James Joseph Reynolds Jr. (January8, 1907October9, 1986) was the Under Secretary of Labor during the

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

Administration in 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 ...

. Earlier he served as Assistant Secretary for Labor-Management Relations from 1961 to 1965, initially for President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

. Reynolds was an industrialist, and had been a member of the

National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States with responsibilities for enforcing U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the Natio ...

under President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

. Reynolds was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, to James Sr., a teacher and later Assistant Superintendent of Schools for the City of New York, and Katherine (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Mahoney). He graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

with the class of 1928, where he was classmates with future Undersecretary of Labor James T. O'Connell, and worked in finance on

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...

, co-founding the firm Naumburg & Reynolds, later became Director of Labor Relations in the office of the president of United States Pipe & Foundry. He left when he enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, holding a number of positions before joining the staff of the

Under Secretary of the Navy Under may refer to: * "Under" (Alex Hepburn song), 2013 * "Under" (Pleasure P song), 2009 *Bülent Ünder (born 1949), Turkish footballer *Cengiz Ünder (born 1997), Turkish footballer *Marie Under Marie Under ( – 25 September 1980) was one o ...

as Special Assistant for labor issues, and mustered out in May 1946 with the rank of

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

. In August 1946, the Senate gave unanimous approval to President Truman's appointment of Reynolds to the National Labor Relations Board. As Undersecretary of Labor for President Johnson, one of Reynolds' most well-known moments came in April 1968.

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

had gone to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, to support

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

garbage workers during the

Memphis sanitation strike The Memphis sanitation strike began on February 12, 1968, in response to the deaths of sanitation workers Death of Echol Cole and Robert Walker, Echol Cole and Robert Walker.Estes, S. (2000). `I AM A MAN A MAN?’: Race, Masculinity, and the 1 ...

. They had walked off the job to "protest unsafe conditions, abusive white supervisors, low wages, and to gain recognition for their union." On April 5, the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., President Johnson instructed Reynolds to go to Memphis to mediate the conflict and settle the strike. Within two weeks, Reynolds had developed a face-saving solution for Memphis Mayor

Henry Loeb Henry Loeb III (December 9, 1920 – September 8, 1992) was an American politician of the Democratic Party, who was mayor of Memphis, Tennessee, for two separate terms in the 1960s, from 1960 through 1963, and 1968 through 1971. He gained n ...

to sign a new deal with the union; Loeb had stymied unionization by refusing to authorize automatic payment of union dues from the sanitation-workers' paychecks, so Reynolds suggested that the city allow the workers to designate a portion of their paycheckequal to at least the amount of their union duesas savings deposited to a

credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including depo ...

under federal administration, which then transferred the appropriate amount to the union. Ultimately, the union was recognized and workers received a 5% raise, to $1.90/hour. Reynolds died at

Georgetown University Hospital MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is one of the Washington, D.C. area's oldest academic teaching hospitals. It is a not-for-profit, acute care teaching and research facility located in the Georgetown neighborhood of the Northwest Quadrant ...

in 1986.

References

External links

President Lyndon Johnson's remarks at Reynolds' swearing in, 8 March 1967. * 1907 births 1986 deaths Truman administration personnel Kennedy administration personnel Lyndon B. Johnson administration personnel {{US-gov-bio-stub Columbia College (New York) alumni National Labor Relations Board officials