Commission Members
The Commission was made up of nine commissioners, all nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. All but one served from beginning to end. The original nine Commissioners were:
- Chairman Frank P. Walsh, Kansas City, Missouri labor lawyer and activist (who once told a friend "I hate like hell to be respectable"),
- James 'O Connell, of the American Federation of Labor (A.F.L.),
- Austin B. Garretson, of the Order of Railway Conductors,
- John Brown Lennon, of the A.F.L.,
- Frederic A. Delano, President of the Wabash Railroad (and uncle of Franklin Roosevelt),
- Florence Jaffray Harriman, a New York socialite and social activist,
- John R. Commons, a labor economist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison,
- Harris Weinstock, a progressive California businessman, and
- S. Thurston Ballard, a Kentucky democratic flour mill owner.
Shortly before the Commission's final report, Commissioner Delano resigned, and was replaced by Richard Aishton, vice-president of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad.
Congress had authorized the Commission shortly before the 1912 presidential election, in which incumbent President Taft was defeated by New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson. Four Commissioners ultimately confirmed were originally named by President Taft in December 1912, one month after his defeat: Commissioners Delano, O'Connell, Garretson and Lennon. Taft also nominated five other persons, but the Senate failed to confirm them. Those failed nominees were U.S. Senator George Sutherland of Utah (who was Taft's proposed chairman), Connecticut state legislator George B. Chandler (American Book Co.), Charles S. Barrett (Farmers' Union); Adolph Lewisohn (investment banker, copper magnate, and philanthropist); and F. C. Schwedtman (electrical engineer).
Two months after entering the White House, President Wilson nominated replacements for Taft's five failed nominees.
Read more about this topic: Commission On Industrial Relations
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