U.S. Department of Labor - Labor Hall of Fame

Labor Hall of Fame Honoree (2008)

Leonard F. Woodcock
(1911 – 2001)

"The essence of democracy is not simply to listen with pleasure to the things with which you agree, but to listen with civility to the things with which you disagree."
— Leonard F. Woodcock

Born in 1911 in Providence, Rhode Island, Leonard Freel Woodcock was the only son of Ernest and Margaret (Freel) Woodcock. Both were Roman Catholic and his father was a skilled machinist and a staunch trade unionist.

Leonard attended classes at the Colleges of the City of Detroit (now Wayne State University) and the Walsh Institute of Accounting. Forced to drop his classes as the Depression worsened, in 1933, he took a job as a machine assembler at Detroit Gear & Machine Company. There, the low wages, poor working conditions and lack of dignity that workers suffered greatly affected Woodcock's life. He became a charter member of a federal local union affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

His career in the United Automobile Workers began in 1940 when he accepted a position as a staff representative for UAW local unions in western Michigan. Woodcock had great success as an organizer, beginning with GM's Fisher Body plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, GM's last nonunion plant. Moreover, he developed a loyal following among western Michigan UAW members

Woodcock became a close ally of Walter P. Reuther, another Labor Hall of Fame inductee, during this era. When Reuther was elected president of the UAW in 1946, Woodcock accepted a position as his first administrative assistant. That same year, he was elected director of UAW Region 1-D, and became a member of the union's Executive Board. Woodcock also served as director of the UAW's Agricultural Implement and Aerospace Departments until 1955.

Woodcock was appointed director of the union's General Motors (GM) Department in 1955; the same year he became a UAW vice-president. The GM Department was the largest in the union. By the 1960s, Woodcock had earned a national reputation as a tough, shrewd and highly successful negotiator. Although Woodcock was cool and analytical, always well-prepared, and considered a labor intellectual, he was also known as a tough, intense negotiator.

Woodcock became UAW president after Reuther's tragic death in a plane crash in 1970. Woodcock's first major task as UAW president was to lead the union in its controversial bargaining with GM in 1970. For the remainder of his UAW presidency, Woodcock was highly successful in improving wages, pensions, health and safety benefits and other contractual gains for UAW members through collective bargaining.

Woodcock also developed considerable political connections and influence during his career as a labor leader. In 1977, a few weeks before Woodcock retired from the UAW, newly elected President Jimmy Carter asked him to head a delegation to Vietnam and Laos to attempt to determine the fate of missing American servicemen. Woodcock returned with the remains of 13 soldiers, and laid the groundwork for reconciliation between Vietnam and the United States. Impressed with his negotiating skills, Carter asked him to lead a mission to establish diplomatic relations with China. Woodcock personally led the primary negotiations with Deng Xiao Ping. By 1979, he had established full diplomatic relations with China and was named the first U.S. Ambassador to China, a position he held until 1981. Woodcock left the post of ambassador during the early days of Ronald Reagan's presidency, but for the next two decades until his death, he remained involved in US-China relations, continuously seeking to improve relations and understanding between the two nations.

Leonard Woodcock died of pulmonary complications at his home in Ann Arbor on 16 January 2001. His ashes were scattered over Lake Michigan.