Bernard Gladieux Papers, 1939-1997
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
Bernard Louis ("Bun") Gladieux was born in Toledo, Ohio, to Victor Modest and Anna Cook Gladieux on April, 12, 1907. He received an A.B. degree from Oberlin College in 1930. In 1943 he received the M.S. degree in public administration from Syracuse University, and in 1985 Oberlin College conferred on him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
Bernard Gladieux's father, Victor Modest Gladieux, worked for the Toledo Water Department. The family lived in a lower middle class neighborhood where most children left school after the eighth grade. Higher education was practically unheard of, and the Gladieux family was unique with all four sons attending college.
As a boy, Bernard Gladieux was more interested in sports than school and was a poor scholar during his first years of high school. In his third year, however, he became involved in Hi-Y, the high school branch of the Y.M.C.A., and the people he met there encouraged him in his studies. In particular, Reverend Elliott F. Talmadge, an Episcopalian minister whom Gladieux met through a Hi-Y career conference, took an interest in Gladieux and ultimately helped pay for Gladieux's first year at Oberlin College.
While a student at Oberlin College, Gladieux majored in American History and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1930. His extra-curricular activities included Y.M.C.A., football, and track, and he worked in the Faculty Club and the Astronomy Department. In the summer of 1929, he traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, on a fellowship to study at the Zimmern School of International Studies and attend League of Nations sessions.
Gladieux met his future wife, Persis Emma Skilliter (1908-91), while they were in high school together. She attended the Oberlin Kindergarten Training School and graduated in 1930. Following their marriage on June 19, 1930, the couple spent four years in Tokyo, Japan, where they were teachers in the American School of Japan.
Gladieux went on to became a key government official in the nation's mobilization for World War II, management consultant, and widely respected leader in public administration. His career in public service spanned six decades and all levels of government, both in the U.S. and abroad. He served in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations in Washington and as an advisor on government organization to the Eisenhower and Carter administrations.
During World War II, he served in the United States Bureau of the Budget from 1939 to 1942 before becoming administrative assistant to the chairman of the War Production Board, 1943-44. In 1944-45 he was Deputy Director of Operations with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). From 1945 to 1950, he served as Executive Assistant to three Secretaries of Commerce, Henry Wallace, W. Averell Harriman, and Charles W. Sawyer.
In 1950, Gladieux left the federal government for the Ford Foundation in New York City. As assistant to the president and the chief administrator in the New York office, he played a major role in shaping the Foundation's management and future direction.
In 1955, he entered the field of management consulting. He was on the staff of Booz, Allen & Hamilton, and was a partner in the firm from 1957 to 1967. In 1967 he co-founded the management consulting firm of Knight & Gladieux. He remained active in this firm (which became Knight, Gladieux & Smith in 1969) until 1974.
In his consulting career, Bernard Gladieux sought to help repair and restore organizations to make them work more effectively. In all, he undertook more than 300 consulting assignments for federal agencies, 12 state governments, more than 30 local governments, and a wide array of non-profit institutions, international organizations and the countries of India, Pakistan, Ecuador, Thailand, The Republic of the Philippines, Iran and Kuwait.
Throughout his career he was active in volunteer organizations devoted to strengthening public and community service. In 1967 he became a founding member of the National Academy of Public Administration. His leadership and volunteer efforts helped build the National Academy's programs of professional development and research. He remained an active participant in the Academy until 1994.
Among other volunteer activities, he served as Chairman of the National Civil Service League, 1960-74; Member, Board of Directors and Vice President, YMCA of Greater New York,1960-70; Trustee, Oberlin College, 1964-57; Member, panel on government, Committee for Economic Development; incorporator, Training Resources for Youth, Inc; and Chairman, Visiting Committee on the Public Affairs Curriculum, Columbia University.
Mr. and Mrs. Gladieux had four sons, Bernard Louis, Jr. (b. 1937), Russell Victor (b. 1940), Lawrence Edward (b. 1943; A.B. 1965), and Jay Arthur (b. 1947).
Bernard Gladieux moved from Alexandria, Virginia, to Kendal-at-Oberlin, in Oberlin, Ohio, in 1993. He died in Oberlin on May 18, 1997.
