John R. Harold papers
Collection
0008-GWP
John R. Harold, labor lawyer and Labor Relations Officer for the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) during the Occupation of Japan, was born on January 1, 1914. Raised in Yonkers, New York, he was one of nine children. He received an L.L.B. degree (Bachelor of Laws) from Manhattan College in 1934 and a J.D. from Fordham Law School in 1937. Throughout his 40-year legal career, he was committed to defending a worker’s right to protection by democratic labor practices.
In 1943, after working for several years in his own labor law practice, Harold was drafted. He served in several positions before he was recruited as a Labor Officer in the Labor Relations Branch of the Labor Division of the Economic and Scientific Section (ESS) of SCAP. As a Labor Officer, he was active in the enactment of new and democratic labor laws in Japan--in particular, the Labor Relations Adjustment Law enacted in September 1946, which created the procedures of conciliation, mediation, and voluntary arbitration and assigned those functions to tripartite Labor Relations Committees. Upon enactment of this law, his primary responsibility was administering a vast educational campaign to inform the Japanese labor force of the meaning and purpose of the new labor laws.
The papers of John R. Harold cover the years 1945-1983 with the vast majority of the material dating from the period of the Allied Occupation of Japan (1945-1949). The collection provides an overview of Occupation labor policy as documented in memoranda, correspondence, reports, news dispatches, newspaper articles, pamphlets, posters, slides, a kamishibai, and journals. Its focus is on labor education and includes materials used at education conferences for Japanese trade unionists and conferences for Allied military government personnel. Harold co-authored several pamphlets with the chief of the Labor Education Branch, Richard Deverall, such as, “Organization and Structure of Trade Unions” and “Building Industrial Democracy through Sound Labor Contracts,” that were translated into Japanese and widely distributed. Also included in the collection is research on Japanese wages, labor supply, production control, and reports on Japanese labor unions and labor agreements.
In addition to the files on official labor policy, two correspondence files provide a behind-the-scenes view of SCAP. The first is the correspondence between General MacArthur and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru regarding, among other things, the Economic Purge Directive, the use of the Japanese flag, and the national budget. The second is the correspondence between Charles L. Kades, Deputy Chief of the Government Section, and Colonel Whitney, Chief of the Government Section, much of which concerns preparations for the Japanese Judicial Mission to the United States in 1950.
John R. Harold used the materials in this collection in the writing of his autobiography, Living a Life of Social Significance. The autobiography is included in the collection.
This collection is open to the public and must be used in the Special Collections reading room. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.
Photocopies or digital surrogates may be provided in accordance with Special Collections and University Archives duplication policy.
Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs unless otherwise specified. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission to publish materials from the appropriate copyright holder.
Archival materials may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal and/or state right to privacy laws or other regulations. While we make a good faith effort to identify and remove such materials, some may be missed during our processing. If a researcher finds sensitive personal information in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the special collections reading room staff.
4.81 Linear Feet (5 legal-size boxes, 1 half letter-size box, 1 oversize box, and 1 artifact box)
The papers of John R. Harold cover the years 1945-1983, with the bulk of the material dating from the period of the Allied Occupation of Japan (1945-1949). It was the policy of the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (GHQ/SCAP) to build a free and democratic labor movement in post-World War II Japan. These papers--memoranda, correspondence, reports, news dispatches, newspaper articles, pamphlets, one kamishibai, slides, two reels of film, posters--primarily concern the establishment and furthering of democratic labor practices. They include the following topics: Labor relations legislation and committees, labor union educational programs and publications, labor disputes/labor agreements, studies of Japanese labor unions, labor for the Occupation Forces, labor division field reports, wage studies, the labor purge, unfair labor practices, and democratic trade unionism. In addition to the files on official labor policy, two correspondence files provide a behind-the-scenes view of GHQ/SCAP. The first is the correspondence between General MacArthur and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru regarding, among other things, the Economic Purge Directive, the use of the Japanese flag, and the national budget. The second is the correspondence between Charles L. Kades, Deputy Chief of the Government Section, and Colonel Whitney, Chief of the Government Section, much of which concerns preparations for the Japanese Judicial Mission to the United States in 1950.
The John R. Harold papers are arranged in 11 series:
The John R. Harold Papers were donated to the University of Maryland College Park Libraries by John R. Harold on December 31, 1986.
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives