 1964. Mitchell is interred in St. Gertrude's Cemetery in Colonia, New Jersey.

See also

• List of U.S. political appointments that crossed party lines

References

External links

• U.S. Department of Labor Biography
• Papers of James P. Mitchell, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library

United States Secretaries of Labor Secretaries of Commerce and Labor Cortelyou Metcalf Straus Nagel Secretaries of Labor Wilson Davis Doak Perkins Schwellenbach Tobin Durkin Mitchell Goldberg Wirtz Shultz Hodgson Brennan Dunlop Usery Marshall Donovan Brock McLaughlin Dole Martin Reich Herman Chao Solis Perez

Cabinet of President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–61) Vice President Richard M. Nixon (1953–61) Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (1953–59) Christian A. Herter (1959–61) Secretary of the Treasury George Magoffin Humphrey (1953–57) Robert B. Anderson (1957–61) Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson (1953–57) Neil H. McElroy (1957–59) Thomas S. Gates, Jr. (1959–61) Attorney General Herbert Brownell, Jr. (1953–57) William P. Rogers (1957–61) Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield (1953–61) Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay (1953–56) Fred A. Seaton (1956–61) Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson (1953–61) Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks (1953–58) Lewis L. Strauss (1958–59) Frederick H. Mueller (1959–61) Secretary of Labor Martin P. Durkin (1953) James P. Mitchell (1953–61) Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Oveta Culp Hobby (1953–55) Marion B. Folsom (1955–58) Arthur S. Flemming (1958–61)