Wirtz, William Willard

Wirtz, William Willard, 1912–, U.S. Secretary of Labor (1962–69), b. DeKalb, Ill. A professor of law at Northwestern Univ. (1939–42), he served (1943–45) with the War Labor Board and was (1946) chairman of the National Wage Stabilization Board. Wirtz returned to Northwestern, where he again taught law until 1954. Appointed Undersecretary of Labor in 1961, he succeeded Arthur Goldberg as Secretary of Labor and held this post throughout the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. He dealt effectively with the various strikes of the 1960s.