Post-war
At the end of the war in 1945, MacGregor remained in the U.S., attracted to its culture and disdainful of the newly elected British Labour government with its programme of nationalisation. In later life he observed:
"I don't like unnecessary class distinctions. The Americans waste no time on them. They don't care who your father was. If you make it to the top and it comes out that your father made moonshine in Tennessee they admire you even more. Now, I like that system."
He was soon to be disabused of the purported classlessness of U.S. society when a proposed takeover of a Connecticut firm fomented strike action. MacGregor was reputedly threatened by the Mafia and had his car overturned by pickets while he was inside. His takeover went ahead.
He became chief executive of American Metal Climax in 1966, diversifying the company into mining. He developed a reputation for shrewd, no-nonsense negotiation in various strands of American business, and an uncompromising attitude towards trade unions accompanied by something of an appetite for confrontation. His method was to "always get your ducks lined up," and he often referred to his "Department of Economic Warfare". During the British miners' strike he nostalgically observed:
"I never thought the day would come when I wished I had some of my scruffy, sometimes ill-disciplined, sometimes loud-mouthed American police by my side in this country, and some of the curious ways of the law to back them up."
In later life he explained:
"Management is a calling and people ought to be dedicated to it. British managers have far too much security. A poor manager should be dumped. What's at stake is the happiness of society, not the comfort of managers."
He went on to become a director of Lazard and chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce.
Read more about this topic: Ian Mac Gregor
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