John Cushman Truesdale Jr. (July 17, 1921 – July 3, 2011) was an American lawyer and civil servant who served two terms as executive secretary of the National Labor Relations Board, four terms as a board member, and one term as board chair.
Early life and career
John Truesdale was born on July 17, 1921, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to John C. and Hazel C. Truesdale. He was one of four children, and he had three sisters: Patty, Anne, and Mary. In 1927, his father was appointed professor of physical education at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. His father later was the college's men's basketball coach, and young John grew up in Grinnell and attended public schools there.
Like his siblings, he enrolled at Grinnell College and received his A.B. degree in social studies in 1942.
He joined the United States Coast Guard and entered the service in 1943. His first post was as an anti-submarine warfare instructor. From April 1944 to 1946, he was the anti-submarine warfare officer on the USS Peterson, an Edsall class destroyer escort serving convoy duty in the North Atlantic. On April 15, Truesdale's first day aboard ship, the Peterson and two other destroyer escorts engaged and sank a German submarine, the U-550. He became a lieutenant (junior grade).
Truesdale enrolled in September 1946 at the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. He graduated with an M.S. in industrial and labor relations in May 1948. Cornell University had the only school of industrial relations at the time, and each year NLRB staff traveled to the school to hire qualified staff. One of Truesdale's professors had his entire class take the NLRB exam, and Truesdale scored well on it.
The Board offered Truesdale a job, and he was hired by the Buffalo field office as a field examiner in 1948. For several months after his appointment, he rented a room from fellow labor lawyer and friend Richard Lipsitz Sr.
Early NLRB career
Truesdale proved to be a highly regarded field examiner. The NLRB offered to transfer him to more highly sought-after posts in other field offices over the next three years, but he declined each time. But believing that another refusal might hurt his career, he accepted a transfer to New Orleans in 1951. There he met Karin Nelson, a field examiner and labor economist from the San Francisco office who was on temporary assignment. Truesdale moved to Washington, D.C., in 1952, where he was appointed an administrative analyst for the board. He wed Karin Nelson in 1957.
Truesdale left the NLRB in 1957 after being appointed deputy director of the National Academy of Sciences. From July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958, he served as director of information for the International Geophysical Year. He returned to his post as deputy director after the event ended, serving until 1963.
Truesdale returned to the NLRB in 1963. He was appointed associate executive secretary, and served in that role until 1968. He was promoted to deputy executive secretary and served in that capacity until 1972. Truesdale had a positive opinion of Edward B. Miller, the Nixon-appointed chair of the NLRB chair from 1970 to 1974. "He did not come to the board to execute a management agenda," Truesdale said in 2006. "He was a very fair-minded person; he worked well with his colleagues." He received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1972. That same year he was appointed executive secretary of the board, the highest-ranking career office at the agency.
First NLRB term, 1977–1981
President Jimmy Carter nominated Truesdale to be a member of the NLRB on September 26, 1977, to fill the unexpired term of Peter D. Walther (who had resigned). The AFL-CIO was pushing Daniel Pollitt for the seat. Pollitt had been special counsel to Frank McCulloch, chair of the NLRB during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and employer groups (such as the Business Roundtable and United States Chamber of Commerce) were adamantly opposed to him. Walther and NLRB chair John H. Fanning were advocates of Truesdale, however. Employer groups felt Truesdale was somewhat liberal but would help push Fanning to adopt a more moderate course. Carter, not wishing to begin a political fight over what was perceived as a minor appointment, nominated Truesdale. The United States Senate confirmed him, and he served on the board from October 25, 1977, to August 27, 1980. Truesdale was succeeded as executive secretary by William Lubbers in 1979.