Charles Eugène Bedaux (10 October 1886 – 18 February 1944) was a French-American

millionaire A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. In countries that use the short scal ...

who made his fortune developing and implementing the work measurement aspect of scientific management, notably the Bedaux System. Bedaux was friends with British royalty and

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

alike, and was a

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultants ...

big game hunter Big-game hunting is the hunting of large game animals for meat, commercially valuable by-products (such as horns/antlers, furs, tusks, bones, body fat/oil, or special organs and contents), trophy/taxidermy, or simply just for recreation ("s ...

and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

Early years

Charles Bedaux was born in the

Charenton-le-Pont Charenton-le-Pont () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, to the north of the confluence of the Seine and Marne rivers; the () part of the name refers to the stone bridge across ...

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

.Steven Kreis, 'Charles E. Bedaux' in ''

American National Biography The ''American National Biography'' (ANB) is a 24-volume biographical encyclopedia set that contains about 17,400 entries and 20 million words, first published in 1999 by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Council of Le ...

'
online
/ref> One of five children, his father worked for the French railroad system, and though his two brothers Daniel and Gaston became engineers, Charles became a school dropout. Charles worked a series of menial jobs before befriending Henri Ledoux, a successful pimp from the infamous Pigalle district. The mysterious Ledoux apparently taught Bedaux lessons on proper dress, confidence and street-fighting, but was murdered in 1906.Gaston Bedaux, ''La Vie Ardente de Charles Bedaux'' (1959) On 14 February 1906, Charles moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, where he became a

United States citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

in 1917. In 1908, Bedaux married Blanche de Kressier Allen, and in 1909, their son, Charles Emile Bedaux (1909–1993) was born. He would later claim in interviews to have worked as a restaurant bottle-washer, a

sandhog Sandhog is the slang term given to urban miners and construction workers who work underground on a variety of excavation projects in New York City, and later other cities. Generally these projects involve tunneling, caisson excavation, road bui ...

, and at the

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Worsted Mills in

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...

. In 1908, he started working for

Mallinckrodt Chemical Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals is an American-Irish domiciled manufacturer of specialty pharmaceuticals (namely, Adrenocorticotropic hormone (medication), adrenocorticotropic hormone), generic drugs and imaging agents. In 2017 it generated 90% of i ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, then in 1912, for McKesson & Robbins in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He then worked as an interpreter for A.M. Morrini, an Italian

industrial engineering Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex process (engineering), processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, kno ...

firm studying efficiency measurements. Bedaux accompanied Morrini to Europe, where Bedaux started working for Louis Duez's consulting company in 1913. In August 1914, Bedaux enlisted in the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...

, but was soon discharged for medical reasons. Bedaux returned to the US, settling his family in

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. In 1917, Bedaux divorced Blanche, and married Fern Lombard on 2 July.

Bedaux B

Bedaux was one of the leading contributors in the field of work measurement or ''labor measurement'', one aspect of the scientific management movement. In this, he was strongly influenced by

F. W. Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consultants. In 1909, Taylor summed up hi ...

's book ''Shop Management'', particularly Taylor's time-study practices, and Charles E. Knoeppel's writings on industrial layout and routing.

Edward Francis Leopold Brech Edward Francis Leopold Brech (26 February 1909 – 22 September 2006) was a British management consultant, and author of management theory and practice books, known for his work on the history of management. Life and work Brech was born in Ken ...

, ''Productivity in Perspective, 1914-1974'' (Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 2002).Michael R. Weatherburn, ''Scientific Management at Work: the Bedaux System, Management Consulting, and Worker Efficiency in British Industry, 1914–48'' (Imperial College PhD thesis, 2014). Building on their work, he introduced the concept of rating assessment, which led to improvements in the comparability of employee and departmental efficiency. He named this the " Bedaux System of Human Power Measurement". The distinguishing feature of the Bedaux System was its use of the

Bedaux Unit The Bedaux Unit emerged from the U.S. scientific management movement. It remains in daily use in measuring and comparing manual labor to this day. F. W. Taylor's time studies While Frederick Winslow Taylor, F. W. Taylor remains famous for conducti ...

