Launching the JOHN W. BROWN
- September 7, 1942

arly in 1942 members of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America in Baltimore suggested that naming some Liberty ships for labor leaders would be a good way to recognize organized labor's contribution to the war effort.

As part of the idea, they promised to build a Liberty ship in record time, and not knowing that ships could not be named for living persons, they planned to name it "Philip Murray" in honor of the president of the CIO. Although Murray was not eligible, the idea of naming ships for union leaders was not dropped, and early in July John Green, president of the Industrial Union, announced that the Union in cooperation with shipyard managements and the Maritime Commission would name and launch several Liberty ships in special ceremonies at yards across the country on Labor Day, September 7, 1942.

Local 43 at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore proposed that one of the two Liberty ships scheduled for launching on Labor Day be named for John W. Brown, a member of the General Executive Board of the Industrial Union until his death in 1941, and the other for John Mitchell, a member of the United Mine Workers from its founding in 1890 and president between 1899 and 1908. Local 43 also proposed that Mrs. John Green sponsor the JOHN W. BROWN. The details about sponsorship were still not settled as late as September 4 when the Shipyard Worker, the Industrial Union's newspaper, reported that Mrs. Green would sponsor the JOHN MITCHELL and Miss Mercedes Daugherty, Philip Murray's niece and secretary, would sponsor the JOHN W. BROWN. It was settled, however, that John Green would give the main address and that the Mutual network would carry it on a coast-to coast hookup. The ceremonies, said the Shipyard Worker, "will be the high point of a production drive that this week saw the combined efforts of the Industrial Union Local 43 members and management successfully turn out 12 Liberty Ships during August, the largest number of bottoms ever launched by one yard in this country."

Because it was not clear until almost the last minute which ships on the ways would be ready for launching on September 7, it was also not clear which hulls would get which names. Fortunately each hull had both a Maritime Commission Emergency (MCE) hull number and a builder's hull number; otherwise mix-ups could easily occur, as a September 3 letter from Wade Skinner of the War Shipping Administration to the Commissioner of Customs makes clear: "Under date of August 29, 1942, I wrote you giving new names for the hulls being built for the United States Maritime Commission by the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard Company, Inc., known as Builder's Hull Nos. 2061 and 2062. We are now advised that in the proposed Labor Day celebration to be held at the yard of the Builder, the ceremonial ship, Builder's Hull No. 2062, which we had first named RALPH IZARD and in my letter dated August 29, 1942, I stated we desired to name it JOHN MITCHELL, the parties have now decided that the vessel be named instead JOHN W. BROWN, who was, we are advised, a labor representative local to Baltimore and who I understand lost his life in some daring exploit; that hull No. 2062 was chosen as the ceremonial ship because it is being completed in 40 days." Skinner's use of "we are advised" and "who I understand" suggests some doubt that Brown in fact had roots in Baltimore and that he died in "some daring exploit." Actually both statements are completely false. Brown's work with the Industrial Union was primarily in Bath, Maine, and he accidentally killed himself with his hunting rifle at his home in Woolwich, Maine. Furthermore, Hull 2062 was completed in forty days only if the day the keel was laid and the day of launching are not counted. One wonders who said what behind the scenes, and why. At all events, there wae no more changes, and Builder's Hull 2062, MCE Hull 312, would be named JOHN W. BROWN.

By the time Labor Day dawned the sponsors had also been realigned so that Mrs. Green would now christen the BROWN, as was appropriate, and Miss Daugherty the MITCHELL. There had been a very light rain on Sunday, September 6, and some sprinkles on the 7th, but at least the temperature during the launching ceremonies was a pleasant 72.

Although the Labor Day program was to begin at 11:00 a.m., the first launching of the day at Bethlehem-Fairfield was at 10:00 a.m. when the BENJAMIN HAWKINS slid down the ways. Named for the first senator from North Carolina, the HAWKINS was launched thirty-nine days after her keel was laid, a new Atlantic Coast record. In keeping with the Bethlehem-Fairfield practice of having one in every three Liberty ships sponsored by the wife, mother, daughter or sister of a shipyard worker, Mrs. Leila M. Knight, the mother of a driller in the fabricating shop, sponsored the HAWKINS. As this launching was not part of the Labor Day program, only the approximately 15,000 workers in the yard at the time witnessed it.

The crowd in the yard increased to over 20,000 when the main gate was opened shortly before 11:00 to admit guests to the Labor Day ceremonies. As workers and guests found places around the speakers' platform, they were entertained by patriotic and popular dance music by Bob Iula's band. Meanwhile the sponsors and their families, the speakers, and other special guests had arrived in a procession of twenty-five black sedans. The program began when Miss Daugherty at 11:00 smashed a champagne bottle across the bow of the JOHN MITCHELL and the band played the "Star Spangled Banner." Some speeches followed, but not the one by Maryland Governor Herbert R. O'Conor listed in the program. The Governor had over-booked his schedule for the day and couldn't make it to the Bethlehem-Fairfield Yard. He gave the main address at the Annapolis Yacht Yard where his wife sponsored one of the two naval vessels launched there. Later in the day he and Mrs. O'Conor joined dignitaries including the Brazilian ambassador and Lieutenant General Leslie McNair on the reviewing stand at Fort Meade to watch 13,004 men of the 76th Infantry Division pass in review.

Green in his address recognized that "on us in the shipbuilding industry a terrible burden has been placed. The naval ships and the cargo vessels form the link between our production lines and the fighting fronts of the world. That link must be maintained, it must be strengthened. On its strength depends the defeat of the enemy." After noting that "our brothers, fathers and sons in the armed forces are already under fire," he made perhaps his most important point when he predicted that "very soon, in speaking to shipyard workers, I shall be able to add husbands to that list because women are undoubtedly going to supply a lot of labor required in the shipyards." The Baltimore Evening Sun in an editorial the next day enlarged on this point, stating that not enough women have responded to the call for their services in essential war industries and concluding that "the realization that this is a woman's war, too, must spread more widely among them. When it does, the 'lot of labor' which Mr. Green foresees will be supplied."

With the speeches and other items on the program finished shortly after noon, Mrs. Green accompanied by her daughters Muriel and Alice gathered in Way 12 by the bow of MCE Hull 312. Taking a vigorous swing, Mrs. Green smashed a bottle of champagne across the bow of the ship and named it S.S. JOHN W. BROWN. As the BROWN slid into the Patapsco River at 12:15, Bob Iula's Band played "Stars and Stripes Forever." This ended the ceremonies, and the sponsors, dignitaries, and other platform guests left for a reception at the Belvedere Hotel in downtown Baltimore.

However, because this first Labor Day of World War II was not a holiday, the shipyard workers went back to work.

One hundred and seventy-four vessels were launched in shipyards across the country on September 7, 1942. Among the destroyers, submarine chasers, PT boats, tugs, mine sweepers, seaplane tenders, landing barges and the like, were sixteen merchant ships, six of which were Liberty ships carrying the names of labor leaders.