SOURCES:
New York Times obituary, May 22, 1997
Washington Post obituary, May 20, 1997
Unidentified obituary in student folder (RG28)
Author: Archives staff Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative Information
The papers of Bernard Gladieux document his life, family relationships, and career in public service and as a management consultant. They include biographical material, correspondence, oral histories, writings, printed material, and photographs.
The papers are arranged in seven series: 1. Biographical Files, 2. Correspondence Files, 3. Files relating to W. Averell Harriman, 4. Oral History Files, 5. Public Service Files, 6. Writings Files, and 7. Photographs.
The biographical material focuses on Gladieux's professional career, both in public service and as a management consultant. His public service in the federal government is documented by a small amount of newspaper clippings and photographs. More extensive documentation exists for his work as a management consultant, including a press release announcing the formation of Knight & Gladieux, a Knight, Gladieux & Smith brochure, and summaries of projects completed for national and local governments, educational institutions, hospitals, and other organizations. The biographical files also include copies of biographical entries about Gladieux, material relating to his 1953 Alumni Citation award from Oberlin College, and a program from the 1997 memorial service for Bernard Gladieux.
Correspondence primarily consists of letters written by Gladieux to "Dear Family," presumably his sons. These letters, dated 1978-81, contain news of Bernard and Persis Gladieux's activities. Notable news includes an account of an event honoring W. Averell Harriman on his 90th birthday in 1981 (a program is included), and accounts of trips taken by Gladieux to Austria, Switzerland, Costa Rica, and Mexico. In addition, the correspondence files contain cards given to Bernard Gladieux by his wife Persis Skilliter Gladieux. A letter of April 11, 1979, provides an account of Gladieux family history. A small amount of 1993 correspondence from College Archivist Roland M. Baumann and Danforth Professor of History Geoffrey Blodgett concerns the acquisition of the Gladieux Papers by the Oberlin College Archives.
The files relating to former U. S. Secretary of Commerce (1946-48) and Governor of New York (1955-59) W. Averell Harriman illustrate Harriman's interest in documenting his career. In 1969 Bernard Gladieux, at Harriman's request, prepared an proposed outline for a book about Harriman's service as Secretary of Commerce. A later book proposal was written by Harriman and Jules Davids in 1980; this book was tentatively titled "Harriman and the Truman Years, 1946-53." These files also include transcripts of discussions led by Jules Davids, in 1980, with Harriman, Gladieux, and John Green (who had headed the Office of Technical Services in the Department of Commerce). Topics covered in these discussions include the development of offices in the U. S. Department of Commerce, department activities during and immediately following World War II, and the changes bought about under Secretary of Commerce Harriman.
Bernard Gladieux participated in two oral history projects, transcripts of which are included in these papers. The Columbia University Oral History Project was done in 1951. This oral history is chiefly concerned with Gladieux's service in the federal government, but Gladieux also describes his childhood and young adult years. Topics covered include his childhood, student days at Oberlin College, activities in the Y.M.C.A., teaching in Japan, and public service in the U.S. Bureau of the Budget (1939-42), War Production Board (1943-44), United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (1944-45), and the U. S. Department of Commerce (1945-50).
Gladieux was interviewed for the Ford Foundation Oral History Project in 1972. In this oral history he discusses his tenure as Assistant to the President of the Ford Foundation from 1950 to 1954. Topics covered include the move of the Ford Foundation from Detroit to New York, Foundation president Paul Hoffman, Hoffman's unsuccessful recruitment of Nelson Rockefeller to establish an international economic development fund, and the Foundation's educational and international development funds. Gladieux also describes the ties between a number of the Ford Foundation's administrators and the Republican Party and his own involvement with President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration as a member of the then president-elect's Committee on Federal Organization in 1952.
Chronological correspondence files from 1943 to 1945 document Bernard Gladieux's public service in the War Production Board (1943-44), United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (1944-45), and the United States Department of Commerce (1945). These files contain carbon copies of outgoing correspondence. There are no files related to Gladieux's work in the Department of Commerce from 1946 to 1950. Additional material in the Public Service Files includes a War Production Board (WPB) employee handbook (1944), an organizational chart (c. 1945) for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), and historical reports about the War Production Board (1946).