or B, a universal measure for all manual work.Craig R. Littler, ''Development of the Labour Process in Capitalist Societies: a Comparative Study of the Transformation of Work Organization in Britain, Japan and the USA'' (London: Heinemann, 1982
entry on Google Books
/ref> The "B" was defined as fractions of a minute allocated to work or rest. Productivity goals were set for so many B's per hour, and bonuses were paid for exceeding that goal. This method of standardization replaced

piece work Piece work (or piecework) is any type of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed piece rate for each unit produced or action performed, regardless of time. Context When paying a worker, employers can use various methods and combinations of ...

payment, increasing productivity and reducing costs. Bedaux also mimicked

Frank Gilbreth Frank Bunker Gilbreth (July 7, 1868 – June 14, 1924) was an American engineer, consultant, and author known as an early advocate of scientific management and a pioneer of time and motion study, and is perhaps best known as the father and ce ...

by introducing a motion study

Kodascope Kodascope is a name created by Eastman Kodak Company for the projector it placed on the market in 1923 as part of the first 16mm motion picture equipment. The original Kodascope was part of an outfit that included the Cine-Kodak camera, tripod, K ...

package which he propagated with an early Bedaux client,

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

.Steven Kreis, ''The Diffusion of an Idea: A History of Scientific Management in Britain, 1890–1945'' (PhD thesis, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1990
entry on WorldCat
/ref>

Management consultancy

Bedaux became associated with one of Taylor's circle,

Harrington Emerson Harrington Emerson (August 2, 1853 – September 2, 1931) was an American efficiency engineer and business theorist,The Emerson Institute, Bedaux emulated in engineering and other sectors of modern industrial economies.Steven Kreis, 'The Diffusion of Scientific Management: the Bedaux Company in America and Britain, 1926-1945' in ''A Mental Revolution: Scientific Management Since Taylor'' (1992) Bedaux consultancy advertising booklet (1928)

Bedaux consultancy advertising booklet (1928)

In 1916 he established a consulting firm in Grand Rapids, and in 1918 moved his headquarters to

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. In 1924, the Bedaux "B System" was adopted by Eastman Kodak at its facilities in the U.K., and in 1926, Charles E. Bedaux Ltd. was established in London. Offices in Italy and Germany followed in 1927, and in France in 1929. In 1932, Bedaux International was founded in Amsterdam. By 1934, the Bedaux System was being used in 21 countries. Early U.S. clients were in the furniture assembly and rubber industries of

. His firm's slogan was ''Bedaux Measures Labor'' and its logo incorporated an

egg timer An egg timer or kitchen timer is a device whose primary function is to assist in timing during cooking; the name comes from the first timers initially being used for the timing of cooking eggs. Early designs simply counted down for a specific per ...

motif. The Bedaux consultancy firm was one of the first of its kind, and within a decade its success led to the creation of a series of consultancy firms throughout the United States,

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and eventually

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, India, Australia, and the Orient administered by the parent company, Bedaux Internationale. Major Bedaux clients included

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

, Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later BP),

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

,Stefano Musso, 'Production Methods and Industrial Relations at Fiat (1930- 90)' in Haruhito Shiomi and Kazuo Wada (eds.), ''Fordism Transformed: The Development of Production Methods in the Automobile Industry'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995)
Google Books online
/ref> and

Campbell's Campbell Soup Company, doing business as Campbell's, is an American processed food and snack company. The company is most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however, through mergers and acquisitions, it has grown to become ...

.Daniel Sidorick, ''Condensed Capitalism Campbell Soup and the Pursuit of Cheap Production in the Twentieth Century'' (2009)

Labor resistance

The Bedaux system was introduced at

in 1927, where ''B'' standards were 'the cause of the majority of the shop floor battles between management and labor' for years. In 1929, the

Taylor Society The Taylor Society was an American society for the discussion and promotion of scientific management, named after Frederick Winslow Taylor. Originally named The Society to Promote The Science of Management, the Taylor Society was initiated in 191 ...

