Junior’s Crisis of Conscience: John D. Rockefeller Jr., the Colorado Coal Wars, and the Reconstruction of Miner Masculinity

In the months following the Ludlow Massacre of 1914—the deadliest labor strike in American history—John D. Rockefeller, Jr. grew aware of how he had misjudged his management of the Colorado strike and the ensuing violence. As he heard from Americans, many of whom supported his anti-unionist position, he focused his attentions on those who expressed their growing mistrust of not only his business acumen, but also his Christianity and humanity. This second group of correspondence shook the tycoon to his core. Under the guidance of public-relations manager Ivy Lee, Junior implemented two forms of reconstruction. The first method resulted in the Employment Representation Plan. Historians identify the Rockefeller Plan as a dynamic shift in labor-management relations. Throughout 1914 and 1915, Junior spoke at universities, corporate boardrooms, and work sites to mark what he believed to be a new day in industrial management. Equally important, he hoped that conceding to workers' needs while respecting managerial power would restore his reputation. This paper focuses on the second, less studied, portion of Junior's reconstruction plan. For him, restructuring the work environment and the relationship between management and labor left reconstruction incomplete, and thus vulnerable to future crises. The miners themselves needed to be reconstructed. Beginning in 1914, Junior provided support for churches and Young Men's Christian Associations throughout Colorado. Believing that exposure to socialism, communism had poisoned his workers, he wanted to impart to them white, middle class, Protestant values. He believed that reconstructing their social and cultural values—everything from language to personal hygiene and sexuality—would create a more amenable worker. As Junior used these organizations to perfect his workers he simultaneously changed the local attitudes about morality and sexuality, and laid the groundwork for future endeavors supported by his family and the Rockefeller Foundation in the twentieth century.