A Decisive Decade: An Insider's View of the Chicago Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s

Prologue: Starting an Academic Career

1 Prologue: Starting an Academic Career When I finished my graduate studies at Harvard Business School in the spring of 1959, our parents hoped that Nancy and I would locate somewhere on the East Coast. My parents lived in New Jersey, as had their parents; Nancy’s parents and ancestors had always lived in New England, primarily in western Massachusetts. When we announced that we would be going west—almost a thousand miles away to Chicago—they accepted the decision with good spirit. After all, this was the expected pattern for the first generation to graduate from college: seize the best opportunities, even if that meant a long-distance move. Selecting the University of Chicago as my first academic employer was easy. Finding an academic position in the 1950s did not involve the careful search and candidacy procedures that characterize today’s academic job market. My supervising professor, E. Robert Livernash, knew George Shultz (they had taught together at MIT), so Robert picked up the phone and called George who, just a few years before, had been recruited to establish an Industrial Relations Group at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago. “George, you should take a look at my student, Bob McKersie. He has been doing research for his dissertation right there in Chicago [at International Harvester] and he would be a good addition to your team.” So I spent a day meeting faculty at the Graduate School of Business. The new leadership team outlined their plans to put the business school “on the map” with a first-rate program emphasizing coursework in the underlying disciplines of economics, quantitative methods, and organizational behavior . I wondered whether my bent for the case method and lack of formal coursework in many of the key subject areas would be a handicap. “No,” they answered. “We need some individuals like you with your practical interests to balance our more theoretically oriented faculty.” So I agreed to join the faculty, starting in September 1959. Prologue 2 Nancy had not accompanied me on my recruiting trip to the university the preceding spring. So we did not have housing lined up, and we felt like gypsies as we headed west. And to add to the suspense, Nancy was close to term with our first youngster, due sometime in early October. We were driving an Oldsmobile station wagon with no air conditioning, making our drive in early September quite uncomfortable. Between the roar of the powerful engine and the flow of air through the open windows, we felt like pioneers of some sort, heading for new beginnings. When we arrived, Hyde Park was in the throes of urban renewal, with many buildings coming down—and their replacements not yet constructed. As a result, the housing market was extremely tight. Fortunately, Nancy met a building superintendent who took a liking to her and felt inclined to help this expectant mother find space for her family. He lined up a third-floor walkup for us, about a mile from campus. As was the case for many faculty members, our decision to live in Hyde Park rather than in the suburbs brought with it regular and intense exposure to most aspects of race relations. Nancy and I saw this as a plus. While many of our friends back East wondered about the wisdom of living on the “dangerous South Side” of Chicago, we considered living in Hyde Park an adventure. At the office, space was also tight. The renaissance that the school was experiencing translated into many new faculty hires, and I was asked if I would mind sharing an office with an economist. Not at all, especially since economics dominated the pecking order of disciplines at the Graduate School of Business. While the Chicago School of Economics had not yet garnered national recognition, luminaries such as Milton Friedman and George Stigler were very much on the scene. My immediate reference group consisted of labor economists, including Greg Lewis and Albert Rees from the economics department, and George Shultz and Arnie Weber from the business school. Joel Seidman, a sociologist, completed the group. Since I did not have a PhD in economics, but rather a doctorate in business administration with a behavioral concentration, I found Joel a kindred spirit. In terms of their political leanings, most members of the faculty were decidedly Republican. I can remember being invited to the home of George Shultz in November 1960 to watch the election returns for the presidential race between...