supported Southern textile workers in their

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

against the Bedaux System, which textile workers believed was 'even worse than the old "Taylor Stop-Watch System"'. There were also a long series of labor disputes regarding the Bedaux system within the U.S. lumber industry in the Pacific Northwest region from 1931-35 involving the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen (4L) Bedaux Hell in the 'Daily Worker'

Bedaux Britain had several labor issues: in 1929, there was a strike over the Bedaux System at the

Rover Rover may refer to: People * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Places * Rover, Arkansas, US * Rover, Missouri, US ...

plant in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

. In winter 1931-2, women workers struck over the introduction of the Bedaux System at

Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figure ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. Additionally, in 1934 the introduction of the Bedaux System at Richard Johnson and Nephew in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

precipitated a strike which lasted for months. In this case, the wiredrawers' union took their employers to court over the Bedaux System but eventually lost their case. One of Bedaux's principal operations in Italy was at the iconic

plant in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, whose founder Giovanni Agnelli was also director of the Società Italiana Bedaux. These management interventions were later publicized by the founder of the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...

, Antonio Gramsci, whose ''

Prison Notebooks The ''Prison Notebooks'' ( it, Quaderni del carcere ) are a series of essays written by the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. Gramsci was imprisoned by the Italian Fascist regime in 1926. The notebooks were written between 1929 and 1935, when Gr ...

'' analyzed the ramifications of ''

Taylorism Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineeri ...

'' at the plant. The Bedaux System also met with resistance at the Pertusola mines in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

Bedaux Britain Ltd.

Of Bedaux's business empire, Bedaux Britain was particularly lucrative. Here, the

was so successful that it was copied by industrial firms such as

Rowntree's Rowntree's is a British confectionery brand and former business based in York, England. Rowntree developed the Kit Kat (introduced in 1935), Aero (introduced in 1935), Fruit Pastilles (introduced in 1881), Smarties (introduced in 1937) brands ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

(a corporate member of the

Mander Brothers Mander Brothers was a major employer in the city of Wolverhampton, in the English Midlands, a progressive company founded in 1773. In the 19th century the firm became the number one manufacturers of varnishes, paints and later printing inks in th ...

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

, and influential consultancies including Urwick, Orr & Partners. Bedaux Britain formed the basis for all four of the 'Big Four' European consultancies in the postwar period: Associated Industrial Consultants (AIC), Urwick, Orr & Partners (UOP), Production-Engineering (P-E) and PA Consulting (PA). In focusing on factory floor and office efficiency issues, the 'Big Four' Bedauxist consultancies were successful across Western Europe until the 1960s, when they were largely overtaken by U.S. consultancies such as McKinsey & Company, whose efforts were in higher-value activities such as strategy and restructuring.'Christopher D. McKenna, ''The World's Newest Profession: Management Consulting in the Twentieth Century'' (Cambridge: CUP, 2010)
Cambridge University Press
/ref>

Bedaux Canadian Sub-Arctic Expedition

The Bedaux Canadian Sub-Arctic Expedition was the grand title Bedaux gave to the expedition he organized to cross the wilderness of northern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada in 1934. Mostly, the expedition was a

publicity stunt In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utilize ...

, but it was also undertaken to test the new Citroën

half-track A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels at the front for steering and continuous tracks at the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cro ...

cars that were being developed by Bedaux's friend

André Citroën André-Gustave Citroën (; 5 February 1878 – 3 July 1935) was a French industrialist and the founder of French automaker Citroën. He is remembered chiefly for the make of car named after him, but also for his application of double helical ...

. Key moments during the journey were filmed by

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

winning cinematographer

Floyd Crosby Floyd Delafield Crosby, A.S.C. (December 12, 1899 – September 30, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning American cinematographer, descendant of the Van Rensselaer family, and father of musicians Ethan and David Crosby. Early life Crosby was b ...

