Boot Straps: The Autobiography of Tom M. Girdler [*SIGNED*]

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Good. 1943. First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [moderate wear to extremities, front hinge cracked exposing webbing, light dampstain at lower left corner of front cover, light soiling/age-toning to edges of text block]. SIGNED and DATED (1944) by the author on the front endpaper. The author (1877-1965) was a major figure in the early 20th century steel industry. He was the first president and board chairman of the Republic Steel Corporation, founded in 1929, which during the Depression became a major producer of light alloys. At first a supporter of FDR's National Recovery Act, he became disillusioned with the New Deal and its programs in 1935 after the passage of the Wagner Act, which established the collective bargaining rights of industrial workers. Republic's refusal, under his leadership, to bargain with the CIO helped to precipitate the Little Steel Strike of 1937, considered one of the most violent strikes of the 1930s. Signed by Author .