Title: UAW Office of the President: R. J. Thomas Collection Type: Records Dates: 1938-1964 (Predominantly, 1940-1947) Size: 17 linear feet, 8 scrapbooks ID#: 115-uaw NUCMC: MS 66‑1526 |
Ø Subjects Ø Index |
HEFA.01e.update
The papers of R. J. (Rolland Jay) Thomas were placed in the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs in August of 1964, November of 1967 and December of 1972. Each part of this collection was opened for research one year after it was deposited. The finding aid was rewritten in June, 1980.
Roland J. Thomas was born in East Palestine, Ohio on June 9, 1900. He grew up in eastern Ohio and attended Wooster College for two years. The need to help support his family caused him to leave college and go to work. In 1923 he moved to Detroit, where he worked in a number of automobile plants.
He became active in efforts to organize the automobile industry and was the president of Chrysler Local 7 when it affiliated with the UAW in 1936. He was a leader of the 1937 Chrylser sit-down strike and that same year was elected a vice president of the UAW. He assumed the presidency in 1938 after the president, Homer Martin, was ousted.
He was president until 1946 and during this period, the UAW developed into a dynamic, stable union. He lost the presidency to Walter Reuther in 1946, but was elected first vice president. However, he lost that office in the election the following year. In 1947 he was named assistant to CIO president, Philip Murray, and with the merger of the AFL and CIO in 1955, he served under George Meany until his retirement in 1964 due to ill health.
He was married to Mildred Wettergren on August 7, 1937 and they had one child, Frank. R. J. Thomas died in Muskegon, Michigan on April 18, 1967.
These papers mainly concern his work as president and vice president of the UAW and his activities as part of the war effort.
Anti‑Communism
Fair employment practices
Housing
Labor legislation
Organizing
Postwar reconversion
Strikes: Allis‑Chalmers (1947)
Chrysler sit-down (1937)
General Motors (1945)
UAW factionalism ‑ 1938 and 1946
World trade union movement
World War II ‑ UAW policies
Addes, George LaGuardia, Fiorello H.
Baldwin, Roger Lamotte, Leo
Barkley, Alben W. Leonard, Richard T.
Berenson, Anna Livingston, John
Bevan, Edgar Cyril Llewellyn, Percy
Burt, George Martin, Homer
Carey, James B. Mattson, Joseph
Conder, Robert W. Mazey, Emil
Crockett, George W. McAulay, William
Cushman, Edward L. Mead, James M.
Doll, Tracy Miley, Paul E.
Frankensteen, Richard Mortimer, Wyndham
Germer, Adolph Murphy, Frank
Haywood, Allan S. Murray, Philip
Hopkins, Barney Perkins, Francis
Jeffrey, Mildred Reuther, Victor
King, H. O. Reuther, Walter
Scholle, August
Schwellenbach, L. B.
Sugar, Maurice
Photographs, awards, badges, gavels, flag, plaque, original sketch of R. J. Thomas, cartoons and other items have been transferred to the Archives Audiovisual Collections.
34 manuscript boxes
8 scrapbooks
Part I
Series I, UAW Executive Board Minutes and Reports, 1940‑1947, Boxes 1‑7:
Executive Board Minutes and Reports to the Board. Each set of minutes contains a detailed list of contents. Subject indexes are available for some years (See folders 1:19, 2:9, and 3:4) To Series
Series II, R.J. Thomas Office Files, 1938‑1964, Boxes 8‑14, 8 Scrapbooks:
Correspondence, reports, clippings, and other papers relating to his work as president and vice president of the UAW. For other similar material, see Series III and IV. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings on the UAW and Thomas. To Series
Part II
Series III, R.J. Thomas Office Files, 1942‑1946; Boxes 15‑27: To Series Correspondence, reports, clippings and other papers dealing with his work as president of the UAW.
Part III
Series IV, R. J. Thomas Office Files, 1944‑1947; Boxes 28‑34: To Series Correspondence, reports, clippings, and other papers relating to his work as president and vice president of the UAW and as chairman of the CIO Committee on Housing and Community Development.
