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The New Wave, the Old Guard, and the Bank Committee: William J. Grede at J. I. Case Company, 1953–1961

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2012

Craig Miner
Craig Miner
Affiliation:
Craig Miner is professor of history atWichita State University.
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Abstract

J. I. Case Company in the late 1950s and early 1960s was a long-established business faced with the challenge of rapid technological and market change in the agricultural equipment industry. The contrasting styles and policies of Marc B. Rojtman and William J. Grede, Case's two presidents during this period, represented the management tension between the desire for radical experiment and the hope of maintaining the Case traditions of quality and character. Professor Miner's study, based on interviews and on Grede's extensive papers, concentrates on Grede as director and as president. It illuminates the impact of personality on management and illustrates the complexities of adapting an old company to a new industrial world.

Type
Articles
Information
Business History Review , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , Summer 1987 , pp. 243 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1987

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References

1 Summary comments about Grede's background are based on research in the William J. Grede Papers, MSS. 341, Archives Division, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, and on extensive interviews with Grede undertaken for the preparation of a book tentatively titled “Grede of Milwaukee: The Career and Character of an Individualist.” Citations identified by folder and box number are all from the 110–box State Historical Society collection of Grede Papers. Access is restricted.

2 William J. Grede, interview with author, 24 July 1985, Wauwatosa, Wis.

3 Holbrook, Stewart H., Machines of Plenty: Pioneering in American Agriculture (New York, 1955), 15–18.Google Scholar

4 “Farm Machinery Shifts Gears,” Fortune, July 1961, 130–32, 188; Donald Paish, “Agricultural Machinery at Peak?” The Magazine of Wall Street, 2 July 1960, 424–25.

5 Broehl, Wayne Jr., John Deere's Company: A History of Deere and Co. and Its Times (New York, 1984), 635–46Google Scholar; “Farm Machinery Shifts Gears,” 129.

6 Harvard Business School, “J. I. Case Company (A),” Case 9–309–270, rev. 9/66.

7 Ibid., 1.

8 Racine Journal-Times, n.d., newsclippings, Grede Papers, microfilm roll 799, reel 1, Archives Division, State Historical Society of Wisconsin; Broehl, John Deere's Company, 388, 426–27, 429.

9 Grede, interview with author, 24 July 1985. An example of Nymeyer's wide-ranging subject matter is Frederick Nymeyer to Wm. J. Grede, 6 Dec. 1954, folder 7, box 24.

10 Typescript interview with William Grede and Leon Newman at Grede Foundries, Milwaukee, n.d., folder 7, box 54; Grede, interview with author, 24 July 1985.

11 Boxes 19, 20, 55–57, 60–63, and 66 and reel 1 of microcopy 799 in the Grede Papers deal extensively with labor relations.

12 Among innumerable statements of these facts combined with this view, a succinct example is Grede's often-given speech, “Confessions of a Free Market Operator.”

13 Leon Clausen to John T. Brown, Personal, 27 Jan. 1954, folder 6, box 13.

14 Grede to William B. Peters, 6 Jan. 1956, Ibid.; Grede, interview with author, 24 July 1985.

15 Harvard Business School, “J. I. Case Company (A),” 2–3; Grede, interview with author, 2 Oct. 1985, Wauwatosa, Wis.

16 J. I. Case Company, Annual Report 1956, 2, folder 1, box 54; Nymeyer to Grede, 5 May 1954, folder 7, box 26.

17 Harvard Business School, “J. I. Case Company (A),” 2, 4, 21.

18 Edgar Wood to Grede, 26 Nov. 1956, folder 6, box 13.

19 Grede, interview with author, 24 July 1985.

20 Ibid.

21 St. Clair, Frank, ed., Moody's Industrial Manual (New York, 1968), 1078.Google Scholar Case exchanged one second preferred share and one-half common share for each share of American Tractor.

22 Interview with William Grede and Leon Newman, 2–3.

23 Grede, interview with author, 2 Oct. 1985.

24 Harvard Business School, “J. I. Case Company (A),” 4. Biographical summaries of Rojtman are in New York Herald Tribune, 22 Dec. 1957. Milwaukee Journal. 2 Feb. 1960, and Business Week, 4 June 1960; Grede, interview with author, 27 Aug. 1985, Wauwatosa, Wis.

25 Harvard Business School, “J. I. Case Company (A),” 4.

26 Grede, interview with author, 27 Aug. 1985; Interview with William J. Grede and Leon Newman.

27 Marsh, Barbara, A Corporate Tragedy: The Agony of International Harvester Company (New York, 1986), 172.Google Scholar

28 Harvard Business School, “J. I. Case Company (A),” 7–8; J. I. Case Company, Annual Report 1957, folder 1, box 57.

29 J. I. Case Company, Annual Report 1957, 3; New York Herald Tribune, 22 Dec. 1957.

30 New York Herald Tribune, 22 Dec. 1957; Milwaukee Journal, 22 Nov. 1959.

31 Interview with William J. Grede and Leon Newman, 3.

32 J. I. Case Company, Annual Report 1957, 3.

33 “The Rojtman's Tractor Race,” Fortune, Feb. 1958, 107, 191; New York Herald Tribune, 22 Dec. 1957.

