The Life and Legacy of The Honorable W.J. (Bill) Usery

CELEBRATING

The Life and Legacy

Usery Legacy Fund

Many have heard the story of Mr. Usery’s mother leaving her nursing job to become a laundress so she could ensure he had a clean, pressed GMC uniform every morning -- and the day she was denied a $25 bank loan to replace his threadbare uniform pants.

Effie Mae’s dedication to her son – and the equalizing effect of the GMC uniform for a boy who came from humble means – inspired Mr. Usery to create this fund, to take effect upon his passing.

PURPOSE. To preserve in perpetuity the memory of a very distinguished Georgia Military College Preparatory School alumnus, and former United States Secretary of Labor, the Honorable W. J. Usery, Jr. The income produced by this FUND will be used exclusively to support the GMC Preparatory School. This FUND shall have four components to honor, commemorate and celebrate the life of Secretary Usery. Income produced by this FUND will be distributed in priority order across the four components. Explanations of each of the four components, in priority order for funding, are as follows:

GMC PREP SCHOOL UNIFORMS | All New Students

Every fourth, fifth and sixth grader, and as funds are grown, any other first time student, to include additional grades that may be added in the future, will receive a school voucher up to 100% of the initial preparatory school uniform purchase requirement. The proceeds of this endowment will significantly defray the costs of the initial school uniform requirement, thus eliminating a financial barrier, while honoring Secretary Usery’s own personal experience of having worn a patched uniform while a student at GMC Prep. In addition, along with the uniform voucher each student will receive in writing a tribute with a short explanation as to why Secretary Usery wanted to assist every future GMC Prep student with the cost of their uniforms.

SECRETARY USERY BIOGRAPHY PAMPHLET | 8th Grade

All GMC Prep eighth grade students will receive the biography pamphlet of The Honorable W. J. Usery, Jr. The students will read this pamphlet and discuss it in class during their eighth grade year. Upon reading the story and having had a discussion in class, each cadet will then receive what will be their first military uniform ribbon named the “Usery Ribbon” symbolizing the first part of the GMC slogan of “Duty – Honor – Country” and “Character Above All”.

SECRETARY USERY – FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY BOOK COLLECTION | 10th Grade

All GMC Prep tenth grade students will receive four books representing the foundations of democracy in the United States: The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, George Washington’s Rules of Civility, and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, to supplement their educational requirement of tenth grade U.S. History.

SECRETARY USERY – ESSAY CONTEST | 12th Grade

All GMC Prep twelfth grade students will write an essay as part of the Honorable W. J. Usery, Jr. Legacy Fund essay contest at the beginning of the school year. The contest will recognize and award the first, second, and third place winners with monetary awards (initially $1,500; $1,000; and $500) intended to further defray the expense of attending GMC Prep, or as a scholarship to the college of their choice. The theme of the essay will be a reflection of “What GMC Prep Has Meant to Me” or “The Impact GMC Has Had on Me”, to model Secretary Usery’s lifetime reflection of what being a student at GMC Prep meant to him.

THE HONORABLE W. J. (BILL) USERY, JR.

PREP 1940

1923 – 2016

A LEGACY OF LOVE

If you knew Bill Usery, you knew he loved to tell a good story, sometimes more than once. So, upon his passing, it’s only fitting that we share the remarkable story of Mr. Usery’s life. We invite you to sit back, remember Mr. Usery and raise a toast to one of Milledgeville’s finest sons.

It’s a story of adversity, courage and triumph, of fairness and equality. It’s a story of how one man’s dedication can help shape a nation. But most of all, it’s a story that defines The Great American Dream. For only in America could a boy born into a family of modest means, from a small town in Georgia, go on to take his place among great leaders and impact an entire nation.

“If it wasn’t mine, I would tell you this is a beautiful story –beautiful in a sense that this is America and this is what can happen and what does happen,” said Mr. Usery in an interview several years ago. “The best thing I could hope for is that I have helped make a path that other people could follow. You always hope somebody will pick up where you leave off.”

On December 10, 2016, Mr. Usery passed away, just shy of his 93rd birthday, peacefully sitting in his living room with his loving wife, Fran, and his devoted son, Melvin, by his side. He’s gone, but the legacy of his life’s work will never be forgotten, and will inspire many generations to come.

