Panel 4

“Little Steel, Maintenance of Membership and Equal Pay:
Making Labor Policy During World War II”

Letter from Morse's daughter, Nancy, February 8, 1942. When Morse was away from home his daughter Nancy would fill him in on the family news.

Wayne Morse Papers, Coll. 1.

Morse in Germany after the war. In 1942 Morse requested to be given a commission in the U.S. Army. His work on the NWLB was deemed too vital and his request was denied.

Wayne Morse Papers, Coll. 1.

Letter from Frances Perkins to Morse congratulating him on his work on the National Defense Mediation Board. Morse received many letters of appreciation from the President and Secretary of Labor through his many years of service.

Wayne Morse Papers, Coll. 1.

Telegraph appointing Morse to the NWLB in 1942.

Wayne Morse Papers, Coll. 1.

As men went off to war, women filled many of their positions in industry. On the NWLB Morse fought to secure for them pay equal to that of men.

Photograph courtesy of The Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York.

Although assured of huge wartime profits, Montgomery Ward managers grumbled about the NWLB's perceived pro-labor tilt.

Photograph courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Men and women walk a picket line in San Francisco. The job of the NWLB was to prevent strikes such as this one from springing up and slowing important war work.

Photograph courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Morse maintained his position as Dean of the Oregon Law School until he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1944, often cramming weeks of classes into a single weekend when he was in Eugene.

University of Oregon Archives.