34 New York Herald Tribune, 22 Dec. 1957; Marc B. Rojtman to Sales & Manufacturing Dept, J. I. Case Co., folder 7, box 13.

35 Grede to Rojtman, 16 Dec. 1957, Ibid.; Grede, interview with author, 2 Oct. 1985.

36 Broehl, John Deere's Company, 641–47; “Farm Machinery Shifts Gears,” 193.

37 Leon Clausen to John Brown, 2 Nov. 1956, folder 3, box 14. International Harvester experienced just such a problem in 1958, when it put a six-cylinder engine in a Farmall tractor before the transmission was ready for it. This move permanently tainted International Harvester's reputation in big tractors. Marsh, A Corporate Tragedy, 103.

38 An example is Clausen to Rojtman, 29 May 1957, folder 7, box 13; Clausen to Grede, 17 Jan. 1958, folder 8, box 13.

39 Clausen to Brown, 29 March 1957, folder 4, box 14; Broehl, John Deere's Company, 615.

40 Clausen to Brown, 29 March 1957, folder 4, box 14; Henry Sturgis to Grede, 23 Dec. 1957, folder 7, box 13.

41 Interview with William J. Grede and Leon Newman.

42 Clausen to Grede, personal, 16 Dec. 1957; Clausen to Grede, 22, 16 Dec. 1957, all in folder 7, box 13.

43 J. I. Case Co., Annual Report 1958, 2, folder 1, box 54; J. I. Case Co., Board of Directors Minutes, 25 Aug. 1958, folder 9, box 52.

44 Harvard Business School, “J. I. Case Company (A),” 7; Rojtman, memo to dealers, 22 July 1958, folder 4, Box 14; Harvard Business School, “J. I. Case Company (A), 7.

45 Harvard Business School, “J. I. Case Company (A),” 6–12; Grede, interview with author, 27 Aug. 1985.

46 Harvard Business School, “J. I. Case Company (A),” 11, 25.

47 Clausen to Case board of directors, 17 March 1958, folder 7, box 13; Grede, interview with author, 27 Aug. 1985; Nymeyer to Brown, Rojtman, and Grede, 5 Dec. 1958, folder 8, box 13.

48 Rojtman to executive committee, 17 July 1959, folder 1, box 14.

49 Clark Robertson to Grede, 23, 29 Oct., 17 Nov. 1959, folder 1, box 14.

50 Nymeyer to Rojtman, 19 Nov. 1959, Ibid.

51 Interview with William J. Grede and Leon Newman.

52 Grede, interview with author, 24 July 1985.

53 Ibid., and Interview with William J. Grede and Leon Newman.

54 Grede, interview with author, 24 July 1985.

55 Milwaukee Sentinel, 2 Feb. 1960.

56 Milwaukee Journal, 2 Feb. 1960.

57 Chicago Daily News, 29 Feb. 1960.

58 Business Week, 4 June 1960, 54–55.

59 Forbes, 1 July 1960, 23.

60 Business Week, 4 June 1960, 55.

61 Carroll G. Pearse to Grede, 8 Feb. 1960, folder 3, box 9; Nymeyer to Grede, 12 March 1960, folder 7, box 26; Dwight Beebe to Grede, 15 April 1960, folder 3, box 9; Kenneth Miller to Grede, 3 Feb. 1960, folder 3, box 9.

62 Racine Journal-Times, 17 March 1958; Milwaukee Journal, 9 March 1960.

63 Milwaukee Journal, 9 March 1960; Milwaukee Sentinel, 16 March 1960.

64 Marsh, A Corporate Tragedy, 62–70, 209.

65 Wall Street Journal, 22 April 1960.

66 Racine Labor, 12 Aug. 1960; Milwaukee Labor Press, 28 July 1960. That included the Kohler company, whose hard-line strategy Grede followed by clipping newspaper accounts.

67 “Script for Wm. J. Grede Talk WISN-TV, Channel 12, Milwaukee, 10:15 P.M., Thursday, July 7, 1960,” typescript, folder 6, box 94.

68 Milwaukee Sentinel, 12 Aug. 1960.

69 Ibid., 19 Sept. 1960.

70 “Transcript of Mr. Grede's Talk to Case Personnel (Dania Hall—Thursday, November 17, 1960),” 9, folder 6, box 94; Grede, interview with author, 27 Aug. 1985.