FORMATIVE INFLUENCES

Born in 1923 amidst uncertain economic and political times, it was difficult for a boy from humble beginnings to envision even a comfortable future — much less a future that would include five presidential appointments. But his mother believed in the potential America held for her son.

With a plan that differed from her husband’s – who wanted his son to enter the workforce after the seventh grade – Effie Mae Usery promised that if he kept his grades up, she would find a way to send him to Georgia Military College.

For a young Bill, this meant shedding the stigma that came with living near what was then referred to as the state lunatic asylum, and having parents that worked at Central State Hospital. The uniform, he said, served as an equalizer and granted him access to anywhere he wanted to go. “The uniform let me go downtown. The uniform let me go over to GSCW (Georgia State College for Women). It opened up a whole new life for me.”

For Effie Mae, the uniform meant she’d put her son on the path to greatness. But unable to afford new uniforms, she bought them used, patched the pants and left her job as a practical nurse to work in the hospital’s laundry. This way, she could insure that her son had a clean, pressed uniform to wear to school each day.

At one point, when the uniform’s patches were many, Effie Mae took Bill to the local bank and asked for a $25 loan. The banker denied the loan, admonishing her to teach her son to save money, not borrow it.

“Mr. Usery would never forget the shame he felt that day,” said Rev. Stephanie Caldwell, who delivered a eulogy at his funeral. “He would never forget the pain of watching his mother walk out of that bank, with her head held high and tears streaming down her face. True to form, he used a difficult experience to forge the kind of mettle that makes a man great. It instilled a drive to succeed, a longing to make amends and make his mother’s life better, and lifelong desire to make the lives of other poor and disaffected people better.”

That was Effie Mae’s gift to her son: instilling compassion, fairness, humor and honesty – the qualities he would bring to the table throughout his storied life.

A REMARKABLE GIFT

The impression that the uniform – and his mother’s sacrifices – made on Mr. Usery touched him so deeply that before his passing, he established a fund which will provide a new uniform for all future first-time students at Georgia Military College Preparatory School. It is one of the most generous donations in history of GMC.

“That was the legacy he wanted to leave GMC. He deeply loved children and wanted them to have some of the opportunities he didn’t,” said Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell IV, President, GMC. “There are many people who accumulate titles and accolades throughout their life, but at the heart of all Mr. Usery’s accomplishments was the love of other people, children in particular. He best exemplified what GMC stands for and he lived his life the way I’d like to live mine.”

CHARACTER ABOVE ALL

As a student at GMC, Mr. Usery did well, absorbing not only the lessons in the classrooms, but the lessons in character for which GMC is known. “The duty to God and country and the honor that went along with the school made such an impact on me and has served me well over the years,” he said.

When Mr. Usery walked out of the gates of GMC, the year was 1940 and the nation was changing drastically. The economy had begun to recover from the Great Depression, but tensions were mounting across the ocean. Mr. Usery and his classmates had every reason to know they would go into the service.

After graduation, Mr. Usery went to his local draft board and volunteered for the Navy, but was told to check back in six months. With no job and no money, he hitchhiked to Augusta, where he trained to become a welder. Six weeks later, a recruit for a new shipyard in Brunswick came through the school and offered Mr. Usery his first job. Soon, he was making more in a week than his parents made in a month.

PIVOT POINT

What occurred next became a pivotal moment in his career. Mr. Usery quit his welding job and reported back to the draft board, only to be deferred another six months. Returning to Brunswick, he learned a union had moved in. He signed up, being told that’s what he had to do to get back on the job.

Little did Mr. Usery know this was the humble beginning of a lifetime spent working in labor-management relations.

Six months later, the Navy needed welders and called for him. From Fort McPherson in Atlanta, Mr. Usery was ordered to Great Lakes, Ill., for boot camp training. There, the Chief Petty Officer sought out Mr. Usery to be his Recruit CPO after learning he’d attended a military school and knew how to drill a company. “This was the first time I said, ‘Thank you GMC,’” Mr. Usery later said. “I had a private room and led a kind of VIP life throughout boot camp only because I’d been to GMC and had the military training.”

In ten weeks, he was on his way to San Diego for advanced training in underwater welding. “There again,” he said, “I was made a team leader because…I’d been to GMC.”

