Benjamin Franklin Fairless (born Benjamin Franklin Williams; May 3, 1890 — January 1, 1962) was an American steel executive. He was president of a wide range of steel companies during a turbulent and formative period in the American steel industry. His roles included President of Central Alloy Steel from 1928 to 1930; First Vice President of Republic Steel (which had absorbed Central Steel) from 1930 to 1935; President of the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Company from 1935 to 1938; and then President (1938–1955), and later Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board of directors (1952–1955) of U.S. Steel, the largest steel corporation in the United States.
Fairless was a well-known humanitarian, and one of the few steel executives willing to allow unionization in the steel industry. He received the Medal for Merit in 1946 for helping to break steel production bottlenecks in the United States during World War II.
Early life and career Fairless was born on May 3, 1890 in Pigeon Run, Ohio."Benjamin F. Fairless Dies at 71." New York Times. January 2, 1962. His father was David Dean Williams, a poor coal miner born in Wales in 1865, and Ruth Wooley Williams, a miner's daughter from Pontypool, Wales, born in 1867. His parents emigrated to the United States in the 1880s, and settled in Ohio. They married in October 1888. Benjamin was their second child; he had an older brother, John, and two younger siblings, Mary Ann and Ralph.Austin, Kenneth. "Fairless Is At Top After 24-Year Rise." New York Times. December 12, 1937.
His father was a coal miner and worked summers as a farmer, and the family remained poor.Fairless, p. 161. Accessed 2012-03-15. Fairless later recalled that his father repeatedly said the only way to survive in the world was to work and work very hard.Forbes, p. 111. His mother was seriously injured in a horse and buggy accident when he was two years old, and he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle, Sarah and Jacob Fairless, in nearby Justus, Ohio. His uncle ran a small grocery store from the front of his home. His relatives adopted him, and he took their last name. (He continued to maintain a home in Justus until the end of his life.)Izant, p. 69. He began selling copies of the Cleveland Press at the age of five to raise money for his family.Paradis, p. 50. Fairless remained close to his mother and father, however. He described his father as a happy-go-lucky person who liked almost everyone, and who thought little of walking on his day off to see his teenage son play baseball. He called his mother "a truly great woman" who had little education but who taught her children the values of honesty, thrift, hard work, and saving.
Fairless was educated in local public schools, and graduated as class valedictorian from Justus High School in 1905.Garraty, p. 688. While in elementary and high school, he worked summers for Clark McClintock, a man with a lumber business. Fairless mowed his lawn, took care of his horses, plowed the fields of farms he owned, and did other general jobs for $9 a month (including meals).Fairless, p. 161-162. Accessed 2012-03-15. In high school, he acted as his school's janitor. He arrived early each morning, fired the coal-burning furnace, dusted desks and chairs, swept floors, and shoveled the sidewalks for $65 a year.Fairless, p. 162. Accessed 2012-03-15. When his grades began to suffer due to work and lack of attention, McClintock's nephew, Charles Blaine McClintock (whom everyone called "Blaine") began tutoring him.Fairless, p. 164. Accessed 2012-03-15. Blaine McClintock encouraged him to go to college, even though Justus High School only provided a three-year program. McClintock helped Fairless obtain a teaching position rather than go into manual labor, which would have ended his aspirations for college.Fairless, p. 164, 166. He taught school for three years (1905 to 1908) at Riverdale, Ohio; Navarre, Ohio; and Rockville, Ohio, in order to earn money to pay for summer classes at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio.Fairless, p. 166. Accessed 2012-03-15. Having received enough credits to make up for the lacking fourth year of high school, he enrolled at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio. He worked as an assistant in a psychiatric hospital to pay for tuition."An Age That Bred Strength Yields Two Giants and a Romantic Renegade." Life. January 12, 1962, p. 46. Accessed 2012-03-14. He received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Ohio Northern in 1913.Current Biography, p. 178.
In 1912, while still in college, Fairless married Jane Blanche Trubey (sometimes spelled "Truby").Current Biography, p. 180. The couple's son, Blaine, was born on June 27, 1913. (Blaine graduated from Babson College, was a lieutenant in the United States Navy during World War II, and later was an electric company executive.)The John Fritz Medal, p. 1951. The couple appeared to have marital problems in 1940, and Jane Fairless went to Nevada (at the time, the only U.S. state to offer a quick and easy divorce), but they reconciled in May 1940."Mrs. Fairless Quits Reno." New York Times. May 8, 1940. She died on September 29, 1942, at the family home in Massillon after a long, unspecified illness."Mrs. B.F. Fairless." Associated Press. September 30, 1942. She was buried in Massillon's Rose Hill Cemetery (now Rose Hill Memorial Park)."Rites for Mrs. Fairless." New York Times. October 1, 1942.
