William Willard Wirtz Jr. (March 14, 1912 – April 24, 2010) was a U.S. administrator, cabinet officer, attorney, and law professor. He served as the Secretary of Labor between 1962 and 1969 under the administrations of Presidents

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Wirtz was the last living member of Kennedy's cabinet.

Early life

Wirtz was born on March 14, 1912, in DeKalb, Illinois, the son of Alpha Belle (''née'' White) and William Willard Wirtz. He attended

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...

, where he became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega. While a student at

Beloit College Beloit College is a private liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin. Founded in 1846, when Wisconsin was still a territory, it is the state's oldest continuously operated college. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and h ...

, he met the former Mary Jane Quisenberry. They married in 1936. They had two sons, Richard and Philip Wirtz.

Career

He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1937 and was immediately appointed to the faculty of the

University of Iowa College of Law The University of Iowa College of Law is the law school of the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. It was founded in 1865. Iowa is ranked the 28th-best law school in the United States by the '' U.S. News & World Report'' "Best Law Sch ...

by the dean of the law school (and future U.S. Supreme Court justice) Wiley B. Rutledge. Wirtz was a professor of law at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

from 1939 to 1942. He served with the War Labor Board from 1943 to 1945, and was chairman of the National Wage Stabilization Board in 1946. Wirtz returned to teach law at Northwestern until 1954. His students included future

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

justice John Paul Stevens, whom Wirtz recommended for what became his 1947–48 clerkship with Justice Rutledge. He was active in Democratic politics and wrote speeches for Adlai Stevenson during his 1952 Presidential campaign. Wirtz was appointed by the Under-Secretary of Labor in 1961. Wwwirtz

He held the post of Labor Secretary throughout the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, during which time he is credited for having dealt effectively with the various trade union strikes of the 1960s. One of his programs, meant to deal with a shortage of

farmworker A farmworker, farmhand or agricultural worker is someone employed for labor in agriculture. In labor law, the term "farmworker" is sometimes used more narrowly, applying only to a hired worker involved in agricultural production, including harv ...

s after the end Bracero program in 1964 and a shortage of summer jobs for teenagers, was meant to replace the

migrant worker A migrant worker is a person who migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work. Migrant workers who work outsi ...

s with 17-year-old high school students. More than 18,000 were recruited for the A-TEAM, or Athletes in Temporary Employment as Agricultural Manpower, but only 3,300 ever worked in the fields, and many of them quickly quit or staged strikes because of the poor working conditions, including oppressive heat and decrepit housing. The program was cancelled after the first summer. While serving in the Labor Department, Wirtz developed programs for the Johnson administration's

War on Poverty The war on poverty is the unofficial name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national ...

. He advocated for remedial education for school dropouts and for retraining programs for unemployed workers. Wirtz's relationship with Johnson was compromised by Wirtz sending a private memorandum to the President expressing concerns about the United States' involvement in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

Later life

Following his public service, he practiced law in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

as a partner in Wirtz & Gentry (1970–78), Wirtz & Lapointe (1979– , and Friedman & Wirtz (1984–1989). Named in 2000, the Wirtz Labor Library is the main library of the

U.S. Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the United States federal executive departments, executive departments of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of fede ...

in the

Frances Perkins Building The Frances Perkins Building is the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the United States Department of Labor. It is located at 200 Constitution Avenue NW and sits above Interstate 395. The structure is named after Frances Perkins, the U.S. Sec ...

The library contains 181,000 items, including the James Taylor collection (labor history), the Folio collection (trade union serials) and a 30,000 volume labor law collection. Wirtz wrote a memoir entitled "In the Rear View Mirror" which was published in 2008 by The Beloit College Press.

Personal life and death

Wirtz was married to Mary Jane Quisenberry (1913-2002) with whom he had 2 children. He died in an assisted living facility in

, on April 24, 2010."Willard Wirtz, labor secretary for JFK".
''The Washington Post''. Published April 24, 2010. At the time of his death he was the oldest living former cabinet member and the last surviving cabinet member of the

Kennedy administration John F. Kennedy's tenure as the 35th president of the United States, began with his inauguration on January 20, 1961, and ended with his assassination on November 22, 1963. A Democrat from Massachusetts, he took office following the 1960 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wirtz, Willard 1912 births 2010 deaths Northwestern University faculty Beloit College alumni Harvard Law School alumni United States Secretaries of Labor People from DeKalb, Illinois Lyndon B. Johnson administration cabinet members Kennedy administration cabinet members 20th-century American politicians University of Iowa College of Law faculty People from Hampshire County, West Virginia The Stimson Center Lawyers from Washington, D.C.