After San Diego, Mr. Usery worked in Norfolk, Va., then spent the next two years on a ship in various war zones throughout the Pacific. As Mr. Usery’s ship sailed closer to Japan – with suicide planes flying overhead – he and his fellow soldiers were preparing for an attack on the Japanese mainland. But timing was on his side, and President Truman brought the war to an end with the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan. Soon, Mr. Usery was on his way back home to Milledgeville.

“I went over the first day…to walk around GMC, to think about what it was like since I first walked out of those gates and now when I came back through those gates,” said Mr. Usery. “I assume it’s probably like that with every person that’s been to war and made it back – you know you’re so fortunate to be home and you go back to the places that have meant the most to you. I make no bones about it; the first thing I wanted was to see my mother and then the first day back I visited GMC.”

WINDS OF CHANGE

While Mr. Usery was abroad, the collective mindset back home had begun churning. He came back knowing the nation was about to go through substantial changes — especially regarding inequalities based on race, gender and religion.

He watched women that once furthered the war effort leave the workforce. He saw Jewish store owners remaining on the outskirts of town, still not accepted by their community. He also knew some of the men who’d fought by his side now were using a separate toilet and drinking from a separate fountain.

“I knew this barrier had to come down, whether we liked it or not, and I systematically wanted to help bring people together,” said Mr. Usery. “Those things were not going to be able to last in a free society with people who had just fought a war. I was determined that, if you had been in the war, it was your duty to try to help make the country the best you possibly can. If you fought for freedom, you fought for the rights of everyone, and that’s what we had to achieve -- equal rights and opportunities.”

Mr. Usery’s determination took him to Mercer University law school, where he attended night school under the new GI Bill. By day, he put his experience to work at Macon’s new Armstrong Cork plant, where he once again stumbled back into the path of his future legacy. There were rumblings of unionization, but Mr. Usery paid little attention; he was becoming a lawyer. Ultimately, his coworkers persuaded him to attend the union meeting.

“They had this old gray-headed guy up there who was telling us why we needed a union,” said Mr. Usery. “He told us we couldn’t be fired for union activity -- that’s against the federal law. But the problem is, we could be fired if we couldn’t prove the company knew we were active in the union. He said he had some buttons here and would suggest we all take one. Then when we go back in the shop, pin the button on so they cannot deny that you were involved with the union. I thought, ‘This guy is leading me on.’ I wasn’t interested in any button.

“The next day…the foreman told me to cut off my torch. He said it was too bad because I had a future around here and I could have made out well. I said, ‘What do you mean I had a future here? And I reached into my pocket and pinned that damn union button on.

“Nobody was going to tell me I couldn’t do something that would affect my life after I’d spent two years in the South Pacific,” said Mr. Usery. “What did we fight the war for? If the law permits me to (join a union) and I want to do that, I should be able to do that.”

From that point forward, Mr. Usery became even more deeply concerned about peoples’ rights, both business and labor. He became a full-time organizer for the International Association of Machinists.

Soon, he was asked to take a special assignment in Atlanta, helping integrate defense plants. Taking down the “colored” and “white” signs at the bathrooms was easy, Mr. Usery said, but integrating the cafeterias proved trickier. At the Lockheed plant in Marietta, his team ended up removing all the seats from the cafeteria to get the message across — if you’re not going to sit together, you will stand together.

Next, the union asked Mr. Usery to spend a few days surveying the missile program at Cape Canaveral. When his employer denied him time off, he quit and turned his three-day Cape Canaveral assignment into a 13-year career at the Kennedy Space Center.

MAKING PEACE

Amid the Cold War and race to the moon, President Kennedy appointed Mr. Usery to the National Missile Sites Commission and he traveled to military bases around the country, resolving labor conflicts that cleared the way for advances in the U.S. space program.

After Kennedy’s assassination, Mr. Usery became politically active, and in 1968 enthusiastically supported the Democrat Hubert Humphrey, because of his support for equal rights for people - regardless of race, color, creed, or gender.

