Editing White Motor Company (section)

===Company Culture===
[[File:1910 White touring car.JPG|right|thumb|1910 White touring car]]
[[File:White railcar.jpg|thumb|White railcar in the collection of the [[Railtown 1897 State Historic Park]]]]
During the time brothers Walter and Windsor White ran the company, it offered a library branch, a store which sold necessities at low cost, sports teams, and concerts by orchestras and [[jazz]] bands, as well as musical performances by the workers, many of whom were immigrants from [[Slovenia]] and [[Poland]]. The company also had [[picnic]]s at [[Euclid Beach Park]].

After Walter White was fatally injured in a traffic accident, management changed and so did the firm's culture. Employees started one of the country's first automobile [[trade union|union]]s. The [[Great Depression]] caused a drop in sales, forcing White to merge with [[Studebaker]]. However, White soon became independent again.

In 1935, Robert Fager Black became president, but workers were still unhappy, and they went on [[strike action|strike]]. Black negotiated with the workers who were striking, and he even got [[baseball]] equipment for them and let them play while on strike, so they would have something to do. Black learned people's names, visited the plant frequently, and asked customers if they were happy with what they purchased. Anyone could visit his office.

Black brought the company back to where it had once been by [[World War II]], during which the company supplied the military with much of its equipment. White ranked 54th among US corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Peck |first1=Merton J. |first2=Frederic M. |last2=Scherer|title=The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis |year=1962 |publisher=Harvard Business School |page=619 }}</ref> When husbands went to serve, wives took their jobs, and the work force totaled over 4000. Black provided the services the company had at one time, and helped employees get to work with [[carpool]]s.

Black retired in 1956, still beloved by employees.<ref name="wrhs">{{cite web|url=http://www.wrhs.org/index.php/crawford/Online_Exhibit/White |title=Working at White: A History of White Motors |publisher=The Western Reserve Historical Society |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025001120/http://www.wrhs.org/index.php/crawford/Online_Exhibit/White |archive-date=25 October 2011 |access-date=15 May 2013 }}</ref>