Index to Correspondents ‑ Part 3
Addes, George F., 28:2‑10, 21, 22
Berenson, Anna, 32:6, 7
Carey, James B., 29:8; 34:19
Fagin, I. Donald, 31:18
Hopkins, Barney, 34:13, 14
Leonard, Richard T., 31:2‑7; 33:20, 22
Mattson, Joseph, 33:4, 9; 34:5‑8
Mazey, Emil, 30:4; 34:9
Mead, Sen. James M., 30:5; 34:12
Miley, Paul E., 33:9‑10; 34:16
Murray, Philip, 31:21; 32:3, 11; 33:10; 34:17‑19
Nicholas, William G., 31:21‑24; 32:1‑10, 13
Oliver, William H., 30:20‑22
Reuther, Walter P., 29:5; 30:22; 31:12, 29; 32:17
Scholle, August, 34:13, 14
Subject Index
Addes, George F., 15:13‑22, 16:1‑32, 28:2-10
Aircraft industry, 28:11-12
Airline Mechanics Dept., 11:2, 34:16. See also Organizing: aircraft industry
Aliens: wartime regulations, 9:1
Anti-Communist investigations, 7:1; of labor leaders, 11:5. See also Communist Party and Communists
Anti-Semitism, 26:1-4, 29:18, 33:7-8
Anti-war sentiment: pre-World War II, 1:4, 8:1
Apprenticeship training: veterans, 17:24
Black Legion, 9:11
Blacks: discrimination, 6:7, 17:8-16, 18:1. See also Fair Employment Practices Committee (UAW)
Bridges, Harry: deportation case, 1:20, 2:5, 18:17, 19:13
Child care, 19:17-18
Communist Party, 29:18; in the CIO, 9:8
Communists: eligibility for union membership, 14:3, 14:5. See also Anti-Communist investigations
Competitive Shop Dept. (UAW), 11:7, 30:1-4
Conscription: opposition to, 30:6-7, 31:10
Consumer cooperatives, 6:5
Cost of living, 3:6
Defense production, 1:18
Discrimination: in employment, 21:2-10
Draft deferments: UAW officials, 4:6, 21:21-26, 27:25
Dual unions, 1:1
Education Dept. (UAW), 11:4
Equal Rights Amendment: UAW opposition (1945), 22:3-4, 25:12
Executive Board (UAW) minutes: subject indexes, 1:19, 2:9, 3:4
Factionalism: Martin/Thomas, 8:2-4, 8:7; Reuther/Thomas, 5:9, 6:5, 7:3-4, 10:4, 10:7, 11:2-3, 11:6, 11:12, 14:2-3, 28:5
Fair employment practice legislation, 30:22
Fair Employment Practices Committee (UAW), 20:2-10, 22:17-18
Farm Equipment Workers, 10:10, 30:23
Ford Dept. (UAW), 31:2-7
Ford Motor Co.: UAW contract, 9:4. See also Organizing: Ford Motor Co.
Gangsterism: eastern local, 7:1
Green, William: criticism of, 8:1
Health of workers: lead poisoning, 2:2; Health Institute of the UAW-CIO, 31:18; Medical-Research, Health and Accident Dept. (UAW), 2:8, 3:6-7
Housing, 10:7, 17:8-16, 24:9-14, 25:1-8, 28:15, 31:21-24, 32:1-13, 34:17-18
Housing Dept. (UAW). See Housing
Inflation: postwar, 7:5
Israel, 26:1-4, 33:7-8
Japanese-Americans: discrimination, 19:10; World War II resettlement, 17:8-9, 17:11, 28:14
Jewish Labor Committee, 26:1, 26:3-4
Labor education, 9:8
Labor legislation, 33:18-21. See also Taft-Hartley Act
Lewis, John L.: attitude toward war effort, 2:2
Martin, Homer, 8:2, 8:4, 8:7; factionalism, 1:1. See also Factionalism
Mattson, Joseph, 34:5-8
Mortimer, Wyndham, 8:2, 8:4, 8:7, 9:3, 9:6, 10:7
Murray, Philip, 34:17-22
National defense: UAW policy, 9:5
National defense program (1940), 1:6. See also Anti-war sentiment (1940)
No‑strike pledge: World War II, 9:6‑7
Organizing: aircraft industry, 1:9, 1:18, 8:2, 8:7, 9:3 (See also Airline Mechanics Dept.); Ford Motor Co., 1:15, 1:18, 8:7‑8 (See also Ford Motor Co.); IWW‑Republic Brass (1947), 11:7; office workers, 3:3; women workers, 9:7
Postwar depression, 9:11
Postwar employment, 23:6
Postwar labor disputes, 12:1‑15
Postwar reconversion, 4:4, 4:8,12: 1‑15, 15:21
Race relations, 28:14‑16
Roosevelt elections: UAW position, 2:14, 8:8
Soviet‑American friendship, 17:18-20, 28:17
Soviet Union: CIO delegation visit (1945), 13:1, 13:4
Strikes: Allis‑Chalmers (1947), 10:7‑9; Chrysler sit down (1937), 14:2; General Motors (1945), 9:11, 10:1‑3, 14:4; post‑World War II, 5:1‑8, 5:10, 6:1, 6:3-7
Swing shifts, 2:1
Taft‑Hartley Act, 11:5, 34:19‑22
Thomas, R. J.: biographical material, 11:13
UAW: Canada ‑ wartime problems, 1:9
Veterans: seniority, 4:4, 4:8, 5:3
Wage‑price policy, 6:2‑4
War Policy Division, 2:8, 3:10
Women workers. See Organizing: women workers
Women's Auxiliary, 1:4
World government movement, 17:21‑23, 18:16, 28:19
World Trade Union Conferences, 13:1‑4, 22:8‑9