Although Richard Nixon was victorious in the 1968 election, Mr. Usery’s support of Nixon’s opponent didn’t disqualify him from the new Republican administration. Nixon’s Secretary of Labor, George Shultz appointed Lockheed’s senior vice president, Jim Hodgson, as his undersecretary. As the story goes, Shultz told Hodgson he was looking for an assistant secretary on neutral ground and who really understood the labor movement. Hodgson knew just the man – he’d sat across from him at the negotiating table.

Mr. Usery entered the political realm during a tumultuous time in American history – a transitional period marked by protests, disputes, demonstrations, sit-ins and strikes. Against this backdrop, Nixon quickly came to rely on Mr. Usery to

handle the multitude of disputes affecting the nation’s security.

“I had to pinch myself each time I went into the Oval Office,” said Mr. Usery. “I wasn’t just going in there to see the president; I was going to see the most powerful man in the world. And you’ve got to tell him what you really think, whether he agrees with you or not, because if you tell him something and it’s not right, he may make a decision based on what you’ve told him. I’ve seen people…I just wanted to go over and grab because I knew they were trying to (tell him) what he wanted.”

President Nixon deeply appreciated Mr. Usery’s counsel. “He (called me in and) told me it meant a lot to him personally and to the nation,” said Mr. Usery. “To hear somebody in his position say that about you, that’s what we used to say down in Georgia was being in high cotton,” said Mr. Usery proudly.

By the time Nixon resigned, Mr. Usery had made a name for himself in the world of labor relations and was rumored to become President Gerald Ford’s new Secretary of Labor. But with the nation facing double-digit inflation, Ford’s advisors recommended an economist for the position.

Ford asked Mr. Usery to remain as the National Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and special assistant to the president, to which Mr. Usery agreed. But a short time later, the new Secretary of Labor, John Dunlop, came out in strong support of the so-called ‘Common Situs Picketing Bill.’ This was unacceptable to President Ford, who vetoed the bill. Dunlop resigned as Secretary of Labor in protest. It was then that Mr. Usery joined President Ford’s cabinet as Secretary of Labor.

Once again, Mr. Usery became the president’s trusted advisor and friend. “Gerry Ford was one of the finest people I’ve ever been around,” said Mr. Usery. “He had a great sense of humor and was an all-around honorable man.”

The role lasted less than a year, ending with Jimmy Carter’s election. But like he’d done so many times before, Mr. Usery reinvented himself. He founded Bill Usery Associates in Washington, D.C., and continued his career in labor-management relations, working with everyone from auto workers to educators, everywhere from Russia to Japan.

Mr. Usery also continued to serve on various presidential commissions and remained on call for future administrations, including a highly contentious miners’ union strike in the late ‘80s under Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole and the Major League Baseball strike in the ‘90s under President Clinton.

“Bill Usery (was) an indefatigable and gregarious negotiator… as a federal mediator, the rumpled Mr. Bill was regarded as one of the nation’s hardest-working civil servants,” wrote the New York Times, upon his passing. “His office trappings — a shower stall, a refrigerator (to ice martinis) and a humidor (lighting a fresh cigar at 2 a.m. boded badly for negotiations) — attested to his laborious pace.”

BUILDING TRUST

Theodore W. Kheel, the noted labor peacemaker, once called Mr. Usery “the most successful mediator in the country’s history.” But Mr. Usery humbly dismissed such praise, saying he was simply at the right places at the right times, and willing to seize opportunities as they came along.

Many say honesty and fairness earned Mr. Usery such accolades. “Trust is a big part of labor relations,” said Jeff Gordon, former executive director of the W.J. Usery, Jr. Center for the Workplace at Georgia State University. “Both sides always knew they were able to trust him to protect their best interest.”

He was also an instinctively good judge of people, a skill honed under the guidance of his mother. “She never had much formal education, but she was very smart,” he said. “We used to go to Milledgeville on Saturday. That used to be the day you came into town, got the news, saw people, politicked, looked at the stores and maybe even bought a few things.

“My mother used to insist we go early and park as close to the corner as we could, while my father would go off to meet with his cronies. She had me study people with her. It was fascinating to just sit in your car...and watch people…their actions, how they dress, how they look in the store windows. If you study a person for a while and talk to them a little bit, with enough time, you can pretty much read them.”

