Dean E. McHenry File on the 10th Regional War Labor Board

Dean E. McHenry was born in 1910 in Lompoc, California. He earned a BA in Political Science from UCLA in 1932 and a Master's in Political Science from Stamford in 1933. He completed his doctorate at UC Berkeley in 1936. From 1936 to 1939 Dr. McHenry taught at Williams College and Pennsylvania State University. From 1939 to 1961 he taught at UCLA. In 1961 Dr. McHenry became the founding Chancellor of the Univeristy of California, Santa Cruz. During World War II, in addition to serving on the Advisory Board to Selective Service, Dr. McHenry was a public representative and panel chairman of the National War Labor Board in Region 10. As panel chairman he oversaw six dispute cases.

The Second Regional War Labor Board was the first regional board to come into existence. It was formally constituted on February 7, 1743. Region II had originally contained the states of New York and New Jersey, but, during the transition from a Regional Advisory Board to a Regional War Labor Board, twelve counties in southern New Jersey were transferred to the jurisdiction of Region III which had its headquarters in Philadelphia. A variety of factors prompted this change: travel difficulties and the schedules involved, the distance from the counties to the two headquarters cities, and, most important, the very high case load of the Second Region. The National Board attempted to arrange regional boundaries in an effort to equalize the work load, but in this it was unsuccessful. It was later shown that the percentage of voluntary cases decided by all regional boards varied from 2.2 in Region IX and 2.4 in Region XII to 15.4 in Region VI and 16.7 in Region II. The percentage of the total number of dispute cases decided by all regional boards varied from 2.2 in Region IX and 2.8 in Region XII to 16.6 in Region VI and 13.0 in Region II. Each regional office was organized according to a basic pattern imposed by the National Board. At the top of the regional organization chart appears an "office of the board." The office of the board included the board members and their administrative assistants, the boar'd recording secretary, and a director of information. Four coordinate divisions were below the office of the board. First, the wage stabilization division was responsible for processing the wage issues in voluntary and in dispute cases. Second the disputes division was responsible for processing dispute cases and, generally, for compliance with the no-strike, no lock-out pledge. Third, the legal division was responsible for giving general legal advice, for reviewing the jurisdictional decisions of the Wage and Hour Division, and for enforcing wage stabilization regulations. Fourth, a division of administrative management was responsible for the general problems of internal administration- organization, processes, record control, finance, and personnel. Itw as within this structure, that the staff of the regional war labor board worked. The structure of the Regional War Labor Boards duplicated that of the National Board, and the NWLB early decided to make the Board's regional directors the chairmen of the regional boards. The chairman then assisted the National Board in selecting the public members. Labor members were chosen through the CIO and AFL structures with formal recommendations coming through the labor members of the National Board. The chairmen made suggestions for the appointment of industry members, but responsibility for formal recommendation rested with industry members of the National Board. National business organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce and the National association of Manufacturers, assisted the industry members by suggesting business men who might be willing to serve. The regional boards were established with all the general powers of the National Board. The authorization read in part: The Regional War Labor Board is thereupon vested with all the powers of the National War Labor Board subject to conformity with the policies and rules laid down by the National War Labor Board.. The methods by which the regional board acquired jurisdiction over voluntary and dispute cases were quite different. Voluntary wage stabilization cases were submitted directly to the regional board by the Wage and Hour Division field offices. Dispute cases, however, had first to be certified to the National Board in Washington by the Secretary of Labor. The New Case Committee of the NWLB then determined what action the Board would take on each case. It could use a board agent to make a preliminary investigation, return the case to the Conciliation Service, retain the case itself, or direct a regional board or an industr