After graduation from college, he took a job as a surveyor for the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway."Fairless Rose Steadily." New York Times. August 29, 1935. In 1914, Ohio businessman "General" Jacob S. Coxey Sr. decided to replicate his 1894 poor people's protest march and lead a group of unemployed workers to Washington, D.C."Gen. Coxey to Lead Unemployed Army." New York Times. February 26, 1914. When "Coxey's Army" reached Massillon, Fairless resolved to go see the march. Passing by the Central Steel Company plant (then under construction) on a train, Fairless decided not to see the march.Hillyer, William Hurd. "Men of Achievement — Benjamin F. Fairless." Forbes. May 1, 1948, p. 16. Instead, he got off the train, went to the steel plant construction site, and asked the surveying team foreman for a job.Rienow and Rienow, p. 121. He was given a job on the spot.Fairless, p. 170. Accessed 2012-03-15. He was promoted from "transit man" (someone who operated a theodolite for the surveying team) to engineer when another person failed to show up for work for a week.Fairless, p. 172. Accessed 2012-03-15. After the plant was finished, he was asked to stay on at the steel mill rather than travel to another Central Steel construction site near Chicago.
Early steel industry career Knowing next to nothing about the manufacture of steel, Fairless spent extra time at the Central Steel plant learning about the manufacturing process and the creation of light alloy steel.Fairless, p. 174. Accessed 2012-03-15. He was mentored by F.J. Griffiths, one of two key managers at Central Steel. By 1921, he had been promoted to mill superintendent, general superintendent, and finally executive vice president in charge of operations. In July 1926, Central Steel merged with the United Alloy Steel Corporation."Alloy Steel Merger Approved By Boards." Associated Press. July 23, 1926. Fairless was made vice president and general manager of the new company, Central Alloy Steel, and in 1928 promoted to president of the firm.
On January 27, 1930, Central Alloy Steel merged with Republic Iron & Steel Company, Donner Steel Company, Trumbell-Cliffs Furnace Company, and the Bourne-Fuller Company to form a new firm, Republic Steel Corporation."Terms of Merger for Republic Steel." New York Times. January 28, 1930. Tom M. Girdler, former president of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, was named the chairman of the board of directors of the new firm."Ex-Farm Boy Heads New Republic Steel." New York Times. February 2, 1930. Fairless was named first vice president of the new company."Officials Announced by Republic Steel." New York Times. April 11, 1930. Over the next five years, Girdler made Fairless his protégé. Fairless became a critical manager at Republic Steel, overseeing executives and operations at Buffalo, New York; Birmingham, Alabama; Canton, Ohio; Chicago; Cleveland, Ohio; Massillon; Moline, Illinois; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Youngstown, Ohio; and Warren, Ohio."Girdler Aide to Join Staff of U.S. Steel." New York Times. August 22, 1935.
In 1935, the U.S. Steel company, which had lost $130 million from 1932 to 1934 and was just barely breaking even in 1935, approached Fairless with the offer to become president of its newly formed Carnegie-Illinois Steel subsidiary.Fairless, p. 174, 1976. According to Fairless, Girdler then offered Fairless the presidency of Republic Steel (one of his own positions; the other was chairman of the board of directors) at a higher salary than U.S. Steel was offering. Fairless later said he knew next to nothing about U.S. Steel's operations, corporate or manufacturing structure, or merchandising. But he resigned from Republic Steel effective September 15, 1935, to join U.S. Steel.
U.S. Steel career Carnegie-Illinois Steel On August 28, U.S. Steel announced that it was merging its Illinois Steel (headquartered in Chicago) and Carnegie Steel (headquartered in Pittsburgh) subsidiaries into a single Carnegie-Illinois Steel Company (with headquarters in Pittsburgh), and that Fairless would be president of the new company."U.S. Steel to Unify Plant Operations." New York Times. August 29, 1935; "U.S. Steel to Unify Plant Operations." New York Times. September 17, 1935. On September 17, two more wholly owned subsidiaries, Clairton By-Products and the Lorain Steel Company, were merged into Carnegie-Illinois as well."U.S. Steel to Combine Four Subsidiaries in One." New York Times. September 18, 1935. Fairless assumed the presidency of the new subsidiary on October 1, 1935."Failress In New Post, Optimistic For Steel." New York Times. October 2, 1935. Carnegie-Illinois rapidly expanded under Fairless. In December 1935, it opened a $35 million steel works in Clairton, Pennsylvania,"$35,000,000 Plant for U.S. Steel Unit." New York Times. December 27, 1935. and in May 1928 another U.S. Steel subsidiary, American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, merged with it."U.S. Steel Releases One Chief." New York Times. May 28, 1936.