, who would later be praised for his work on the feature film '' High Noon''. Also along for the trip were several dozen

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

s and a large film crew. To map the route of the expedition, the Canadian government sent two geographers,

Frank Swannell Frank Cyril Swannell (May 16, 1880 in Hamilton, Ontario - 1969 in Victoria) was one of British Columbia's most famous surveyors. He came to British Columbia during the era of the Klondike Gold Rush and became a surveyor's assistant. Then, from ...

and Ernest Lemarque. The expedition started at

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

on 6 July 1934, and their goal was to travel 1500 miles to

Telegraph Creek, British Columbia Telegraph Creek is a small community located off Highway 37 in northern British Columbia at the confluence of the Stikine River and Telegraph Creek. The only permanent settlement on the Stikine River, it is home to approximately 250 members of Ta ...

. Much of the trip would have to be made through regions that were relatively uncharted and had no trails. The party failed to reach their destination, and the original movie was never made, but in 1995,

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

director, George Ungar, produced a television biography of Bedaux incorporating Crosby's footage of the expedition, ''

The Champagne Safari ''The Champagne Safari'' is a 1995 Canadian documentary film directed by George Ungar."True-life adventure a sizzling find". ''Toronto Star'', September 1, 1995. A portrait of industrialist Charles Bedaux, it focuses primarily on his controversia ...

'' (1995). Prior to this expedition, Bedaux made an automobile journey of 9500 miles from

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

in 1929-30. Then in 1939, he and his wife, Fern, completed another such journey of 9500 miles from

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

Duke and Duchess of Windsor

In 1927, Bedaux purchased the sixteenth-century

Château de Candé The Château de Candé is a château located in the commune of Monts, Indre-et-Loire, France. It is situated 10 km (6 mi) to the south of Tours on the north bank of the river Indre. History The first known Lord of Candé was Macé de La ...

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and lived there with his second wife, the former Fern Lombard (1892–1972), a daughter of lawyer James Lombard of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The couple renovated the château, completing the work in 1930. On 3 June 1937, Charles and Fern Bedaux hosted the wedding of

Wallis Simpson Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused ...

and Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor at the château. To Bedaux’s delight, the Windsors enthusiastically embraced the idea of making a tour of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Bedaux arranged the couple's visit, where they publicly met the

Führer ( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or " guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany cultivated the ("leader princip ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. Arriving in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

that October, the couple were greeted by an SS band playing ''

God Save The King "God Save the King" is the national anthem, national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in ...

'' while crowds chanted: ''We want the Duchess!'' Parties and receptions followed, and the Duchess, who had felt snubbed in England, noted with satisfaction that all the leading Nazis bowed or curtsied to her. The Windsors toured factories, coal mines, and the training school of the elite Death’s Head Division of the SS. Edward rewarded his hosts with a fulsome speech in praise of Nazi Germany and delivered a

Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute (german: link=no, Hitlergruß, , Hitler greeting, ; also called by the Nazi Party , 'German greeting', ), or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. Th ...

Duke and Duchess's USA tour

The next stage of the trip, the United States, was cancelled due to labor union, press, and public outrage at Bedaux's involvement. He was quickly

demonized Demonization or demonisation is the reinterpretation of polytheistic deities as evil, lying demons by other religions, generally by the monotheistic and henotheistic ones. The term has since been expanded to refer to any characterization of indivi ...

in the media around the globe. Specifically, the

Baltimore Federation of Labor The Baltimore Federation of Labor (BFL), an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor, was formed in 1883, in Baltimore, Maryland. History In 1919, the Baltimore Federation of Labor helped found the Baltimore Labor College as an outgrowth o ...

publicly attacked the 'emissaries of dictatorships or uniformed sentimentalists' and called the Bedaux System a 'vicious adaptation of the

Taylor System Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineer ...

'. From then on, commentators linked Bedaux and his ''B'' system with

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

, and Taylor's remaining supporters, particularly those in the

, disowned Bedaux. The fiasco prompted many employers using the Bedaux System, and those derived from it, to change its terminology to more neutral and administrative language. This explains why historical research into the enduring influence of the Bedaux System and its

has been reported as difficult to undertake.

Activity during the Second World War

After the surrender of France to the Germans in 1940 and the occupation of Paris, Bedaux became acquainted with leading Nazi and

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...

figures, and he was appointed as an economic advisor to the Vichy regime and the

Reich ''Reich'' (; ) is a German language, German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word "realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emp ...

