In light of today's holiday, some Packard & Cadillac history

Posted by su8overdrive On 2017/1/16 14:58:00

(Note: When posted yesterday, the third and last, the Packard incident link, was to the wrong URL. Now remedied.)

In light of today's holiday, below is some too often overlooked automotive history, including a smart, classy move made by Cadillac alone. The simple, immutable fact is that Cadillac made a wise marketing move ahead of all other luxe automakers.

It is not enough to shrug the below off with, "Well, that's the way it was back then." Or, "Everyone thought that way."
Because, as you'll see, one man at Cadillac did not see it "that way," to Cadillac's everlasting benefit.

So, out of respect for the dark-hued men who helped build our cars, our fellow car buffs with tans, and for the sake of decency, on this national holiday, Martin Luther King Day, a good time to look at the below:

Nicholas Dreystadt and GM, Cadillacs and African-Americans ...https://blackdaffodill.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/nicholas-dreystadt-and-gm-cadillacs-and-african-americans/ Feb 5, 2010 ... "So. I have always vaguely wondered about the rather unique love-affair between African-Americans and the Cadillac. I stumbled across this ..."

The Man Who Saved The Cadillac - Forbeshttp://www.forbes.com/2009/04/30/1930s-auto-industry-business-cadillac.html May 1, 2009 ... .".... of its strategy to capture that market was its refusal to sell to African-Americans. ... In June of 1934 Nick Dreystadt was made head of the Cadillac Division. ... But for that cruel fate the whole history of the American automobile ..."

This Day in Labor History: June 6, 1943 - Lawyers, Guns ...http://206.190.45.150/search/srpcache?p=packard+race+strike+1943&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-002&fr=yhs-mozilla-002&u=http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=packard+race+strike+1943&d=4901907948244767&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=XLI83PaTEyS1ISx505hOzCUC2iRUB07K&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=CQxxl5wDodFuVwIWksoGow--

"On June 6, 1943, nearly 30 leaders of the Packard Hate Strike in a United Auto Workers-organized plant in Detroit were suspended from their jobs.

After the U.S. entry into WWII, the federal government took over all private industries capable of producing war material. This meant for the duration of the war no more cars would be produced. The world famous Packard Motor Car Company was humming 24/7 with the vital production of the giant Rolls-Royce aircraft engines and twelve cylinder Packard marine engines used to power PT boats.
While the UAW hierarchy outwardly supported integration of its work force, its rank and file did not. Whites didn't mind so much that blacks worked in the same plant, but they refused to work side by side with them. Three weeks before the riot, Packard promoted three blacks to work on the assembly line next to whites. The reaction was immediate and swift. A plant-wide hate strike resulted as 25,000 whites walked off the job, bringing critical war production to a screeching halt. A voice with a Southern accent barked over the loudspeaker, 'I'd rather see Hitler and Hirohito win than work next to a N*.'
Although the matter was rectified within a few days by relocating the black workers, the wheels were quickly coming off Mayor Jeffries' wagon. Detroit was spinning out of control and on a collision course with disaster."