The Writings Files contain writings by Gladieux and others. Bernard Gladieux wrote a number of essays relating to the federal government. These include pieces on civil service policies (1967 and 1978), the Committee On Economic Development Program in Governmental Affairs (1990), and the U. S. Bureau of the Budget and the War Production Board (1987 and 1989). Gladieux also wrote about W. Averell Harriman (1891-1986) and Luther Halsey Gulick (1892-1993; A.B. 1914, A.M. 1915). Of interest to the Oberlin community is his 1968 article "Reflections of an Ex-Trustee" containing his suggestions for the Oberlin College Board of Trustees following his retirement as an alumni elected trustee. The writings by other authors cover such topics as public service, management, the U. S. Office of the Coordinator of Information, and the Ford Foundation.
Notably lacking in these papers are historical documents from Gladieux's childhood, studies at Oberlin College, teaching in Japan (1930-34), work as a consultant in the Public Administration Service in Chicago (1936-39), and U. S. government service in the Bureau of the Budget (1939-42). However, these periods are discussed in the 1951 Columbia University oral history of Bernard Gladieux.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series I. Biographical Files, 1939, 1952-1980s, 1997, n.d. (0.05 l.f.)
These files contain biographical material on Bernard Gladieux, namely a brief biography, newspaper clippings, and summaries of his professional experience, including work in international administration and on U.S. government projects. Additional material relates to the Oberlin College Alumni Citation Award given to Gladieux in October 1953.
Series II. Correspondence Files, 1978-81, 1993 (0.1 l.f.)
This series contains primarily outgoing handwritten correspondence (originals and photocopies) from Gladieux to his family (1978-81) as well as an invitation and typescript of speeches given at the fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration for Bernard and Persis Gladieux in 1980. Also filed here is a small amount of 1993 correspondence relating to the donation of the Bernard Gladieux Papers to the Oberlin College Archives.
Series III. Files Relating to W. Averell Harriman, 1969, 1980 (0.05 l.f.)
This series consists of two proposals for books about W. Averell Harriman and transcripts of two 1980 interviews with Harriman, Gladieux, and John Green, discussing World War II, the U. S. Department of Commerce, and W. Averell Harriman.
Series IV. Oral History Files, 1951, 1972-74 (0.4 l.f.)
These files contain transcripts of oral histories concerning the personal and professional life of Bernard Gladieux and related correspondence concerning agreements about the use and ownership of the oral histories. The oral histories were done by the Columbia University Oral History Project in 1951 and by the Ford Foundation Oral History Project in 1972.
Series V. Public Service Files, 1943-46, 1989 (0.2 l.f.)
The Public Service Files consist of correspondence, printed material, and other historical documents relating to Gladieux's service with the War Production Board (1943-44), United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (1944-45), and U. S. Department of Commerce (1945).
Series VI. Writings Files, 1944, 1967-90 (0.2 l.f.)
These files are arranged in two subseries: 1. Writings by Gladieux and 2. Writings by Others. The Writings by Gladieux consist chiefly of reminiscences about his public service in United States government agencies. They also include pieces about W. Averell Harriman (1891-1986) and Luther Halsey Gulick (1892-1993; A.B. 1914, A.M. 1915). The second series, Writings by Others, includes pieces about U. S. Department of Commerce offices and the Ford Foundation.
Series VII. Photographs, 1943, 1952-53, 1964, n.d. (7 photographs)
These photographs consist of two studio photographs of Bernard Gladieux (1943, c. 1960s), two photographs of Gladieux receiving the Oberlin Alumni Citation in 1953, a photograph of Gladieux (as chairman of the National Civil Service League) at the White House in 1964 with President Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Macy, and a photograph of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1952 Special Committee on Federal Organization (Gladieux, Milton Eisenhower, Arthur S. Flemming, and Nelson A. Rockefeller). Also filed here is a photograph taken at the Oberlin Women's Club of New York 1952 Spring meeting, hosted by Persis Skilliter Gladieux; pictured are Persis Gladieux, Dean of Arts and Sciences, W. Blair Stewart, Mrs. Stewart, and club president Constance D. Sherman.