A companionable nature and keen sense of humor were also winning qualities. Bill was known for his natural ability to put people at ease, get them laughing on the way to negotiating. “It was extraordinary to watch him work with people,” said Gordon. “His power of observation was just unbelievable.”

He used his powers well. “Many of us struggle to understand what our purpose is in this world. But Bill never seemed to waver from his life’s calling as a peacemaker,” Rev. Caldwell said. “His gift to our difficult, warring, fractious world, was the desire to make peace, to bring people together. He believed passionately that any two parties could be brought together, no matter how deep their differences. He worked tirelessly and selflessly toward his goal.”

A GIVING HEART

Mr. Usery also expressed his love for GMC time and time again, relishing the opportunity to give back to his alma mater. Usery Hall, the Usery Assistance Fund, an Usery conference room, two classrooms in GMC’s Health and Wellness Center, the Usery Community Room, – and now the Usery Legacy Fund – were all made possible through the overwhelming generosity of Bill and Fran Usery. In fact, upon the dedication of Usery Hall, President George H.W. Bush sent a personal tribute to Mr. Usery in a video presented to those who attended. President Bush remarked, “I want to send my congratulations (to Georgia Military College) as you dedicate this new building, named for a very good man – a man who served his country with honor. Usery was an outstanding Secretary of Labor and friend of mine. I’m proud to be a tiny part of this,

and just wanted to wish you all well. Your wonderful slogan, ‘Duty, Honor, Country,’ that’s what it’s all about. That says a lot about Usery and says a lot about your college too.”

In 2015, Mr. Usery also co-sponsored a very special community event celebrating the 190th anniversary of General Marquis de Lafayette’s return to Milledgeville following the Revolutionary War, to reunite with his fellow veterans. It was a day during which citizens young and old focused on the best of everything American and the principles exemplified by General Lafayette’s service to our nation.

“Bill gave of his treasures, but he also gave generously and humbly of his time. Here was a man who’d served as Secretary of Labor and worked under five presidents, yet when we sat and talked, it was never about him. It was always about how he could help others,” says General Caldwell. “He genuinely loved being with the cadets and building relationships with them, as he did with so many others throughout his life. When he went to a parade, he’d beam from ear-to-ear, watching them march, and the students just flocked to him.”

Rev. Caldwell saw the same magnetic quality. “To most teenagers, 93-year-old men are often invisible, but not so with this great man,” she said. “Bill had a special quality that somehow communicated to those children that their lives mattered to him and that they all had the capacity for greatness.”

Mr. Usery said he hoped “students will understand what a tremendous opportunity they have been given and if they take what they learn from GMC, live by its watchwords – Duty, Honor, Country – they can go anywhere in life,” he continued. “Even a boy from the ‘asylum’ side of town could make it to the White House.”

A PATH TO FOLLOW

Bill Usery lived his life in humble service and sacrifice in the name of peace and equality. In his own modest way, Mr. Usery desired to make a difference in the lives of others, but he accomplished considerably more. He blazed a trail, he advanced a nation and, most importantly, he showed us what it means to really care for each other.

1923 - 2016 and Legacy The Life

Bill was a man of principle who cared deeply for his country and for the State of Georgia. Throughout his long and fulfilled life, he dedicated himself to serving his fellow man, and he did so selflessly with love in his heart. Whether it was repairing a ship in World War II or mediating a worker dispute as secretary of Labor, Bill went above and beyond what was asked of him. I am thankful that Georgia was home to a man of (his) caliber.

-David Perdue, U.S. Senator

Bill’s dedication is a testament to the commitment he made to his community, our state, and our country. I appreciate his service to our nation during World War II, and his service in a variety of roles to five U.S. Presidents. Bill was truly a member of ‘The Greatest Generation.’ He has left a positive legacy in not only his family, but also our state. His absence will be felt by all who were dear to him.

-Johnny Isakson, U.S. Senator

Bill’s distinguished career in public service is a model for us all. He advised several presidents on labor issues, successfully mediated numerous labor strikes, and protected the labor rights of millions of workers. Thousands of my colleagues walk past his protract in the Department of Labor’s Great Hall in Washington, D.C. every morning, inspired by his career, service in the U.S. navy during World War II and talents as a national labor leader.

Usery in his GMC uniform as a prep student

-Thomas E. Perez, U.S. Secretary of Labor