. Bedaux's wife, Fern, and her sister, Eve Duez (Mme Louis S Duez), were interned briefly in Paris but were soon released through their connections to the German occupation authorities. In 1941, Bedaux experimented with a political-economic system of his own invention, ''Equivalism'', in

Roquefort Roquefort is a sheep milk cheese from Southern France, and is one of the world's best known blue cheeses. Though similar cheeses are produced elsewhere, EU law dictates that only those cheeses aged in the natural Combalou caves of Roquefort-sur ...

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

, though recent research has shown that the experiments amounted to tinkering which locals hardly noticed.Yves Levant & Marc Nikitin, 'Charles Eugène Bedaux (1886–1944): ‘cost killer’ or Utopian Socialist?' ''Accounting, Business & Financial History'' (2009
Taylor & Francis online
/ref> Also in May–June, 1941, there was a violent coal strike over the Bedaux System in the Nord and Pas de Calais in occupied France. Bedaux's German connections were not restricted to occupied France. In October 1941 he was designated by the sabotage branch of the Abwehr (Abwehr II) to command a covert mission to

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

(

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

) to capture the refinery at

Abadan Abadan ( fa, آبادان ''Ābādān'', ) is a city and capital of Abadan County, Khuzestan Province, which is located in the southwest of Iran. It lies on Abadan Island ( long, 3–19 km or 2–12 miles wide). The island is bounded ...

from his former client, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, and protect it from Allied bombardment prior to a planned German military invasion of

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and Persia. By the end of 1942, however, strategic events (e.g. the

Second Battle of El Alamein The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian Railway station, railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa ...

and the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...

) had rendered the operation unworkable, and

lost interest in Bedaux. The countersabotage plan then became obsolete, though it looked suspicious when Bedaux was later investigated by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

and

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

. Despite Bedaux's cultivation of relationships with various Abwehr and

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

officials, declassified

National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

records indicate that Bedaux did not have connections to the upper echelons of the Party or with officials of the

Sicherheitsdienst ' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the '' Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...

(SS Security Service).

Bedaux's arrest and suicide

In December, 1942, shortly after the Allied military landings in North Africa in

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

, Bedaux was in

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

promoting the construction of water and peanut oil pipelines between West Africa and the Mediterranean coast for the benefit of Allied forces (he had been in contact with various U.S. consular officials about this for some time, hence the U.S. had a thick file on him). He and his son were arrested by the French on behalf of the OSS and transferred to the Americans. He was kept in custody without charge for a year. Bedaux was eventually flown to the US, and, awaiting charges of

trading with the enemy Trading with the enemy is a legal term of English origin that is used with a number of related meanings. It refers to: #An offence at common law and under statute #A ground for condemnation of ships in prize proceedings #A ground for illegality a ...

and

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

, committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

by taking an

overdose A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended.

of barbiturates while in

custody in the Dade County prison,

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. His death featured prominently in the contemporary US media,'Bedaux Legendary as Mystery Man' ''New York Times'', 20 February 194
''New York Times'' online archive
/ref> where Bedaux had few friends. Most notable was a biographical trilogy about him by

Janet Flanner Janet Flanner (March 13, 1892 – November 7, 1978) was an American writer and pioneering narrative journalist who served as the Paris correspondent of ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1925 until she retired in 1975.Yagoda, Ben ''About T ...

. Flanner attacked the Bedaux System and

as not differing 'much from the old

Frederick Winslow Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consultants. In 1909, Taylor summed up ...

shop-management system of the nineties' (1890s), despite Bedaux's verbose claims to originality.

Posthumous reputation

The circumstances of Bedaux's death and his posthumous influence remain subjects of research inquiry. Despite his contemporary prominence in the media and in business and consultancy circles, Bedaux was not even mentioned along with F.W. Taylor,

Hans Renold Hans Renold (31 July 1852 - 2 May 1943) was a Swiss/British engineer, inventor and industrialist in Britain, who founded the Renold manufacturing textile-chain making business in 1879, and with Alexander Hamilton Church is credited for introducin ...

and Charles Myers in the ''

Making of Scientific Management {{Short pages monitor