71 Wall Street Journal, 28 March 1960; “The Case Picture,” 21 March 1960, typescript, folder 7, box 26.

72 Grede to Case board of directors, 16 May 1960, folder 1, box 14.

73 Material in these four paragraphs is from typescript entitled “Wm, J. Grede, Aug. 12, 1960,” folder 10, box 54.

74 Rojtman to Grede and executive committee, 26 April 1960; Grede to Rojtman, 9 May 1960, both folder 7, box 14.

75 Rojtman to Grede, 25, 28, 26, 28 April, all in folder 7, box 14.

76 Rojtman to Grede, 30 April, 16 May 1960, both ibid.

77 Rojtman to Grede, 30 May 1960, ibid.

78 “J. I. Case Again Floundering Under Old-Guard Policies, Says Marc B. Rojtman Company's Largest Stockholder…,” typescript, n. d., folder 10, box 54; Rojtman to executive committee, 8 Aug. 1960; Rojtman to Grede, 25 Nov. 1960, both folder 7, box 14.

79 Unsigned, memo, n.d. [1961], analyzing a Rojtman press release, folder 7, box 14; J. L. Bush to Grede, 8 Aug. 1960, ibid.; Nymeyer to Grede, 20 June 1961, folder 7, box 26.

80 Clark Robertson to Grede, 5 Aug. 1960, folder 7, box 14.

81 Grede, interview with author, 27 Aug. 1985; Wall Street journal, 25 Nov. 1960; Broehl, John Deere's Company, 643–46.

82 Nymeyer to Grede, 16 June 1960, folder 7, box 26; Grede memo, 21 Dec. 1960, folder 5, box 2.

83 Rojtman to executive committee and board of directors, 22 March 1957, folder 4, box 14; Grede to executive committee, 24 July 1957; Rojtman to H. H. Bloom, 17 March 1959, folder 4, box 14; J. I. Case Co. Annual Report 1959, 3, folder 1, box 54.

84 Brown to Grede, 20 May 1959, folder 4, box 14.

85 Nymeyer's annotated copy of Rojtman to executive committee, 24 Aug. 1960, folder 7, box 14.

86 Grede to Brown, 19 May 1961; Brown to Grede, 26, 28 May 1961; Grede to Brown, 8 Dec., 12 June 1961; Brown to Grede, 9 Dec. 1961, all folder 5, box 2.

87 Harvard Business School, “J. I. Case Company (A),” 14–15.

88 Grede, interview with author, 2 Oct. 1985.

89 A remarkable list of these early visits is in Brown to Grede, 29 May 1960, folder 5, box 2; Interview with William J. Grede and Leon Newman, 10, 17–18.

90 Grede, interview with author, 27 Aug. 1985.

91 “Transcript of Mr. Grede's Talk to Case Personnel,” 8, 10, 14, 18. Other examples are “Address Delivered by Mr. W. J. Grede at Noon Luncheon Sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce … Nov. 5, 1960,” folder 6, box 94, and “Wm. J. Grede—Conference Tape,” 1 Nov. 1961, folder 7, box 94. Grede even wrote an article, “The Changing Farm Scene and the Agricultural Equipment Market,” Financial Analysts Journal, Nov.–Dec. 1960, to reassure stockbrokers.

92 E. T. Reiske to Grede, 13 Nov. 1961; C. B. Peterson to Grede, 13 Nov. 1961, both folder 4, box 9.

93 Chicago Daily News, 26 Sept. 1960; Wall Street Journal, 27 Sept., 12 Oct., 14 Nov. 1960.

94 Chicago Daily Tribune, 21 July 1961; Chicago Daily News, 15 Nov. 1961; Nymeyer to Grede, 9 Aug. 1960, folder 7, box 26.

95 Stephen Eyre to Grede, 6 July 1961, folder 2, box 14; Grede to Brown, 9 Jan. 1961, folder 5, box 2; “Thoughts,” not signed, 6 Sept. 1961, folder 2, box 14; “The Sad Case of J. I. Case,” Forbes, 1 Oct. 1961, 13–14.

96 Interview with William J. Grede and Leon Newman, 21–22; Grede, interview with author, 2 Oct. 1985.

97 Grede, interview with author, 2 Oct. 1985; Milwaukee Sentinel, 29 Dec. 1961.

98 Frank Palermo to Grede, 16 Jan. 1962; Jo Binham to Grede, 11 Jan. 1962, both folder 4, box 9.

99 Nymeyer to Grede, 15 Sept. 1960, folder 7, box 14.

100 Clipping in D. E. Fricker to Grede, n.d. [Aug. 1966], folder 4, box 9.

101 Broehl, John Deere's Company, 626.

102 Marsh, A Corporate Tragedy, 189, 268.

103 Tenneco, Inc., Annual Report 1985, 3.

104 Grede, interview with author, 2 Oct. 1985.